The Omni La Costa Resort and Spa hosted the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship over Memorial Day weekend.(Photo by Travis Bradley/Cronkite News)
Junior Michael Mjaaseth hits from a greenside bunker on the par four 11th hole at Omni La Costa Resort.(Photo by Travis Bradley/Cronkite News)
Preston Summerhays strikes a ball in the second round of competition during the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship.(Photo by Travis Bradley/Cronkite News)
PHOENIX — After five days of grueling competition in Carlsbad, California, the Arizona State men’s golf season has drawn to a close.
The Sun Devils are currently in the in-between period that coaches and players often find themselves in at the end of any sports season. While they mourn a season that came to a screeching halt on the 21st hole of Michael Mjaaseth’s playoff match Tuesday against Mississippi’s Tom Fischer, they also begin the process of regrouping and rebuilding for next season.
This offseason, however, the Sun Devils will prepare without the assistance of their two standout seniors: Preston Summerhays and Josele Ballester.
While Tuesday’s loss left a bitter taste, coach Matt Thurmond looks back on the two careers of the future pros with admiration and sentimentality.
“They came in as such good guys and superstar players,” Thurmond said. “When we signed them, I felt like we had the best player from Europe and the best player from the U.S.”
According to the World Amateur Golf Ranking, Ballester is currently ranked sixth in the world, with Summerhays not far behind at 14th. Both have ranked even higher in previous weeks, with Summerhays’ best rank at one point being fifth in the world, and Ballester’s highest being third.
The last name Summerhays has become synonymous with the game of golf. Summerhays’ father, Boyd, has been ranked one of the Top 50 Golf Teachers in America by Golf Digest, and coached PGA greats like Tony Finau. Summerhays’ grandfather, Pres, served as the head golf coach at the University of Utah.
Summerhays hopes that he has begun to forge a legacy of his own as his Sun Devil career comes to an end.
“To have so many great players come out of ASU and to hopefully leave a legacy … it’s really special and I’m very honored,” Summerhays said.
Summerhays also said that one of the biggest impacts that being a Sun Devil had on him wasn’t just being around high-level golfers, but also being able to spend time with a “great group of guys.”
Summerhays and Ballester have both already competed in professional tournaments, with Summerhays earning a sponsor exemption to the WM Phoenix Open in 2022, and Ballester teeing it up alongside Masters Champion Scottie Scheffler at Augusta National in April.
Ballester also competed in the WM Phoenix Open earlier this season. Despite some early challenges when he first arrived in the United States, golf seems to be a universal language, and it was a catalyst for him to grow close with his teammates and develop lasting friendships.
“The main thing that we have in common is that we love golf, and we play it with passion,” Ballester said. “That’s what makes this team so special: That healthy competitiveness that drives us to become better golfers, but also better people.”
Ballester is not the first Spaniard to come to ASU and find career success with the program. U.S. Open and Masters champion Jon Rahm also played for the Sun Devils between 2012 and 2016.
The Sun Devils program has been home to a plethora of PGA Tour players throughout its history for both the men and women’s game. Other notable names include the likes of Phil Mickelson, Grayson Murray, Pat Perez and Azahara Muñoz.
Now Summerhays and Ballester have the opportunity to join the long list of professionals who honed their craft in the Valley.
Thurmond said Summerhays and Ballester each brought great golf and great personalities to the program. As the team looks forward to future seasons, Thurmond said new faces will have to assume the role of “alpha” that the two seniors innately fulfilled.
“Preston and Josele are very unique … they’ve had the whole world watching them and performed on the highest stage,” Thurmond said. “They’re guys that, whenever they step on the property, everyone knows it.”
Thurmond said that he’d love to be able to have another Summerhays or Ballester on the team next year, but according to him “you just can’t find these guys.”
Josele Ballester and head coach Matt Thurmond shake hands with the competition following the completion of the first round of the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship.(Photo by Travis Bradley/Cronkite News)
Ballester has had his mind set on becoming a professional golfer since he was a child. With all of the noise and distractions that come with tremendous opportunities like playing the Masters, Ballester was fully focused this season on becoming a national champion.
Though his goals didn’t necessarily match up with reality, Ballester was laser-focused on the team’s success this season.
“If you don’t enjoy the moment, maybe you’ll look back when you’re done with regrets, and that’s something we don’t want to experience,” Ballester said.
Summerhays is also looking forward to a potentially blindingly bright future. Having finished seventh in PGA Tour University rankings, he’s already guaranteed a membership for the Korn Ferry Tour during the 2025 season.
Summerhays may have a long lineage of golfers in his family, but he said he hasn’t yet had to think about creating a name for himself. In the meantime, he focused on soaking in and embracing all of the memories that his career at ASU brought him.
“Hopefully I’ll play professional golf for a very long time,” Summerhays said. “It seems like yesterday I was a freshman, and college golf and being on this team has been so much fun.”
The void that will be left by the departure of these two from the program will certainly be noticeable, but it will provide a tremendous opportunity for underclassmen like Connor Williams and Pongsapak Laopakdee to develop their game and grow as leaders.
According to Thurmond, the team will have to adapt, and they’ll feel very different next season when the team hits the course.
“They’re such big personalities that our team will never feel the same, and it’ll have to be something different that’s as good or better, but in different ways,” Thurmond said.
Summerhays left a few parting words of wisdom for the next generation of Sun Devil golfers as he steps out into the real world and leaves college golf:
“It’s just a game.”