Thurmond has led the Devil’s to three straight NCAA championship appearances
It’s easy to look at the golfers for being responsible for carding a team and NCAA record 59 at the Las Vegas Regionals, or even three straight NCAA Championship match play appearances. But, coach Matt Thurmond is the mastermind behind the scenes and has now earned Coach of The year for the West Region.
Thurmond had only one starter return for the 2023 season while having two freshman in the starting lineup for most of the season, but that didn’t make a difference. In his seven years as coach of the Sun Devil Men’s Golf team, he has led the program to three consecutive match play seasons.
In 2023, Thurmond led the Devil’s to wins at the Thunderbird Invitational and Las Vegas regionals and finished third in Golfstat’s final rankings. Previously, ASU has finished seventh (2018-19), sixth (2019-20), fifth (2020-21) and third in 2023.
It’s easy to take winning for granted, but prior to Thurmond, the Devil’s only had six NCAA championship appearances. They have since made six in his seven years at the helm.
In 2023, the Sun Devil Men’s Golf team posted an impressive 143-27-3 record in head-to-head competition, including 68-26-3 against top-25 and a 104-27-3 record against top-50 opponents.
Part of the Devil’s success came from star sophomore Preston Summerhays, who recorded the most birdies (163) in a season since Jon Rahm in 2015 (179).
While Thurmond said he was devastated after the loss to North Carolina in match play back in May, he is excited for the coming season as his boys are playing in big tournaments, including the U.S. Open and British Open, while he continues to recruit for the future.