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Recap: 2022 NCAA Championships at Grayhawk

An incredible two weeks at Grayhawk Golf Club finally came to an end Wednesday, when Texas defeated the Arizona State in an epic match for the men’s golf national championship. This is the farthest the Sun Devils Men’s golf program has advanced since 1996, when they won the national championship.

“You don’t get chances to win National Championships very often… when you do something like that, its forever part of history,” said ASU Head Coach Matt Thurmond immediately after the final match. “You have reunions and they celebrate you 25 years from now at a football game and you all come into town share the suite together. But when you’re runner-up, you don’t get any of that and this team deserves that. They’re such an awesome group of guys, the way they compete and care for each other. I would’ve loved for them to have that.”

Mason Andersen, 2017 AGA Player of the Year, was a standout for the Sun Devils during the Match Play portion of the NCAA’s, helping propel ASU to the championship match on the final day. Andersen went 3-0 against his match play opponents.

The University of Arizona men’s team also made the trip to Grayhawk, finishing 19th out of 30 teams, but failing to make the 15-team final round, or eight-team match play portion. Senior Chase Sienkiewicz shot a team best +10 (220) over three rounds of stroke play.

“While the season ended before we wanted to, I was proud to see us end it in Scottsdale,” Head Coach Jim Anderson said after the third round. “We achieved many of our goals this season, including winning NCAA Regionals and advancing to NCAA Championships.

“We accomplished some milestones this season that hadn’t been done in over a decade, and this season gave our program a tremendous foundation to build on and continue to develop next season.”
At the Women’s NCAA Championships, Arizona State advanced to the final round of stroke play, but finished one spot out of match play, in ninth place by two strokes. Freshmen Calynne Rosholt Grace Summerhays, along with Senior Alessandra Fanali, each finished in a tie for 40th at +9 overall.

“They kept fighting and we just needed a couple other teams to miss a few putts and it didn’t happen and that’s okay,” Head Coach Missy Farr-Kaye told Sun Devil Athletics. “They did really well, and I have a feeling they’re going to come back really hungry.”

The 2022-2023 season for both Arizona and Arizona State gets started this fall. Both programs hungry for another shot at a National Title in their home state.