There probably wasn’t a more disappointed team in America last spring than Arizona State.
The Sun Devils, coming off a victory in the final Pac-12 Championship at Desert Forest Golf Club in Carefree, Ariz., were the top seed in the Rancho Santa Fe Regional and failed to advance to the NCAA Championship at the La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif.
What can you say? It was a bad week to have a bad week.
Since then, Arizona State has produced a U.S. Amateur champion in Josele Ballester, a senior from Spain who put his name on the Havemeyer Trophy last summer at Hazeltine National Golf Club with a hard-fought 2-up victory over Noah Kent.
The Sun Devils, who moved on to the Big 12 following the breakup of the Pac-12, arrived in the Mexican resort town of Los Cabos Sunday for The Cabo Collegiate as one of the top teams in the country and left with a five-shot victory over their new Big 12 rival Oklahoma State.
Arizona State was always in front in the Cabo Collegiate, which annually boasts as strong a field as any tournament in the spring portion of the wraparound 2024-2025 season. The Sun Devils opened with what turned out to be the low team round of the tournament, an 8-under 276 over the 7,156-yard, par-71 Twin Dolphin Club.
Arizona State added a 5-under 279 in Monday’s second round to take a nine-shot lead over Oklahoma State into Tuesday’s final round. The Sun Devils closed with a solid 1-under 283 for a 14-under 858 total. When the updated Scoreboard, powered by clippd, rankings came out Wednesday, Arizona State had risen to No. 2.
The Cowboys, No. 5 in the latest Scoreboard rankings, made a nice move in the final round with a solid 5-under 279, but their 9-under 843 total left them five shots behind Arizona State. Oklahoma State had opened with a 3-under 281 and added a 1-under 283 in Monday’s second round.
Arizona State and Oklahoma State each had a player involved in the playoff for the individual title, which ultimately went to Florida State’s Tyler Weaver, a sophomore from England and No. 52 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).
Arizona State was led by Fifa Laopakdee, a sophomore from Thailand who joined Weaver and Oklahoma State’s Preston Stout, a sophomore from Richardson, Texas and No. 58 in the WAGR, at the top of the individual leaderboard after 54 holes, each landing on 8-under 205.
Laopakdee was solid throughout, adding a 2-under 69 in Monday’s second round to his opening round of 3-under 68 before closing with another 68.
After opening with a 4-under 67, Stout added back-to-back 2-under 69s in the final two rounds.
Oklahoma State did manage to get out of the Rancho Santa Fe Regional last spring with a fourth-place finish as a five seed, but the Cowboys never really got it going in the NCAA Championship at La Costa.
The Cowboys already own a tournament win in the second half of the 2024-’25 season in last month’s Amer Ari Invitational at the Mauna Lani Resort on Hawaii’s Kohala Coast.
Weaver, who went 3-0 in match play in Florida State’s run to a runnerup finish in the NCAA Championship at La Costa last spring, matched the low individual round of the tournament with his 5-under 66 in Monday’s second round after he had opened with a 2-under 69 as he took a one-shot lead over Stout into Tuesday’s final round.
Weaver then closed with a 1-under 70 and prevailed on the third hole of the playoff for his first individual win of the season.
He helped Florida State, an Atlantic Coast Conference representative, finish in third place with an even-par 852 total.
The Seminoles, coming off a victory in last month’s Watersound Invitational at Shark’s Tooth Golf Course in Panama City Beach, Fla., could probably be forgiven for a slow start in the Cabo Collegiate as they opened with a 6-over 290.
Florida State was undoubtedly keeping half an eye on the PGA Tour’s Cognizant Classic at the PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., where its best player, Luke Clanton, the No. 1 player in the WAGR, was earning himself a PGA Tour card.
Clanton, a 21-year-old from Hialeah, Fla., had secured his PGA Tour card, via the PGA Tour University points standings, just by making the cut in the Cognizant. But he was on the fringes of contention going into Sunday’s final, ultimately finishing in a tie for 18th place.
Clanton, who claimed the individual crown in the Watersound, has made it clear he intends to play out this season with the Seminoles before deciding when he’ll turn pro.
Florida State bounced back in the second round of The Cabo Collegiate with a sparkling 7-under 277 in Monday’s second round before closing with a 1-over 285, again, without its best player, to end up nine shots behind Oklahoma State.
It was four shots back to Southeastern Conference entry Arkansas in fourth place with a 4-over 856 total.
The Razorbacks, No. 38 in the latest Scoreboard rankings, sandwiched a 2-under 282 in Monday’s second round with a pair of 3-over 287s. Arkansas failed to advance to the NCAA Championship as a two seed in the Austin Regional last spring.
Arkansas’ SEC rival Tennessee finished five shots behind the Razorbacks in fifth place with a 9-over 861 total. After opening with a 9-over 293, the Volunteers, No. 31 in the Scoreboard rankings, added a 1-over 285 in Monday’s second round before closing with a 1-under 283.
Tennessee advanced to last spring’s NCAA Championship with a runnerup finish as the top seed in the Austin Regional, but was unable to earn a spot in the match-play bracket at La Costa.
Texas Tech, another Big 12 representative, finished five shots behind Tennessee in sixth place in the loaded 14-team field. The Red Raiders, No. 21 in the latest Scoreboard rankings, struggled a little on their way to a 295 in the opening round. They bounced back nicely with a 2-under 282 in Monday’s second round before closing with a 5-over 289.
Texas Tech reached the NCAA Championship last spring with a third-place finish as a three seed in the Baton Rouge Regional, but never got it going at La Costa.
Backing up Laopakdee for Arizona State was Michael Mjaaseth, a junior from Norway and No. 67 in the WAGR who finished in a tie for fifth place in the individual standings with Arkansas’ Thomas Curry, a sophomore from Texarkana, Ark., each landing on 5-under 208.
Mjaaseth was just a shot out of the individual lead going into the final round after posting back-to-back 3-under 68s in the first two rounds at Twin Dolphin before closing with a 1-over 72.
Preston Summerhays, a senior from Scottsdale, Ariz. and No. 8 in the WAGR, gave the Sun Devils a third finisher in the top 14 as he finished among the group tied for 14th place with a 1-over 214 total. Summerhays contributed a 4-under 67 to Arizona State’s opening-round surge and matched par in Monday’s second round with a 71 before struggling to a 5-over 76 in the final round.
Summerhays was one of the heroes of Arizona State’s run to NCAA Championship’s Final Match at Grayhawk Golf Club in his home town of Scottsdale as a freshman in 2022 and was a member of the winning U.S. side in the Walker Cup Match at the home of golf, the Old Course at St. Andrews, in the summer of 2023.
Ballester, the reigning U.S. Amateur champion who has risen to No. 3 in the WAGR, and Peer Wernicke, a freshman from Germany and No. 63 in the WAGR, rounded out the Arizona State lineup as they both landed in the group tied for 32nd place at 6-over 219.
After opening with a 2-over 73, Ballester struggled to a 76 in Monday’s second round before contributing a solid 1-under 70 in the final round. Wernicke matched par in Monday’s second round with a 71 after opening with a 4-over 75 and closed with a counting 2-over 73.
Arizona State also brought along Nick Prieto, a sophomore from Miami, Fla., to compete as an individual and Prieto was solid, finishing among the group tied for 27th place with a 5-over 218 total. After struggling to a 6-over 77 in the opening round, Prieto recorded a 3-under 68 in Monday’s second round before closing with a 2-over 73.
Oklahoma State’s Ethan Fang, a sophomore from Plano, Texas and No. 21 in the WAGR, continued what has been a strong spring as he backed up his teammate Laopakdee by finishing just a shot out of the playoff for the individual title in fourth place with a 7-under 206 total.
Fang registered three rounds in the 60s as he opened with a 2-under 69 and followed that up with back-to-back 3-under 68s in the final two rounds.
Arkansas’ Curry joined Arizona State’s Mjaaseth in the tie for fifth place at 5-under as he matched the low round of the week with a 5-under 66 in the final round. Curry had opened with a 2-over 73 and added a 2-under 69 in Monday’s second round.
Houston’s Hudson Weibel, a redshirt junior from Dallas, Texas, finished a shot behind Mjaaseth and Curry in seventh place with a 4-under 209 total. After opening with a 2-under 69, Weibel added a 2-over 73 in Monday’s second round before closing with a sparkling 4-under 67.
Vanderbilt’s Jackson Van Paris, a senior from Pinehurst, N.C. and No. 7 in the WAGR, and Arizona’s Filip Jakubcik, a junior from the Czech Republic and No. 34 in the WAGR, finished in a tie for eighth place, each ending up with a 3-under 210 total.
Van Paris matched par in Monday’s second round with a 71 after opening with a 1-under 70 and closed with a 2-under 69. Jakubcik matched par in each of the first two rounds with a pair of 71s before closing with a solid 3-under 68.
Rounding out the top 10 in the individual standings was Rice’s Daniel Zou, a freshman from The Woodlands, Texas who finished a shot behind Van Paris and Jakubcik in 10th place with a 2-under 211 total. After opening with a 3-over 74, Zou carded a 1-under 70 in Monday’s second round before closing with a solid 4-under 67.
Ballester
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