Strong showing for host Georgia in Lady Bulldog Invitational; Auburn's Telfer claims victory

    Georgia had a disappointing showing in the Southeastern Conference Championship last spring at Greystone Golf & Country Club in Birmingham, Ala., failing to finish among the top eight teams that advanced to the match-play bracket.

   The Bulldogs, seeded fifth, proceeded to take the NCAA Columbus Regional by storm, capturing the team crown at The Ohio State University Golf Club’s tough Scarlet Course by a whopping 15 shots behind individual champion Jenny Bae.

   Georgia was unable to carry its momentum from that performance in Columbus to the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. as the Bulldogs never really got themselves in position for a spot in the match-play bracket.

   The good news for Georgia head coach Josh Brewer is that all five players from the lineup in Columbus returned to Athens, Ga. for the wraparound 2021-2022 season.

   Entering the spring campaign ranked 29^th by Golfstat, Georgia decided to schedule the Lady Bulldog Invitational this past weekend at its UGA Golf Course in Athens, Ga. Georgia invited several teams to send as many players as they liked to an individual championship.

   Brewer looked at it as a more competitive atmosphere than the team qualifier the Bulldogs would have scheduled over the weekend. It would have the feel of a tournament even if there was no team competition.

   Of course, you schedule an event in late January, even in Georgia, there’s a risk of some decidedly un-springlike weather showing up and that’s exactly what happened. Brewer described the conditions for Saturday’s opening round on the Georgia website as cold without getting specific. Pretty sure, it never got out of the 30s Saturday and that’s tough for golf.

   Sunday’s second round had a delayed shotgun start at 11 a.m., probably to let some frost burn off the golf course. Originally planned as a 54-hole event, the Lady Bulldog was limited to 36 holes due to the cold weather and the still comparative lack of daylight.

   It’s not necessarily a bad thing to get a really cold round or two under your belt early in the season. There’s always a possibility you can run into one of those April days that feature drizzle and temperatures in the 40s down the road and this past weekend might prove helpful in acclimating all the players who teed it up to playing in the cold.

   Bae, a senior from Suwanee, Ga. and No. 73 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), got the weekend off. But she got in a couple of rounds two weeks ago as one of the dozen women invited to audition for the U.S. Curtis Cup team at Mountain Lake in Lake Wales, Fla.

   The Curtis Cup Match against a team of amateurs from Great Britain & Ireland will tee off in 130 days at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course and yes, I’m counting the days.

   Brewer probably got what he needed out of the weekend as all eight of his Bulldogs who teed it up finished in the top 25 among a field of 41 with Candice Mahe, a junior from France, and Caterina Don, a junior from Italy, sharing runnerup honors, each landing on 1-under-par 143 total over the 6,188-yard, par-72 UGA Golf Course layout.

   The title went to Auburn’s Kaleigh Telfer, a fifth-year player from South Africa and No. 74 in the Women’s WAGR. It appears Telfer stayed home in South Africa for the fall part of her fifth year and was making her first appearance for Auburn this season.

   Saturday’s cold weather didn’t seem to bother her one bit as she made three birdies in a four-hole stretch on the back nine of the UGA Golf Course on her way to a 5-under 67 that gave her a four-shot lead over Georgia’s Don and Isabella Holpfer, a sophomore from Austria.

   Telfer struggled a little on the front nine in Sunday’s second round, but again made three birdies on the incoming nine as she closed with a 2-over 74 that left her with a 3-under 141 total that was two shots clear of Georgia’s Mahe and Don.

   Auburn, one of Georgia’s rivals in the powerful SEC, entered the midseason break ranked 12^th by Golfstat. Telfer was in the starting lineup last spring as the Tigers qualified for the NCAA Championship out of the Louisville Regional and rallied in the final round to earn a spot in the match-play bracket at Grayhawk before falling to Oklahoma State, 4-1, in the quarterfinals.

   Mahe, who opened with a 2-over 74, had the best round of the day in Sunday’s final round with a solid 3-under 69 that earned her a share of second place with her teammate Don, who followed up her opening-round 71 by matching par Sunday with a 72.

   It was another three shots back to Texas A&M’s Jennie Park, a junior from Carrollton, Texas who finished alone in fourth place with a 2-over 146 total. After matching par in the opening round with a 72, Park added a 74 in Sunday’s final round. Park and the Aggies, also out of the SEC, entered the midseason break ranked 17^th.

   Another Georgia duo, Holpfer and Jo Hua Hung, a senior from Taipei, shared fifth place as each landed on 3-over 147, a shot behind Park. Holpfer added a 76 to her opening-round 71. Hung opened with a 76 and then moved up the leaderboard with a solid 1-under 71 in Sunday’s final round.

   In addition to Bae, the Georgia lineup that claimed the regional team title in Columbus last spring included Mahe, Don, Hung and Holpfer.

   Wake Forest’s Vanessa Knecht, a senior from Switzerland, and Kentucky’s Ryan Bender, a redshirt junior from Louisville, Ky., shared seventh place, each finishing with a 5-over 149 total, two shots behind Hung and Holpfer.

   Knecht was in the Wake Forest lineup as a freshman when the Demon Deacons suffered a 3-2 loss in the Final Match of the NCAA Championship to Atlantic Coast Conference rival Duke at The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark. After opening with a 76, Knecht closed with a solid 1-over 73.

   Wake Forest had a solid fall campaign and entered the midseason pause in the 2020-’21 season ranked sixth. The Demon Deacons, as they have been for the last few seasons, have to be considered national championship contenders.

   Kentucky’s Bender matched par in the opening round with a 72, but fell back with a 77 in Sunday’s final round to join Knecht at 5-over. Bender’s Wildcats are another SEC entry.

   Zoe Walker, a redshirt senior from Palm Desert, Calif., gave Georgia a third finisher inside the top 10 as she ended up alone in ninth place with a 6-over 150 total after adding a 2-over 74 to her opening-round 76.

   Another Wake Forest entry, Julia McLaughlin, a junior from Princeton, N.J., and another Auburn competitor, Elina Sinz, a sophomore from Katy, Texas, rounded out the top 10 as they finished in a tie for 10^th place with a 7-over 151 total. McLaughlin bounced back from an opening-round 81 with a solid 2-under 70 in Sunday’s final round while Sinz added a 3-over 75 to her opening-round 76.

   Rounding out the Georgia contingent were Celeste Dao, a junior from Canada who finished in a tie for 17^th place with a 154 total, Caroline Craig, a junior from Sautee Nacoochie, Ga. who landed in a tie for 20^th at 155 and Alison Crenshaw, a graduate student from Suwanee, Ga. who was alone in 25^th with a 157 total.

   Dao added a 78 to her opening round of 4-over 76, Craig added a 79 to her opening-round 76 and Crenshaw shaved three shots off an opening-round 80 with a final-round 77.

   Georgia will return to the UGA Golf Course to host the annual Liz Murphey Collegiate at the end of March. It will be the Bulldogs’ final tuneup before the SEC Championship, which returns to Greystone in April.

   Eight of the teams in Golfstat’s top 25 at the midseason pause in the 2021-’22 season are from the SEC, which makes it almost as hard to make the eight-team match-play bracket in the SEC Championship as it is to finish among the top eight at the NCAA Championship.

 

 

 

 

Harman, Tringale continue to represent from U.S. team that won the Walker Cup at Merion in 2009

    With 131 days until the Curtis Cup Match tees off at Merion Golf Club’s iconic East Course, it seemed like a good time to do my annual look at how some of those guys on the 2009 U.S. team that won the Walker Cup over Great Britain & Ireland at Merion are doing 13 years later. Plus, the wind chill is below zero in the Philadelphia area as I start writing this post, so yeah, thinking warm thoughts helps on January nights like this.

   A check of the final leaderboard in The American Express – it will always be the Bob Hope Desert Classic in my book, even if it is only 72 holes, instead of the 90 it once was – last weekend revealed that Brian Harman, the former Georgia standout who helped the United States claim a 16.5-9.5 victory over Great Britain & Ireland in the 42^nd Walker Cup Match in September of 2009 at Merion Golf Club’s East Course, finished in a tie for third place.

   It was a reminder that it was time for my annual look at how some of the guys from that team are doing these days. I covered the Walker Cup at Merion in my previous life as a sportswriter for the Delaware County Daily Times, a labor of love for a guy who was a proud Merion looper for 12 years as a youngster and into young adulthood.

   And wouldn’t you know it, as I scoured the Internet for updates on members of that U.S. team last week, there was Cameron Tringale, who starred collegiately at Georgia Tech, climbing the leaderboard at the Farmers Insurance Open, which concluded Saturday at Torrey Pines Golf Club in La Jolla, Calif. Like Harman a week earlier, Tringale finished in a tie for third place, a shot out of the playoff between eventual winner Luke List and Will Zalatoris.

   Most of those 2009 U.S. Walker Cuppers are in their early to mid-30s now, no longer the hotshot young guns on the PGA Tour. A lot of them are married and have kids. None are superstars, even if Rickie Fowler seemed to be headed that way for the longest time.

   But Harman, Tringale and Fowler are solid touring professionals. And if you follow guys who would give anything to be able to set a schedule year after year on the PGA Tour – a couple of the other 2009 U.S. Walker Cuppers are among that group – you realize how tough it can be to get there and how focused you have to be to stay there.

   I knew that week at Merion that I was looking at guys I’d be watching on television playing on the PGA Tour for the next decade or two.

   Harman turned 35 the day before teeing off in The American Express at La Quinta Country Club in the desert near Palm Springs. He went 67-64 on the weekend and finished with a 20-under 268 total, three shots behind the winner, Harris Swafford.

   Harman is off to a great start in the wraparound 2021-2022 PGA Tour season, his tie for third in The American Express giving him $472,398 in earnings. His career earnings now stand at more than $20 million.

   At 5-7 and 150 pounds, Harman hardly fits what people think the ideal PGA Tour guy should be. While Bryson DeChambeau was bashing balls all over the place last year, the little left-hander was making 24 cuts in 28 starts.

   Harman had five top 10s, including a tie for third in The Players Championship, and finished with $3.2 million in earnings. Harman had some of his best showings on the biggest stages, finishing in a tie for 12^th place in The Masters, tied for 19^th in the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines and tied for 19^th again in The Open Championship at Royal St. George’s.

   Harman advanced to the FedEx Cup playoffs for the 10^th straight year. He hasn’t won since capturing the Wells Fargo Championship in 2017, his second career PGA Tour victory, but his consistency has been nothing short of remarkable.

   The 34-year-old Tringale is one of the names that comes up when the subject is most money won without a win on the PGA Tour. His third-place finish in the Farmers put his career earnings at just more than $16 million. But as Tringale proved again at Torrey Pines this weekend, he keeps knocking on the door and eventually he’ll kick that door down. Tringale can take a little solace in the fact that List’s first career PGA Tour win Saturday came in his 206^th career start.

   The strong showing in the Farmers continued what has been a solid start to the 2021-’22 season for Tringale. He got close to that elusive first victory with a tie for second place in the ZOZO Championship in Japan in late October and a tie for seventh a couple of weeks later in the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open. After this weekend, Tringale has already won $1,811,528 in the still young season.

   Tringale made the FedEx Cup playoffs for the third year in a row in 2021 and for the ninth time overall.

   Harman and Tringale are both on the verge of joining the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR), which opens up all sorts of opportunities, including a starting time at that little gathering at Augusta National Golf Club in April.

   Harman’s third-place finish in The American Express bumped him up to No. 56 in the OWGR. Tringale began the week at No. 58 and figures to move up a little with his third-place finish in the Farmers.

   You have to go to the second page of the OWGR to find the 33-year-old Fowler’s name, albeit at the top of that page at No. 101. When I did this update at this time a year ago, Fowler was 65^th in the OWGR.

   Even though he was only 20 at the time, Fowler was the unquestioned leader of that winning U.S. side at Merion in 2009. Fowler had played in 41 straight major championships before missing the Masters and the U.S. Open in 2021. For just the second time in his professional career, Fowler was not a member of the U.S. team that was such an impressive winner in last year’s Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits. He missed the FedEx Cup playoffs for the first time.

   A week after Thanksgiving, Fowler and his wife Allison Stokke, who competed in the pole vault at the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2012, announced the birth of their first child, Maya, a daughter. So, we’ll give him a little bit of a pass for last year.

   Fowler showed some signs of his old self when he finished in a tie for third place in The CJ Cup at Summit, which was held at Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas in October.

   But he’s starting slowly in calendar year 2022, missing the cut at The American Express and coming up just a shot off the cutline with a 2-under total in two rounds at Torrey Pines.

   Like Harman, at 5-9, 150 pounds, Fowler is hardly a big guy, but he has won more than $40 million in his 12-year PGA Tour career. He has finished in the top 10 in 11 major championships, including top-five finishes in all four majors in 2014. Even in a disappointing 2021, Fowler’s lone top-10 was a tie for eighth place in the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island on the South Carolina coast.

   He has always been at his best on the biggest stages. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’ll be the least surprised person if and when Fowler captures a major championship.

   I walked away from that 2009 Walker Cup thinking Peter Uihlein, one of Fowler’s two Oklahoma State teammates on the U.S. team, was the most talented player I had seen that week, but he has never been the breakout star I thought he had the potential to be.

   Not that the guy hasn’t had his moments. He won the 2010 U.S. Amateur at Chambers Bay and, taking the road less traveled to the PGA Tour by playing across the pond, was named the European Tour’s Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year in 2013.

   The 32-year-old Uihlein just snuck into the PGA Tour for the 2021-’22 season by finishing in 24^th place in the Korn Ferry Tour Championship Finals at Victoria National Golf Club in Newburgh, Ind. With limited status on the PGA Tour in 2021, Uihlein did claim a victory in the Korn Ferry’s MGM Resorts Championship at Paiute in April.

   Uihlein has won nearly $4 million on the PGA Tour, but he has struggled at the start of the 2021-’22 season with four straight missed cuts. He shot 1-under for two rounds that left him two shots off the cutline in the Farmers.

   Uihlein still has his PGA Tour card for 2022 and he still has the talent and plenty of time to stay in golf’s big leagues. It’s one thing to get there. Staying there can be the challenge sometimes.

   Another member of that 2009 U.S. Walker Cup team, former Alabama standout Bud Cauley, is in pro golf limbo these days.

   The 31-year-old Cauley has never fully recovered from injuries he incurred in a car accident after he had missed the cut in The Memorial in 2018, even though he qualified for the FedEx Cup playoffs that year and again in 2019 and 2020.

   Cauley hasn’t played in a PGA Tour event since the Safeway Open at the beginning of the 2020-’21 season. Checked out a little of his appearance on Golf.com’s Subpar podcast with Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz last fall.

   It sounded like something that was never really fully healed from the car accident had come back and caused him so much pain he could no longer play. He’s had surgery and rehabilitation and will try to earn his way back to the PGA Tour by way of sponsor’s exemptions. It’s a tough road, but he is one of that small group of players who earned his way onto the PGA Tour at the beginning of his career without going through the old Qualifying School process.

   On the podcast, Cauley, another little guy at 5-7, 160 pounds, correctly recalled winning a couple of points for the U.S. while partnering with Fowler, once in a foursome match and another in a four-ball match, at Merion.

   Nobody has ever questioned the guy’s talent and the $9 million he’s won on the PGA Tour is a testament to that talent. Don’t think we’ve heard the last from Bud Cauley.

   I devoted most of my annual 2009 U.S. Walker Cup update post three years ago to the toughness displayed in 2018 by Cauley, in recovering from the car accident he was in, and to Morgan Hoffmann, the third Oklahoma State Cowboy on that U.S. team at Merion.

   Late in 2016, Hoffmann was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy. It didn’t stop him from winning more than $1.2 million during the 2016-’17 season. It wasn’t until late in 2017 that he revealed the diagnosis to the rest of the world.

   It appears the 32-year-old Hoffmann’s days on the PGA Tour are over. He has devoted his life to finding a cure for muscular dystrophy through his Morgan Hoffmann Foundation.

   Last summer, Hoffman received the PGA Tour Courage Award, which was presented to him at the Morgan Hoffmann Foundation Celebrity Pro-Am at Arcola Country Club in Paramus, N.J., near where Hoffman grew up. Several PGA Tour pros were able to come out in support of their colleague, including Tringale, one of his teammates in the 2009 U.S. Walker Cup team at Merion.

   The PGA Tour release on Hoffman’s PGA Tour Courage Award said that Hoffmann has made it his goal to find a cure and become a role model for those affected by muscular dystrophy and similar neuromuscular diseases.

   Obviously, it was a special group that U.S. captain George “Buddy” Marucci gathered for that 2009 Walker Cup at Merion’s East Course, where Marucci, who won a U.S. Senior Amateur crown in 2008 in between his two stints as U.S. Walker Cup captain, is a member.

   I’ve always been a fan of Drew Weaver, the Virginia Tech standout who, just weeks after the mass shooting that left 32 dead at the Blacksburg campus in 2007, went across the pond and won The Amateur Championship at Royal Lytham & St. Annes, the first American to win it since the great Jay Sigel in 1979.

   I can’t find the 34-year-old Weaver on any of the big pro tours in this first month of 2022. It wasn’t for lack of trying. Weaver teed it up 38 times on the Korn Ferry Tour schedule that stretched from early 2020 through the summer of 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic, but he only made 15 cuts.

   There was a player on that U.S. Walker Cup team at Merion who never turned pro, Nathan Smith, an amateur from Pittsburgh who had won the first of his four U.S. Mid-Amateur titles in 2003. Smith and Uihlein returned for the U.S. Walker Cup side in a 14-12 loss to Great Britain & Ireland in 2011 at Royal Aberdeen in Scotland.

   Smith made a third appearance for the U.S. in the 2013 Walker Cup Match at the National Golf Links of America on Long Island, a 17-9 victory for the Stars & Stripes.

   The 43-year-old Smith remains a force on the Pennsylvania amateur scene. His proficiency in match play is evident in his six wins in the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s R. Jay Sigel Match Play Championship. As recently as last summer, Smith, the 1994 PIAA champion as a sophomore at Brookville, reached the semifinals of the Sigel Match Play at Sewickley Heights Golf Club before falling to the eventual champion, Palmer Jackson, a junior at Notre Dame and winner of the PIAA Class AAA crown in 2018 as a senior at Franklin Regional.

   It is partially all those memories from the 2009 Walker Cup Match at Merion that has me so looking forward to the Curtis Cup Match in June. And yeah, I’ll probably keep tabs on some of the members of captain Sarah Ingram’s U.S. team in the years to come. I know I’ll be watching some future stars on the historic East Course layout in Ardmore section of Haverford Township.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Individual champion Puig powers Arizona State to team title in Southwestern Invitational

    Last spring’s NCAA Championship was held at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., less than 10 miles from the Tempe, Ariz. campus of Arizona State.

   The Sun Devils felt very comfortable there, finishing first after four rounds of stroke-play qualifying for the eight-team match-play bracket that would produce a national champion.

   Ryggs Johnston finished in third place in the individual standings, just two shots behind Clemson’s Turk Pettit, the individual NCAA champion. Cameron Sisk was one of the four players who landed in a tie for eighth place. Arizona State fell short of its ultimate goal, dropping a 3-2 decision to the NCAA runnerup Oklahoma in the semifinals.

   The NCAA Championship will return to Grayhawk this spring and Arizona State looks like it plans to take that short ride from its campus and make some noise as the Sun Devils seek to win their third national title.

   The wraparound 2021-2022 college golf season resumed this week with a couple of tournaments out West and Arizona State, with four of the five players who represented the Sun Devils in match play against Oklahoma in the NCAA semifinals in the lineup, claimed an impressive 13-shot victory over the team that hoisted the trophy at Grayhawk last May, Pepperdine, in the Southwest Invitational, always a key early spring barometer on the Division I scene which wrapped up Wednesday at North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village, Calif.

   Arizona State, No. 3 in the Golfstat rankings during the midseason pause in the 2021-’22 season, climbed to the top of the leaderboard with a sparkling 13-under 275 total in Tuesday’s second round and kept the pedal to the metal with a final round of 12-under 276 for a tournament record 30-under 834 total. It was the Sun Devils’ ninth Southwestern Invitational team title, but their first since 2001.

   The Sun Devils, out of the Pac-12, had opened with a 5-under 283 in Monday’s first round that left them four shots behind pace-setting Georgia, which opened with an 8-under 279. The Bulldogs, ranked 13^th, are out of the tremendously deep Southeastern Conference.

   Arizona State was led by David Puig, a junior from Spain and No. 6 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) who became the first repeat winner and fourth two-time individual champion in the Southwestern’s history.

   Puig was seven shots out of the lead going into the final round after adding a 2-under 70 to his opening-round 73. But he ripped off a spectacular final round of 7-under 65 over the 6,992-yard, par-72 North Ranch layout for an 8-under 208 total that was two shots clear of teammate Sisk, a senior from San Diego and No. 36 in the WAGR, and Wake Forest’s Michael Brennan, a sophomore from Leesburg, Va. and No. 28 in the WAGR.

   Puig was really aggressive in the final round, recording eight birdies and an eagle at the par-5 12^th hole to offset three bogeys. Heck, the guy only had six pars on his scorecard.

   Puig was the hottest player in college golf at this time a year ago as he added another individual victory in The Amer Ari Invitational in Hawaii shortly after his victory in the Southwestern.

   It was a different dynamic for the Sun Devils early in 2021 as the Pac-12 had kept them off the golf course with the coronavirus pandemic still raging in the fall of 2020. Arizona State clearly couldn’t wait to start competing again for the first time since the advent of the pandemic halted the 2019-’20 season for good in mid-March.

   Pepperdine had been No. 1 in the Golfstat rankings when the curtain suddenly dropped on the 2019-’20 season, the Waves never getting a chance to compete for a national championship. To their everlasting credit, the Waves got the NCAA crown they thought they were headed for a year earlier in last May’s NCAA Championship at Grayhawk as they knocked off Oklahoma, 3-2, in the Final Match.

   Ranked No. 7 heading into the Southwestern, Pepperdine, a perennial West Coast Conference power, showed it will be a force to be reckoned with again this spring as the Waves earned runnerup honors with a 7-under 847 total.

   The host team for the Southwestern, Pepperdine opened with a 1-under 287 and added an 11-under 277 that left the Waves six shots behind Arizona State going into the final round. Pepperdine closed with a solid 5-under 283.

   It was nine shots back to another Pac-12 entry, No. 21 Washington, in third place as the Huskies finished with an 8-under 856 total. After opening with a 289, Washington posted an 8-under 280 in Tuesday’s second round before finishing up with a 1-under 287.

   No. 13 Georgia backed off from its fast start as the Bulldogs added an even-par 288 to their opening-round 277 before closing with an 8-over 296 that left them seven shots behind Washington in fourth place with a 1-under 863 total.

   Georgia advanced to last spring’s NCAA Championship with a runnerup finish in the Tallahassee Regional, but the Bulldogs never really got it going at Grayhawk.

   Atlantic Coast Conference power Wake Forest, ranked 14^th, made a cross-country trip to tee it up in the Southwestern and finished six shots behind Georgia in fifth place with a 5-over 869 total. The Demon Deacons bounced back from an opening-round 295 by matching par in the second round with a 288 before closing with a 2-under 286.

   Wake Forest advanced to Grayhawk last spring with a third-place finish as the top seed in the Cle Elum Regional. The Demon Deacons had a real shot for a spot in match play in the NCAA Championship, but faltered in the final round of qualifying at Grayhawk.

   San Diego State, the defending team champion in the Southwestern, finished two shots behind Wake Forest in sixth place in the tough 12-team field with a 7-over 871 total. The Aztecs, out of the Mountain West Conference, were consistent at North Ranch, closing with a 3-over 291 after posting back-to-back 2-over 290s in the first two rounds.

   San Diego State earned a trip to Grayhawk last spring with a third-place finish as a five seed in the Kingston Springs Regional.

   Sisk backed up Puig for Arizona State as he contributed a 5-under 67 to the Sun Devils’ second-round surge after he had opened with a 71. Sisk matched par in the final round with a 72 to get his share of second place with Wake Forest’s Brennan at 6-under 210.

   Preston Summerhays, a freshman from Scottsdale, Ariz. and a member of the golfing Summerhays family, is a really nice addition to the Arizona State lineup. He finished in a tie for sixth place with a 4-under 212 total. After struggling a little in the opening round with a 74, Summerhays, No. 86 in the WAGR, bounced back with a 4-under 68 in Tuesday’s second round before finishing up with a 2-under 70.

   Summerhays was an impressive winner of the 2019 U.S. Junior Amateur at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.

   Mason Anderson, a graduate student from Chandler, Ariz. and No. 83 in the WAGR, gave Arizona State a fourth top-10 finisher as he finished among a trio of players tied for 10^th place at 2-under 214. Anderson struggled in Tuesday’s second round with a 76, but posted a pair of solid 3-under 69s in the first and final rounds.

   Rounding out the Arizona State lineup was Johnston, a junior from Libby, Mont. and No. 47 in the WAGR who finished among the group tied for 34^th place with a 7-over 223 total. Johnston struggled in the final round with an 83 after posting a pair of counting 2-under 70s in the first two rounds.

   That’s a lineup that boasts five players inside the top 86 in the WAGR. The Sun Devils are going to be tough playing close to home if they can book a return trip to Grayhawk this spring.

   Wake Forest’s Brennan was the picture of consistency with three straight 2-under 70s that gave him a share of second place with Sisk at 6-under 210.

   Leading the way for Pepperdine was Derek Hitchner, a senior from Minneapolis, Minn. and No. 78 in the WAGR who shared fourth place with Texas’ Travis Vick, a junior from Houston and No. 43 in the WAGR, each landing on 5-under 211. After opening with a 71, Hitchner recorded back-to-back 2-under 70s in the final two rounds.

   It was a disappointing week for Big 12 power Texas as the No. 8 Longhorns finished in eighth place with a 22-over 886 total, but they were playing without the Coody twins, Pierceson, No. 2 in the WAGR, and Parker, No. 71 in the WAGR.

   But it was a solid showing for Vick, who entered the final round just a shot out of the lead after he added a 5-under 67 to his opening-round 70 before falling back a little in the final round with a 74. Vick made a nice run to the semifinals in last summer’s U.S. Amateur at one of America’s most iconic golf courses, Oakmont Country Club near Pittsburgh.

   Sharing sixth place with Arizona State’s Summerhays at 4-under was Pepperdine’s Dylan Menante, a junior from Carlsbad, Calif. and No. 17 in the WAGR. After struggling to an opening-round 77, Menante ripped off rounds of 4-under 68 in Tuesday’s second round and a sparkling 5-under 67 in Wednesday’s final round.

   A couple of Pac-12 players, UCLA’s Eddy Lai, a graduate student from San Jose, Calif., and Washington’s Teddy Lin, a sophomore from Taiwan, finished in a tie for eighth place, each landing on 3-under 213.

   Lai matched par in the opening round with a 72 and got better each day, adding a 71 in Tuesday’s second round before closing with a 2-under 70. Lin added a 3-under 69 to his opening-round 70, but struggled a little in the final round with a 74.

   Joining Arizona State’s Anderson in the trio tied for 10^th place at 2-under 214 were Pepperdine’s Joe Highsmith, a senior from Lakewood, Wash. and No. 11 in the WAGR, and Georgia’s Trent Phillips, a senior from Inman, S.C. and No. 12 in the WAGR.

   Highsmith, a huge factor in the Waves’ run to the national championship last spring, sandwiched a 72 in Tuesday’s second round with a pair of 1-under 71s.

   Phillips had opened with a sparkling 6-under 66, easily the best score of Monday’s first round, and had a share of the individual lead going into the final round after adding a solid 2-under 70 in Tuesday’s second round. Phillips struggled to a 78 in the final round, but still earned a top-19 finish.

   Arizona State’s cross-state rival Arizona, ranked 34^th by Golfstat, edged No. 37 New Mexico by a shot to claim the team title in the Arizona Intercollegiate, which wrapped up Tuesday, for the fifth straight year. The Wildcats, who bested Arizona State to claim the team crown in last spring’s Pac-12 Championship, hosted the Arizona Intercollegiate at Tucson Country Club.