Arizona State leads pack with five Sun Devils in Masters’ field
Apr 3, 2018, 2:03 PM
Jon Rahm hits out of a sand trap on the fourth hole during the final round of the Phoenix Open golf tournament, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2015, in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
(AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
Though golf is primarily an individual sport, Arizona State has strength in numbers at the Masters with five alumni in the field.
Not only do the Sun Devils have five players competing at Augusta National – the most out of any collegiate program – but three of the pre-tournament favorites represented the maroon and gold.
Phil Mickelson has the sixth-best odds at 16 to 1 and is joined by Jon Rahm (20 to 1) and Paul Casey (25 to 1) among the top 12 betting favorites. Additionally, Chez Reavie and Pat Perez have a combined five top-10 finishes in 2018.
According to Forbes’ David Ching, no other college golf program has produced more than one of the top 25 favorites.
While ASU has the most players in the field, Georgia has the next most with four and Ching believes that the Bulldogs might have a home-course advantage.
If there is such a thing as a home-course advantage at Augusta, it exists for players with local ties.
But Georgia and its players seem to draw the most attention among the locals since the UGA campus sits just a 90-mile drive down US-78 from Augusta National. With Bubba Watson claiming two green jackets in the previous five years, Bulldogs fans have had additional incentive to follow the event.
In total, 49 of the 87 players in the field played for an American college program.
