Golf

NCAAs were supposed to be going on right now, but Arizona State, Grayhawk must look ahead to next season


SCOTTSDALE — In a best case scenario for Arizona State, the women’s golf team would have been playing for a ninth NCAA championship on Wednesday at Grayhawk Golf Club with the men’s team on deck for a chance at its third national title starting Friday.

Instead, the ASU teams and Grayhawk must wait another year because of the coronavirus pandemic for the NCAA Championships to make their debut in Scottsdale in what was to have been a three-year run.

The 2021 and 2022 men’s and women’s nationals still will be played on Grayhawk’s Raptor course and ASU is bidding for 2023 to replace 2020. The NCAA men’s and women’s tournaments have been held at the same site since 2015, but Grayhawk will be the first site to host in consecutive years with a three-year award made in June 2017.

“We had a short timeline to get ready,” said Gregg Tryhus, Grayhawk managing partner. “The team here has done an incredible job, the community has stepped up, the Thunderbirds were ready to go, ASU was fully engaged. We were ready to pull it off. It would have been as could as you could do in that window of time. Now that we have another 12 months, we’re going to be ready for next year.”

Sun Devils were in good position

The ASU teams were poised to contend when the season ended March 12 with the NCAA cancelling winter and spring championships. The Sun Devil women were ranked No. 3 nationally and the men No. 6 by Golfstat, with both coaches believing the best was yet to come.

“We had just won in Mexico with our younger guys and Blake (Wagoner),” ASU men’s coach Matt Thurmond said. “We had this feeling within the team we’re really trending in the right direction, which we always knew we would. Our goal was to be at our best today, and we were on our way.”

ASU women’s coach Missy Farr-Kaye said, “We really hadn’t really clicked yet, but you want to peak at the end. You don’t need to be No. 1 in January. You need to be No. 1 today.”

Key seniors returning

To that end, both teams are welcoming back senior stars who otherwise would have been finishing their college careers this year. The NCAA is allowing spring sport seniors whose season was cut short to return if they wish.

Thurmond announced on Wednesday that Chun An Yu, already a two-time U.S. Open qualifier and third individually at the 2019 NCAA Championships, will join Wagoner as returning seniors.

“Kevin (Yu) had been prepared to turn pro,” Thurmond said. “He’d gotten a good feel of where he stacked up. Basically he would have been the equivalent of a first or second overall draft pick coming out of college golf.

Mehaffey also was waiting to see if she would have a chance to qualify for the LPGA Tour, which cancelled its Q-school on May 20.

“She was ready to graduate and finish school,” Farr-Kaye said. “She’s trying to figure out whether she wants to do graduate level classes or start a minor (degree).

“Hopefully she’ll get to play in the ANA (Inspiration, an LPGA major tournament postponed until Sept. 10-13). We want her to be ready to go to Q-school in 2021 and be ready to be the rock star she is. We want her coming back to be very positive for her. She’s the leader, it’s very natural for her, and it’s really been her team for two years.”

New recruits on the way in

Both teams are adding elite talent — Jeewon Park for the men, Ashley Menne out of Xavier Prep for the women — that will add fuel to the daunting prospect of a national-title sweep, something the Sun Devils managed in 1990.

The ASU women won their eight national title in 2017, when Monica Vaughn also was the individual champion. The Sun Devil men are in pursuit of their first team title since 1996 and third overall.

“I believe we have the most talented team in college golf right now,” rising senior Mason Andersen said of the men before knowing Yu was returning. “I think our team is so deep we could travel with the B team and they would probably compete just fine. That’s what breeds competition within our team. It’s really tough to get in the top five and if you get in, you’d better make sure you play well because somebody might take your spot.”

There will be a home course familiarity advantage at Grayhawk, provided the Sun Devils make it through sectionals to nationals, and with the Arizona heat.

Andersen of Chandler already knows the Raptor course well.

“If you want to go out there and study the course then there shouldn’t be any surprises by the time nationals roll around,” he said. “You should know that course like the back of your hand. It’s a tricky course, a lot of elevated greens and slopes you might not see the first time around. It’s something we need to take advantage of.”



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