Travis Bradley
With the second round of the NCAA Division I men’s golf championship complete, the Arizona State men’s team is seated comfortably at the head of the pack, spearheaded by the performance of sophomore Connor Williams.
The Sun Devils entered the day tied for fifth overall after standout performances by Williams and U.S. Amateur champion Josele Ballester. Williams posted a 4-under 68 Friday and followed that Saturday by carding a 5-under 67 in only his second round of college championship tournament play.
This type of performance is par for the course for the talented 20-year-old, ASU coach Matt Thurmond said.
“Connor is one of those guys that, from the day he arrived, has done everything right,” Thurmond said. “He gets perfect grades, he works super hard, everybody on the team loves him and he’s got an awesome attitude.”
Williams is one of only five players to have scored 5-under or better on the North Course at the Omni La Costa Resort this weekend. The only others to record the same score or better were Tommy Morrison of Texas, Phichaksn Maichon of Texas A&M, Carter Loflin of Georgia and Michael La Sasso of Ole Miss.
Having grown up in Escondido, California, Williams said that he’s comfortable with the course conditions and has had numerous opportunities to play the course throughout his youth.
“It’s a little different with the redesign, but I still know it really well and know how to play my way around this course without making too many mistakes, and I did that really well today,” Williams said.
The ASU sophomore has played exceptionally well in the early rounds of the tournament on a course that is comparable to any number of PGA Tour-level courses. The North Course has a rating of 77.8 and a slope of 146. For perspective, TPC Scottsdale’s rating is 74.7 with a slope of 142.
Translation? The North Course is difficult to navigate.
Not too difficult for Williams, whose senior teammate, Preston Summerhays, referred to him as “the MVP.” Williams, Summerhays and Ballester all share a house, Williams said, and their closeness has translated into one of the team’s biggest assets throughout the season.
“They’ve instilled a lot of confidence in us underclassmen,” Williams said. “We’re a very close-knit team, and I think that just gives us all confidence knowing that any of our guys can go out and play well on any day.”
Williams is tied with La Sasso for first place, and the Sun Devils have the outright lead on the team leaderboard, boasting a cumulative 13-under after two days of tournament play, three strokes ahead of second place Oklahoma. Ballester is tied for fifth in individual competition with a two-day total of 4-under, while Summerhays and teammate Peer Wernicke shot even par.
Thurmond has great confidence in Williams’ ability to play the game at a high level, and said there is little on the course that Williams can’t do.
“He’s got all of the shots,” Thurmond said. “A course like this requires you to hit some hard, some soft, some high, some low, and that’s the real skill (required) of a place like this.”
The team does well at maintaining its focus naturally, Thurmond said, and he isn’t concerned players will lose their edge between Saturday’s and Sunday’s rounds.
After practice Saturday, the team will go bowling, and Thurmond hopes that camaraderie flows into Sunday.