Move over, Phil Mickelson. Make way for Jon Rahm.
Rahm, a freshman from Spain, who tied for second place at last week's NCAA Men's Golf Championship, has put up some numbers that just might rank as the best freshman season in the history of the Arizona State men's golf program.
Let's start with his scoring average: 71.37 stokes per round 15 events.
That's better than any freshman in the program's storied history and pushes Mickelson -- 72.14 strokes per round in 14 events in 1988-89 -- down to fourth place on the ASU all-time list, behind Rahm, Alejando Canizares (71.65, eight events, 2002-03) and Todd Demsey (72.10, 15 events, 1991-92).
Among other Sun Devil notables, Paul Casey averaged 72.30 strokes per round as a freshman in 1997-98, and Jeff Quinney averaged 72.57 in 1997-98, and Chez Reavie averaged 72.58 in 2000-01.
The rest of Rahm's credential include these:
2 -- tournament victories.
4.51 -- strokes per par-5 hole, best in the nation.
9 -- eagles, tied for the most in the nation.
16 -- rounds in the 60s.
46 -- rounds overall, all of which counted toward ASU's team score. Only twice in the past 20 years has an ASU golfer had 100 percent scoring during a season: Chris Hanel (39 rounds in 1996-97) and Nicklas Lemke (37 rounds, 2006-07).
165 -- birdies, three more than any other collegiate player.
Mickelson gets the edge with three individual championships during his freshman season, including the NCAA title. But at the very least, Rahm ranks as a worthy challenger.
