ASU Men’s Golf: Koichiro Ishika finishes as top freshman, Sun Devils place 3rd in Pac-12 Championship

The No. 18 Arizona State men’s golf finished up its regular season Wednesday afternoon after placing third in the Pac-12 Championships, hosted by USC at Rolling Hills Country Club.

On Tuesday, the Sun Devils surged all the way up to second place after posting 341 as a team, good enough for 14-under and the lowest score in the third round. However, they could not carry their momentum into the final round and finished Wednesday at 1-under and 23-under par as a team.

USC took home first place by an easy four strokes over Colorado. The Trojans finished at 31-under as a team, while the Buffs climbed over ASU after posting 8-under Wednesday and 27-under for the tournament.

Justin Suh of USC took home medalist honors after going 16-under par the first three rounds. Suh wouldn’t need to gain anymore strokes as he posted par, 71 on Wednesday.

Sun Devil freshman Koichiro Ishika earned the lowest score for all first-year competitors. Ishika scored in the 60s each day, including back to back 69s in the first two rounds, before improving on Tuesday with a 66 and following that up with another 69. In total, Ishika finished at 11-under par and sixth overall.

The rest of ASU’s golfers fared well as three of the five finished even par or better. Alex Del Rey finished second for the Sun Devils at 3-under which tied him for 16^thfor the tournament. Mason Anderson and Jino Sohn both finished T27 after posting even par. Chun An Yu (2-over) and Blake Wagoner (5-over) rounded out the Sun Devil squad.

Two positive takeaways from this tournament are Arizona State secured a Territorial Cup point after finishing ahead of Arizona for the 12^thtime in the past 14 years. The other positive is the Sun Devils still own the most Pac-10/12 Championships since 1979 with 12.

ASU next heads to the NCAA Regionals, which begin on Monday, May 14.