ASU's Big Swing: Can They Continue Their Success?

The Arizona State University Men's Golf team is coming off of a very successful season. They placed second in the Big 12. The year before that, they won the PAC 12 Championship, which was the Men's Golf first NCAA Championship since the 1978 season. The big question is, can they continue their success?

Coaching

Much like Men's Wrestling Head Coach Zeke Jones, Men's Golf Head Coach Matt Thurmond has been the head coach for a while. He was hired on July 25, 2016. Since then, he has had a tremendous amount of success. Thurmond has been a constant pillar of triumph as the head coach. So much so that in 2024, he got inducted into the GCAA Hall of Fame! 

Thurmond has proved that as long as he is there, the ASU Golf will have constant success. This is demonstrated of the placement for men's golf in the PAC-12 over the past couple of years under him. From most recent, here is how they finished: first, second, third, second, fourth, third, and sixth (his first year as coach).The 2020 season was omitted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thurmond has shown that the big game is not too big for him. He has been so successful that he has had six assistants move on to be head coaches. The most recent example is Armen Kirakossian, who took the UCLA Coaching job in the summer of 2022. The current Assistant Coach is Thomas Sutton, who was previously the Assistant Coach for the Washington Huskies. Sutton is well-regarded by players.

Players

Speaking of players, the Sun Devils have some great ones. The first one is Connor Williams. Coach Thurmond praises Williams's work ethic and it has paid off. While being a Sun Devil, Williams has won the 2020 Se Ri Pak AJGA tournament, was the Southern California Jr. Amateur Champion, and part of the Rolex Junior All-American team!

Another highlight is Junior Orange Bowl Champion, Nick Prieto. Born in Miami, Florida, Prieto has made quite the impact at ASU. In addition to being the Orange Bowl Champion, Prieto is also has Six Florida Junior Tour wins.

Prieto and Williams both are great players for the Sun Devils Golf. Both are major keys to ASU to continue their success with golfing.

In conclusion, the Sun Devils golfing program has a lot going for it. They have a great core of players and coaching staff. How do you think ASU Golf will do next season? Please let us know your thoughts on this story when you like our Facebook page when you click right here.