It is 124th U.S. Amateur Week, and Preston Summerhays is leading a Sun Devil trio into the 312-player event, as Josele Ballester and Michael Mjaaseth are all in Minnesota at Hazeltine National Golf Club – and stroke-play co-host Chaska Town Course -- for the annual championship.
The field will play one round at Hazeltine and Chaska Town Course after which the field will be trimmed to 64 for match play, which runs Wednesday through Sunday's 36-hole championship match. The champion and runner-up both will receive exemptions into the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club as well as likely invitations to the Masters Tournament in April. The winner also gets a spot in the 2025 Open Championship at Royal Portrush.
Ballester gets it started at 7:33 a.m. CT at Chaska town Course and Mjaaseth tees at 12:52 p.m. CT, while Summerhays is at 1:47 p.m. CT at Hazeltine.
--VIDEO: ASU men's golf coach impacts the career of five Olympians (by Grace Johnson, Cronkite News/July 31, 2024)
This will be the second U.S. Amateur for Hazeltine, a Robert Trent Jones Sr. design that has previously hosted a pair of U.S. Opens (1970 and 1991), two PGA Championships (2002 and 2009) and a memorable Ryder Cup (2016).
SUN DEVIL AMATEUR HISTORY
Three Sun Devils have won the U.S. Amateur title, with the last win by a Sun Devil coming 24 years ago when Eugene, Ore., native Jeff Quinney beat James Driscoll in 39 holes in New Jersey.
SUN DEVIL U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONS
2000: Jeff Quinney defeated James Driscoll, 39 holes; Baltusrol G.C., Springfield, N.J.; Medalists — 137, Jim Salinetti, Jeff Wilson; Entries: 7,124
1990: Phil Mickelson defeated Manny Zerman, 5 and 4; Cherry Hills C.C., Englewood, Colo.; Medalist — 135, Phil Mickelson; Entries: 4,765
1987: Bill Mayfair defeated Eric Rebmann, 4 and 3; Jupiter Hills Club (Hills Course), Jupiter, Fla.; Medalist — 141, Scott Gump; Entries: 4,084
SEVEN-TIME SUMMERHAYS
Players in Field with Most U.S. Amateur Appearances (2024 included) – Stewart Hagestad (15), Todd White (10), Preston Summerhays (7), Robbie Ziegler (7). Preston enters the Amateur sixth in the WAGR as of Aug. 7.
MORE ON PRESTON COURTESY OF THE USGA
Preston Summerhays, 22, of Scottsdale, Ariz., won the 2019 U.S. Junior Amateur, which earned him an exemption into the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot. Summerhays, who has played in six U.S. Amateurs, is the son of former PGA Tour player Boyd, the nephew of PGA Tour player Daniel and the great nephew of Bruce, who won three PGA Tour Champions events. Preston's sister, Grace, qualified for last year's U.S. Women's Open at Pebble Beach and this U.S. Women's Amateur at Southern Hills Country Club, and his uncle, Joe, was in the field at the 2023 U.S. Senior Open. Preston partnered with Luke Potter to reach the quarterfinals of the 2021 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball. He also won the 2020 Sunnehanna Amateur, becoming the youngest champion in tournament history. In 2022, Summerhays was named Pac-12 Conference Freshman of the Year after recording eight top-10s during his first year at Arizona State University, and is now a three-time All-American at ASU.
PRESTON SUMMERHAYS TAP-INS
Summerhays notched PING GCAA All-American third-team honors in 2023-24 after earning first-team All-America 2022-23. He started the year with a win in the 72-player field at the Sahalee Players Championship in September and also has won back-to-back ASU Thunderbird Collegiate titles in 2023 and 2024, to go with top-10 finishes this year at the National Invitational in Tucson and the Cabo Collegiate (third). His season-best was a 6-under 66 at the National Invitational in the first round on Jan. 29, 2024, while his career low is a 10-under 62 at the 2023 NCAA Las Vegas Regional in the first round on May 15.
PRESTON SUMMERHAYS CAREER STATS
37 TOURNAMENTS
112 ROUNDS
71.85 STROKE AVERAGE
2,431 STROKES
43 ROUNDS IN 60s
MORE PRESTON RE: PGA TOUR UNIVERSITY
PGA TOUR University announced the preseason ranking for the Class of 2025 on July 31, and Preston Summerhays is No. 1 on the first list of rising seniors eligible for PGA TOUR University in 2024-25. Summerhays, who is a four-time collegiate winner at Arizona State, has made 12 career starts in PGA TOUR sanctioned events. He started the 2023-24 season with a win in the 72-player field at the Sahalee Players Championship in September before becoming the first Sun Devil since Jon Rahm to win the Thunderbird Collegiate for a second consecutive season in April. A member of the victorious Walker Cup team in 2023 at St. Andrews, Summerhays has played 112 rounds as a Sun Devil and has a career stroke average of 71.85.
OTHER NOTES AND THINGS
Here are some other loose items from a tight-leaf notebook on the 2024 Pac-12 champion Arizona State men's golf team as the summer rolls on.
WHAT ELSE HAPPENED IN 2023-24
Along with the Conference crown, Matt Thurmond's Sun Devils also recorded victories at the Cypress Point Classic match play event in the fall of 2023 and last spring's Cabo Collegiate and Thunderbird Collegiate. The season didn't end the way the program expected, but Coach Thurmond shared some great thoughts on that here.
Proud of the three @ASU_Alumni from our program headed to Paris. Congrats to @PuigCorrius @JonRahmOfficial and @kevingolfyu !!!! pic.twitter.com/ljRB2f1iCJ
— Sun Devil Men's Golf (@sundevilmgolf) June 20, 2024
OLYMPIC CONNECTIONS
Folks know that ASU will sent three alums to the Olympics this summer, with Jon Rahm, David Puig and Kevin Yu. But Coach Thurmond also coached Nick Taylor, Carl Yuan and C.T. Pan at Washington. Sixty men's golfers were in the Olympics, five were coached by Coach Matt.
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS ??@SunDevilMGolf wins the 2024 @Pac12 Men's Golf Team Title ?? pic.twitter.com/5nD8k1loIP
— Sun Devil Men's Golf (@sundevilmgolf) April 28, 2024
COACH HAD HIS OUT OF OFFICE REPLY ON FOR A WHILE
Matt Thurmond -- who earned Pac-12 Coach of the Year in 2024 and the GCAA West Region Coach of the Year -- Team USA to the 2024 Arnold Palmer Cup victory July 5-7 at Lahinch Golf Club in Lahinch, Ireland. The Ryder Cup style competition features the best men's and women's collegiate golfers against their international counterparts in an event that's been played annually since 1997, with the addition of the women's competition in 2018. Team USA now leads the all-time series 15-12-1 after the big win.
Thurmond enters his ninth season at the helm of Arizona State and posted three straight top-five appearances --- its best three-year stretch since 1990-1992 -- at the NCAA Championships (2022-24), including a runner-up finish to Texas in 2022, and then led ASU to its first Pac-12 title since 2008 in 2024. During his tenure in Tempe, he garnered his first Pac-12 Coach of the Year honor at ASU in 2019 and earned the Frank Kush Award in 2021-22, a prestigious honor voted by fellow Sun Devil coaches. He followed that up with Pac-12 Coach of the Year in 2024.
He has led ASU to 23 team titles, including back-to-back wins at NCAA Regionals in 2022 and 2023, a feat that was last accomplished in 1998 and 1999. Thurmond has led the Sun Devils to the NCAA Championships all but one season since taking control of the program in 2016 and led ASU to match-play at the NCAA Championships the last three seasons held at Grayhawk Golf Club. In 2022, Thurmond earned the status of an ASU graduate after completing his master's degree in Applied Leadership and Management. He's one of nine head coaches to be an Arizona State alumni.
Prior to coming ASU. Thurmond spent 15 years at Washington created a perennial national championship contending program for the Huskies. With 12 total NCAA Championship appearances. The 2009 Golfweek National Coach of the Year and earned two Pac-10 Coach of the Year honors ('05, '09), and Thurmond coached Washington to three conference titles in 2005, 2009, and 2010.
A LOOK AT THE 2024-25 SCHEDULE
The 2024-25 Sun Devil men's golf schedule is just about set. ASU will open the season Washington for the Sahalee Players Championship Sept. 7-8 and plans to close up shop in Carlsbad at the 2025 NCAA Championships.
2024-25 SUN DEVIL MEN'S GOLF SCHEDULE
Sept 7-8: The Sahalee Players Championship/Redmond, WA (Washington)
Sept. 20-22: Fighting Illini Invitational/Olympia Fields/Chicago, IL (Illinois)
Sept. 30-Oct. 1: Ben Hogan Collegiate/Colonial Country Club/Fort Worth, TX (TCU)
Oct. 7-9: Big 12 Match Play/The Clubs at Houston Oaks/Hockley, TX (Big 12)
Oct. 19-21: Williams Cup/Eagle Point Golf Club/Wilmington, NC (North Carolina)
Feb. 6-8: Amer Ari Invitational/Mauna Lani Golf Resort/Waikoloa, HI (UH-Hilo)
Mar. 2-4: Cabo Collegiate/Twin Dolphin/Cabo San Lucas, Mexico (Arkansas)
Mar. 17-18: Pauma Valley Invitational/Pauma Valley/Pauma Valley, CA (LMU)
Mar. 24-25: Valspar Invitational/Floridian/West Palm Beach, FL (Houston)
Mar. 31-April 1: Maridoe Invitational/Maridoe/Carrollton, TX (North Texas)
Apr. 11-12: ASU Thunderbird Collegiate/Papago Golf Club/Phoenix, AZ (Arizona State)
Apr. 22-24: Big 12 Championship/Southern Hills/Tulsa, OK
May 12-14: NCAA Regional/TBD
May 23-28: NCAA Championship/La Costa Resort/Carlsbad, CA
JOSELE BALLESTER TAP-INS
Ballestter has now earned honorable mention All-America honors in each of his first three seasons, as in 2023-24 he had a 71.05 stroke average in 12 tournaments (36 rounds) that included four top-10 finishes. In 2022-23, he tied for fifth out of 72 at the Las Vegas Regional with a 15-under 201, tied for seventh out of 80 at the Thunderbird Collegiate and tied for fourth out of 45 at The Calusa Cup.
JOSELE BALLESTER CAREER BEST ROUNDS
64/-6 at Pac-12 Championships first round/April 28, 2023
64/-6 at Maui Jim Intercollegiate second round/Sept. 10, 2022
64/-7 at Thunderbird Collegiate first round/April 14, 2023
JOSELE BALLESTER CAREER STATS
33 TOURNAMENTS
100 ROUNDS
70.89 STROKE AVERAGE
7,089 STROKES
32 ROUNDS IN 60s
Twice as studious ??@rjgolfer2000 has been named an Academic All-American for a second year in a row, becoming only the second Sun Devil in program history to be recognized by @CollSportsComm in consecutive years!
— Sun Devil Men's Golf (@sundevilmgolf) July 19, 2024
??: https://t.co/Dwdst6CBjw pic.twitter.com/ZVhDpa879Z