Sun Devil Men’s Golf moves to NCAA Match Play

The fifth-ranked Sun Devil men’s golf team is officially in the hunt for the NCAA title at the Omni La Costa Resort and Spa (North Course), as it concluded a great — honestly, hard to get much better — week and will confidently move on to match play for the fourth time in five seasons.

The Sun Devils had a good start in round one, a fantastic round two, grinded in round three but didn’t lose much ground and then punctuated a solid week of stroke play Monday by earning the No. 1 seed for the second time under Matt Thurmond.

ASU shot 14-under 1,138 (286-277-295-280) to top Auburn by two strokes and did it in historical fashion. Josele Ballester tied for fourth, sophomore Connor Williams tied for seventh and Preston Summerhays tied for ninth, the first time in Sun Devil lore that it posted three NCAA Championship top-10 finishes.

Great Stat from @CGolfBook
In the last 50 years only eight teams (seven programs) have finished with three players in the top 10 at the NCAA Golf Championships
2025: Arizona State
2023: Illinois
2019: Oklahoma State
2017: Vanderbilt
1987: Oklahoma State
1982: Houston
1978: Georgi
1975: Wake Forest

ASU will match up with third-ranked Ole Miss in the first round of match play early Tuesday morning.

Coach Matt Thurmond Quotes
On advancing to match play
“I am so happy with the group today. Everyone around us think all you have to do is get to match play. That is all that matters. It doesn’t to us. We are competitors and it is a habit to give it your very best and play your hardest to try and win everything every time. 
 
On winning the stroke play portion of the championship and earning No. 1 seed
“It is a big deal. We are proud of this. We won the stroke play for the second time in five years. That meant a lot to these guys. For two of them, it was their final stroke play round. For the whole team, it was our last stroke play round. And we wanted it to be our best. I am happy that they took the round really seriously. They could’ve coasted in a bit when it was looking likely we were going to be in match play, but it wasn’t about that for us. It wasn’t just about that for us. It was about being awesome.”
 
On the talented match play experience he has on his roster
“I am excited. Every team has good players at this point, but I really like our guys. We are going to be ready to play tomorrow.”

Sparky Notes

• Arizona State has advanced to match play for the fourth time under Matt Thurmond. They are a combined 3-3 in match play since Thurmond took…