Men’s Golf in the Hunt as Final Round Approaches Sunday

The Arizona State men’s golf team is tied for fifth after 36 holes at the Fighting Illini Invitational at Olympia Fields Country Club — North Course (par 70/,7310 yards). ASU shot 5-under 275 Saturday — the second-best round of the tournament — and is 10 shots back of leader North Carolina.

Josele Ballester is at 2-under 138 to lead the Sun Devils through two rounds, while Ryggs Johnston fired a 3-under 67. Luke Potter (69), Michael Mjaaseth (71) and Fifa Laopakdee (70) all improved their scores from round one.

The teams will play a shotgun start starting at 8 a.m. Sunday to finish the tournament.

OFCC/FIGHTING ILLINI INVITE

OLYMPIA FIELD COUNTRY CLUB

OLYMPIA FIELD, IL

SEPT. 15-17, 2023

TEAMS (15)

North Carolina 281-269=550/-10

Texas 276-280=556/-4

Georgia Tech 277-280=557/-3

Arizona State 285-275=560/E

Alabama 285-276=561/-1

Florida State 283-283=566/+6

Arizona 286-282=568/+8

Baylor 287-281=568/+8

Florida 286-283=569/+9

Illinois 285-285=570/+10

Pepperdine 286-287=573/+13

Purdue 286-287=573/+13

Oklahoma State 290-285=575/+15

Stanford 287-288=575/+15

Michigan State 295-291=586/+26

INDIVIDUALS

1. Christo Lamprecht, Georgia Tech 65-66=131/-9

T8. Josele Ballester, ASU 69-69=138/-2

T13. Ryggs Johnston, ASU 72-67=139/-1

T18. Luke Potter, ASU 71-69=140/E

T37. Michael Mjaaseth, ASU 73-71=144/+4

T37. Fifa Laopakdee, ASU 74-70=144/+4

SUN DEVILS PLAY SANS SUMMERHAYS

The Sun Devils are playing the tournament without a recent champ as Preston Summerhays out in Napa playing in the Fortinet Championship, which he earned by winning last weekend’s Sahaleee Players Championship.

THE LINEUP

The Sun Devils are playing sophomore Luke Potter, graduate Ryggs Johnston, junior Josele Ballester, newcomer FifaLaopakdee and sophomore Michael Mjaaseth to the tee boxes this weekend.

BOLD BALLESTER

Jose Ballester, the 2023 European Amateur Champion, tied for 14th at the Sahalee Players Championship to start the year. Ballester entered this year with a career 70.80 scoring average in 64 rounds (21 tournaments), with 20 rounds in the 60s and 37 at par or better.

FIFA!

While the team was playing at the Sahalee Players Championship in Washington last weekend, freshman Fifa Laopakdee was turning heads at the Maui Jim Individual Invitational at Legend Trail in Scottsdale. He shot a 15-under 201 (70-64-67) in his debut to earn medalist honors by three strokes in the 35-player field, while Connor Wiliams finished eighth at…