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ASU men’s golf team stocked with aces
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There is a soothing beat running through the Arizona State clubhouse. All five of the Sun Devils men’s golf team’s NCAA tournament starters are returning.
Freshman additions bolster ASU women’s golf team
There is depth on the roster and some key players had world-class, offseason performances.
Golfweek ranked ASU ninth in its preseason poll.
That beat is the pulse of confidence.
The Sun Devils are coming off a Pac-10 championship as well as a 17th-place finish at the NCAA tournament as they enter the 2008-09 season.
Sophomores James Byrne and Stephen Gross both won major European amateur tournaments this summer and Jesper Kennegard is looking to improve on last season’s 72.14 stroke average, only .02 of a point behind former Devil Phil Mickelson’s freshman average.
Coach Randy Lein, who is entering his 17th season with the Sun Devils, was unsure of just one thing when he sat down at the player facility earlier this week: Who his front man in the talent show will be.
“Everyone is going to push everyone to a higher level of competition,” Lein said.
At last week’s team qualifier, only 12 strokes separated the top four players.
“Now we go and there are five guys that can win a tournament,” team veteran Knut Borsheim said.
With the level of competition that exists just for starting spots, and the individual nature of the game, you might think that egos would eclipse the sense of team unity. Not so for this year’s Sun Devils.
“They want to win as a team,” and that is something “really special,” Lein said.
There are currently five European players on the roster — four of whom represented ASU in the NCAA championships last year.
Borsheim, a native of Norway, pointed to the Europeans, who often play tournaments in team format, as a source of the harmony.
“The other guys actually want you to play well and a lot of teams aren’t like that,” he said.
The talent pool will only deepen when Bjorn Akesson of Sweden joins the team in January.
Akesson is currently ranked 12th by R & A World Amateur Rankings, seven spots behind his future teammate, Gross.
Also joining the team this year is Chan Kim from Chandler Hamilton High School.
Results from this bunch will have to wait because hurricanes have canceled the Rees Jones Intercollegiate tournament in South Carolina this weekend.
The team’s first action will come at the NCAA Preview tournament in Toledo, Ohio on Sept. 28.
2008 ASU men’s golf roster
| Name | Class | Hometown |
| Tristan Bierenbroodspot | Jr. | Loon Op Land, Netherlands |
| Knut Borsheim | Jr. | Bergen, Norway |
| James Byrne | So. | Banchory, Scotland |
| Erik Coover | Sr. | Scottsdale |
| Jed Dirksen | So. | Hampton, Iowa |
| Cameron Edens | So. | Phoenix |
| Spencer Fletcher | Fr. | Los Altos, Calif. |
| Stephan Gross | So. | Leimen, Germany |
| Ryan Kelley | Sr. | Phoenix |
| Jesper Kennegard | So. | Klippan, Sweden |
| Chan Kim | Fr. | Honolulu, Hawaii |
| Braxton Marquez | Jr. | Scottsdale |
| Scott Pinckney | Fr. | Anthem |
2008 men’s schedule
| Date | Event | Location |
| Sept. 7-8 | Rees Jones Intercollegiate | Haig Point, S.C. |
| Sept. 19-21 | Olympia Fields Invitational | Chicago |
| Sept. 28-30 | NCAA Preview | Toledo, Ohio |
| Feb. 4-6 | Big Island Invitational | Kona, Hawaii |
| Feb. 22-24 | John Hayt Invitational | Ponte Vedra, Fla. |
| March 13-15 | Southern Highlands Championship | Las Vegas, Nev. |
| March 22-24 | Callaway Match Play | San Diego |
| April 10-11 | ASU Thunderbird Invitational | Tempe |
| April 18-19 | U.S. Intercollegiate | Stanford, Calif. |
| April 27-29 | Pac-10 Championships | Seattle, Wash |
| May 14-16 | NCAA Regional | TBD |
| May 26-30 | NCAA Championships | Toledo, Ohio |
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