Ballester Leads Men’s Golf in Round One at Illinois

The Arizona State men’s golf is in fifth after 18 holes Friday at the Fighting Illini Invitational at Olympia Fields Country Club — North Course (par 70/,7310 yards). ASU shot 5-over 280, and is nine shots back of leader Texas.

OLYMPIA FIELDS COUNTRY CLUB/FIGHTING ILLINI INVITE

OLYMPIA FIELD COUNTRY CLUB

OLYMPIA FIELD, IL

SEPT. 15-17

TEAMS (15)

Texas 276/-4

Georgia Tech 277/-3

North Carolina 281/+1

Florida State 283/+3

Arizona State 285/+5

Illinois 285/+5

Arizona 286/+6

Florida 286/+6

Pepperdine 286/+6

Purdue 286/+6

Baylor 287/+7

Stanford 287/+7

Oklahoma State 290/+10

Michigan State 295/+15

INDIVIDUALS

1. Christo Lamprecht, Georgia Tech 65/-5

1. Karl Vilips, Stanford 65/-5

T10. Josele Ballester, ASU 69/-1

T25. Luke Potter, ASU 71/+1

T35. Ryggs Johnston, ASU 72/+2

T42. Michael Mjaaseth, ASU 73/+3

T57. Fifa Laopakdee, ASU 74/+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. He made the cut and will advance to the weekend

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.

TEAMS

ASU played with Pepperdine and Michigan State in the first round. Other teams in the field are Alabama, Arizona, Baylor, Florida, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Illinois, North Carolina, Oklahoma State, Pepperdine, Purdue, Stanford and Texas.

BOLD BALLESTER

Jose Ballester shot 3-under 69 in the first round and tied for tenth. The 2023 European Amateur Champion tied for 14th at the Sahalee Players Championship. 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 8-under 208 (69-69-70). Nicholas Prieto tied for 16th at 4-under 212 (71-70-71), while Kiko Coelho tied for 25th at 1-over 217 (71-70-76).

 

ICYMI: Freshman Fifa Laopakdee…