4 ASU Golfers named All-Americans, Matt Thurmond earned Coach of the Year honor

In the aftermath of ASU Men’s Golf being crowned as the 2024 Pac-12 Conference champion, four Sun Devils were named PING GCAA All-Americans and head coach Matt Thurmond is the GCAA West Region Coach of the Year.

Freshman Wenyi Ding was a first-team selection while graduate student Ryggs Johnston and junior Preston Summerhays were nominated to the third-team and junior Josele Ballester received an honorable mention. Summerhays made the first-team in 2023.

During his first year in collegiate golf, Ding was both the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year. He was also the fifth ASU golfer to be a first-team All-American in the last 17 seasons, joining the likes of Summerhays, Chun An Yu (2019), Jon Rahm (2015 and 2016) and Max Rotluff (2015).

This is the third time in four seasons in which four players from Arizona State were honored as All-Americans. They have also done so in 2021 and 2022, with 2023 having three.

Thurmond’s program continues to be a golf powerhouse during his eight-year tenure at ASU. 10 All-Americans have received the honor 18 times and the Sun Devils have won four Pac-12 championships under his guidance. He was also the Coach of the Year in 2005, 2009 and 2019.

Arizona State won the Cypress Point Classic match play event in the fall and both the Cabo Collegiate and Thunderbird Collegiate this spring before winning its last Pac-12 title as a program. Like the other athletic programs at Arizona State, men’s golf is departing from the Pac-12 and entering the Big 12.