Sun Devil Men’s Golf improved by 10 strokes on day two of the NCAA Championship, firing a 1-over 281 (69-69-71-72=281/-+1), paced by 1-under 69s from Luke Potter and Ryggs Johnston and finishing tied for ninth as a team.
“I thought yesterday wasn’t as bad as it was made to sound, so we were excited to come out and prove that today,” said head coach Matt Thurmond. “We’re going to play a good round and it’s going to sound like a comeback story when it really isn’t. I thought the course played harder today.”
The Sun Devils entered the clubhouse in a tie for 15th, but ascended as teams ahead of them completed their rounds. ASU tied the second-best card of any team in the morning wave with its 1-under par.
Arizona State jumped 12 spots on the day. In fact, ASU’s meteoric ascent from T21 to T9 is the second-highest rise from the first to second round in the three years that the NCAA Championship has been at Grayhawk.
MOST SPOTS IMPROVED FROM ROUND ONE TO ROUND TWO AT GRAYHAWK
Vanderbilt, 2021 (13 spots, finished in 7th)
Arizona State, 2023 (12 spots, finish T19)
Florida, 2022 (10 spots, finished 10th)
After not scoring in Friday’s first round, Potter carded a bogey-free back-nine (his front nine, with the team starting on 10) and recorded only two holes that were not par or birdie. He finished in a tie for 68th individually.
“I didn’t have the greatest opening round yesterday, so I was pretty free on that front nine,” said Potter. “I was able to trust my swing. I worked on a few things on the range, so it was nice to see a couple of putts fall. When the putts are rolling in, it’s a lot easier to step up on the next tee and swing free.”
The freshman isn’t messing around ??
Fourth birdie of the day for Luke Potter ??
?? https://t.co/Rv7Srynd2H#ForksUp /// ?????? pic.twitter.com/a6TJjab1lK
— Sun Devil Men’s Golf (@sundevilmgolf) May 27, 2023
Johnston had a six-stroke improvement from the opening round, carding three birdies and two bogeys for his 1-under performance. The former national third place finisher is tied for 42nd.
ASU’s best on the leaderboard, Josele Ballester, is 1-over for the tournament after his 2-over 72 card. He went three-under through…
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