Without Wenyi Ding, Arizona State starts season with win at Sahalee Players

September 8, 2024 | by Justin Golba of AmateurGolf.com

Arizona State Men's Golf team (Arizona State Athletics Photo)

Even without the top ranked Ding, the Sun Devils won the first tournament of the season in Washington

The Sun Devils might have lost 2022 U.S. Junior Amateur champion Wenyi Ding this offseason, but they started the season off strong with a win at the 2024 Sahalee Players Championship at Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish, Wash.

Ding, who left the Sun Devils to pursue other amateur opportunities, is currently ranked No. 6 in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com World Rankings. The Sun Devils finished 7-under with rounds of 282-284-291 to finish as the only school under par.

Florida finished in solo second place at 4-over, and Arizona finished in solo third place at 6-over. Pepperdine finished in solo fourth place at 10-over, and Duke finished in solo fifth place at 11-over.

In the individual competition, Aiden Krafft of Oregon came from behind to win by one shot, carding rounds of 71-70-71 to get to 4-under.

2024 U.S. Amateur champion Jose Luis Ballester and Preston Summerhays finished T2 at 3-under, Tiger Christensen of Arizona and Jack Turner of Florida finished T4 at 2-under. Greyson Leach of Oregon and Connor Williams of Arizona State finished T6 at 1-under.

Five golfers finished T8 at even par, and six golfers finished T13 at 1-over.

Summerhays is currently ranked No. 9 in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com World Rankings and recently finished T2 at the European Amateur and made the match-play portion of the U.S. Amateur.

Summerhays also won the 2023 Sahalee Players Championship.

In addition to winning the U.S. Amateur in August, he made the match play portion in the British Amateur and T8 at the European Amateur. He is currently ranked No. 17 in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com World Rankings.

Results: Sahalee Players Championship

Place	Player	Location	Pts	Scores
1	Aiden Krafft	Albuquerque, NM	800	71-70-71=212
T2	Jose Luis Ballester	, Spain	500	69-72-72=213
T2	Preston Summerhays	Scottsdale, AZ	500	71-68-74=213
T4	Tiger Christensen	, Germany	400	76-68-70=214
T4	Jack Turner	Orlando, FL	400	73-70-71=214

View full results for Sahalee Players Championship

About the Sahalee Players Championship

Without Wenyi Ding, Arizona State starts season with win at Sahalee Players

Inaugurated in 1992, the Sahalee Players Championship (SPC) was a major summer amateur event until 2019 when it was discontinued. In 2023, it was converted into a college event hosting the top men's teams in the country. Team (best four scores out of...