This will be Preston Summerhays’ first PGA Tour event playing on a sponsor exemption.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Arizona State freshman Preston Summerhays can add playing in the Waste Management Phoenix Open to his budding amateur career.
Summerhays was announced Tuesday as the first of five sponsor exemptions invited to the 2022 WM Phoenix Open, which is scheduled to be played February 10-13 at TPC Scottsdale.
Summerhays is the first ASU golfer since Jon Rahm in 2015 to play in the Phoenix Open as an amateur. Rahm finished T-5 in that appearance.
The Scottsdale native has already had an impressive amateur career, competing in the 2020 U.S. Open and 2021 Barbasol Championship. In 2019, Summerhays was the winner of the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship.
This will be Summerhays’ first Tour event playing on a sponsor exemption.
In his career at ASU, known as “Kevin,” has a 70.4 stroke average in 38 tournaments, with 78 out of 116 rounds at par or better. In addition to college and amateur events, he played in the U.S. Open in September with his coach Matt Thurmond as his caddie. It’s the second U.S. Open in a row Yu has played in. He also competed in the PGA Tour’s Arnold Palmer Invitational.
A senior last season, Yu’s back at ASU for an “extra” year, like many college golfers, after the coronavirus pandemic canceled all spring college sports.
ASU, along with the rest of the Pac-12, has yet to compete this year but the Sun Devils will return to action in January against rival Arizona in the Copper Cup, a two-day, four-round Ryder-Cup style match at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club in Maricopa, Arizona. The tournament dates are Jan. 17-18.
“The Copper Cup will be the first college golf tournament of the spring and a great way to celebrate the Territorial Cup rivalry and the very high level of college golf found in Arizona,” Thurmond said in a statement released by ASU.
ASU golf coach Matt Thurmond will caddie for his student, No. 3-ranked amateur Chun An Yu, at the 2020 U.S. Open.
When Arizona State men’s golf coach Matt Thurmond accepted an offer from his top player, Chun An Yu, to caddie at the U.S. Open this week, it was with only one condition.
No using a big, heavy Tour golf bag.
“That’s not happening with me as the caddie,” Thurmond said.
Yu agreed and their deal was done.
Arizona State men’s golf coach Matt Thurmond (left) will caddie for one of his Sun Devils, Chun An Yu, at the U.S. Open this week. Sun Devil Athletics
So Yu, a senior from Taiwan, is not only playing in his third consecutive Open as an amateur, he also should be the envy of every collegiate athlete.
Because for this one week, the player, not the coach, is giving the orders. Thurmond made that clear before they left Tempe for the tournament at Winged Foot in Westchester County, just outside New York City.
“I said, ‘I’m your servant. You’re my boss. You can tell me anything you want. You want to arrive four hours early? I’ll be there four and half hours early. You want to stay all day. I’ll be there. You want me to carry seven umbrellas and four sets of rain gear? I’m carrying all those things.’”
These were not empty promises. Reached Tuesday morning, Thurmond said he was finishing up a meal in the dining room for caddies. Work awaited.
“I’m getting pin sheets, range balls, wet towels,” Thurmond said. “I’m happy to do it; he’s treating me great.”
Yu, who also adopted the American name “Kevin,” doesn’t seem the type that requires a lot of maintenance. And part of the reason Yu asked Thurmond to caddie is that Yu is hoping to play better than he did in his previous two Opens, in which he failed to make the cut.
“He’s coached me four years already,” Yu said. “He knows me so well. On the course, he knows how to calm me down. If I do something that’s not me, he can say, ‘Hey, hey, Kevin, you should do this.’”
Thurmond has caddied many times before and attended several U.S. Opens. He knows the drill. The courses are difficult with fairways that are narrow, rough that is thick and long and greens that are quick.
Inevitably, players will complain. His advice to Yu: don’t participate.
“Look, it’s going to be really hard,” Thurmond said. “We know it. Let other people worry about that. We’re just going to try to make pars and some birdies when we can.
“You have to recalibrate your expectations. Kevin comes out on pretty much any course we play and shoots mid-60s, every day. Just knowing that you might go and shoot 74, 75 and have it be a great round, being OK with that, will be a vital, vital skill.”
The No. 3-ranked amateur in the world, Yu’s original plan was to turn pro after the collegiate season, but that was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A senior, Yu accepted when the NCAA offered an additional year of eligibility to seniors whose seasons were cut short by the pandemic.
“Give me another year to play as a Sun Devil,” he said. “Never say no to that.”
ASU golfer Chun An Yu will carry a special Sun Devils bag with PT 42 on the side during the U.S. Open this week. Courtesy of Arizona State University
Yu hasn’t played a competitive round since March. While back home, he tried to stay sharp by making rounds with friends as competitive as possible. He did the same thing with teammates after recently returning to Tempe for classes.
Despite the time away from competitive golf, Yu hopes he’s less nervous when he tees off Thursday at 5:40 a.m., than he was during his previous Open experiences.
His coach, however, is experiencing some stomach flutters.
“I’m just carrying the clubs, so it doesn’t really matter if I’m nervous,” Thurmond said. “But it does speak to what a big deal this is, what an exciting time this is for Kevin and our program.”
Seven golfers with ASU ties are playing this week, ranging from 50-year-old Phil Mickelson to the 22-year-old Yu. That’s tied with Georgia for the most of any school.
Three ASU alums — Mickelson, Paul Casey and Jon Rahm — play together in the first two rounds. (Tee times: 10:27 a.m. Thursday and 5:07 a.m. Friday.)
“It’s pretty cool to see that the legacy continues,” Thurmond said.
Oh, and the bag Thurmond will be carrying? It will be Yu’s Arizona State camouflage bag with “PT 42” on the side.
There are five former Sun Devils in the field at Winged Foot as well as a current and a future ASU golfer.
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The USGA was creative once again with its first and second round groupings for the 120th U.S. Open, which starts on Thursday.
For example, there’s an all-Canada group consisting of Adam Hadwin, Mackenzie Hughes and Corey Conners.
There’s a big-hitters group made up of FedEx Cup champ Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Tony Finau. Bombs away.
Andy Ogletree, who won the 2019 U.S. Amateur, gets to play with defending U.S. Open champ Gary Woodland and 2019 Open Championship winner Shane Lowry. That’s pretty cool.
There’s an all-Oklahoma State grouping made up of Rickie Fowler, Matthew Wolff and Viktor Hovland. #CowboyGolf, indeed.
In the group just ahead of them is an all-Arizona State threesome. Phil Mickelson, making his 28th U.S. Open appearance, will tee it up with fellow former Sun Devils Jon Rahm and Paul Casey.
Former ASU golfers Matt Jones, Chez Reavie and Chan Kim are also in the field.
But it’s not just past ASU golfers represented.
Sun Devil-to-be Preston Summerhays is in the 144-golfer field. He got in by virtue of his 2019 U.S. Junior Amateur title. Summerhays committed to ASU 11 months ago to and will be a part of the Class of 2021.
Current Sun Devil Chun An Yu, who goes by Kevin, is playing in his third U.S. Open. The fifth-year senior got in because of his World Amateur Golf Ranking. He was third as of the Aug. 19 cutoff.
Who’s your caddie?
Yu’s caddie this week will be his coach at ASU, Matt Thurmond, who will carry a Pat Tillman-inspired camoflage golf bag featuring the PT42 patch (Tillman wore No. 42 for the Sun Devils from 1994-97) and the ASU pitchfork logo.
Thurmond spoke with Sports360AZ.com in Phoenix earlier this week about Yu’s preparations for Winged Foot.
“You just have to recalibrate your expectations,” Thurmond said. “Kevin goes out on any course we play and shoots mid-60s, pretty much every day. Just knowing that you might go and shoot 74, 75 and have it be a great round and being OK with that, I think, is so important.”
Yu is grouped with Sebastian Muñoz and Justin Harding.
If there’s one last ASU-U.S. Open connection this week, it’s Mickelson’s caddie, Tim, his brother and the coach who preceded Thurmond in Tempe.
