PHOENIX – Sun Devil Men’s Golf claimed a dominant victory while Preston Summerhays repeated as the Individual Champion at the 2024 Thundebird Collegiate.
Hosted by Arizona State at Papago Golf Club, Head Coach Matt Thurmond‘s squad put together a historical performance on their way to a second-consecutive Thunderbird Collegiate Team Title. The Sun Devils finished an incredible 38-under to win by 28 strokes, the largest margin of victory by any team at the Thunderbird Collegiate since at least 2000. It is the 22nd time ASU has kept the Thunderbird Collegiate trophy home.
A big reason why the Maroon & Gold were able to secure the victory was the play of Preston Summerhays. He won the Thunderbird Collegiate Individual crown for the second straight year. He becomes the first golfer to win it back-to-back since Jon Rahm won three-straight from 2014-16. Summerhays joins an exclusive list of multi-time winners of the Thunerbird Collegiate, one that includes Sun Devil Men’s Golf legends Jon Rahm and Phil Mickelson. After a five-way tie had developed at the top of the standings midway through the round, Summerhays (-12/201) used an incredible run on the back nine to create separation and ultimately pull away for the two stroke win.
The top of the individual leaderboard is full of Sun Devils, as Arizona State was on a different level than the rest of the competition. Ryggs Johnston (-10/203) finished in second place, meaning the top-two finishers were both in Maroon & Gold. Not far behind was Wenyi Ding (-9/204), who continues the incredible start to his career by tying for third. The fourth Sun Devil in the Top-5 is Michael Mjaaseth (-8/205) who took advantage of his opportunity to play as an individual this weekend. Five of the Top-7 in the final player standings were from Arizona State, an indication of the dominant effort. Rounding out the group was Josele Ballester, who finished tied for seventh (-7/206).
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“Outstanding performance from our group today,” Head Coach Matt Thurmond reflected. “From start to finish they did not take the foot off the gas and put together a complete three rounds.”
“It is always nice to win the home tournament in front of your fans,” Coach Thurmond added. “We appreciate everyone that came out to support us and hope that they enjoyed what they saw. This team feeds off the…
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