Sports360AZStory by Maddyn Johnstone-Thomas
When the Arizona State golf teams moved from Karsten Golf Course to Thunderbirds Golf Complex, there was a vision for every room. In the new venue, there was a long hallway with beautiful windows that connected the whole facility that wasn’t completed.
Sun Devil men’s golf coach Matt Thurmond had a lot of different visions for what this space could be, but didn’t want it to feel like a Hall of Fame or just do stickers or vinyl on the wall. It had to be unique, alive, and current. One day, Thurmond stumbled across an Instagram post of a painting done of former Sun Devil golfer Jon Rahm.
The artist of the painting was Kyle Lucks, an ASU alumni who graduated in 2008. Thurmond reached out to Lucks to discuss the project and how much it might potentially cost.
“There’s the Hall of Fames and other places, but we wanted this to be our current stars, and a place that our players, maybe themselves could even get on the wall,” Thurmond said. “It’s the one that all the recruits, all the players watch on TV every weekend. We wanted to really speak to our team and our recruits and to our fans.”
The project wasn’t going to come at a small cost. One day, Thurmond was doing a tour of the facility with former Sun Devil golf coach and 1990 National Champion Steve Loy. Thurmond told Loy about the vision and Loy, who is still very connected to the golf program, offered to pay for the project.
Sun Devil women’s golf coach Missy Farr-Kaye was also heavily involved with the proceedings and helped decide who Lucks would paint. Picking out the athletes was one of the hardest decisions. Farr-Kaye said it was because of how many accomplishments and history Sun Devil Golf has.
There are 12 original paintings in total that are 30-inch by 45-inch that represent the stars of the past and present. The art includes players that are currently on tour such as Rahm, Phil Mickelson, Azahara Munoz, as well as Olivia Mehaffey, who is the only current student-athlete on the wall.
Also included in the paintings is Wendy Ward, who is no longer on tour, but is an important part of the Sun Devil golf family and legacy.
“She has had a huge impact with the Solheim Cup, and has had such an impact on our program,” Coach Farr-Kaye said. “She was a part of the three-peat in the 90s and is just one of our really beloved Sun Devils, so she has a special honor.”
The process for Lucks to complete the paintings took about six months. He didn’t want the paintings to look like they were done by 12 different artists with 12 different backgrounds, so he created a common theme and then matched the photograph he had to a background. Lucks used acrylic paint, which dries faster than regular paint, while allowing the process to move at a good speed.
He knew that he had to nail all of the details that came along with transforming each photo into a painting. There were some fun challenges during this process, along with some tougher ones as well.
“Capturing the face to perfection is the first main objective and then getting the other elements correct,” Lucks said. “I knew the viewers and would be looking at the colors, logos on the putters if it was visible.
“A fun challenge was Carlota Ciganda has a plaid vest, which honestly was the first time I’ve ever painted plaid. It’s not something you choose to do as an artist. You don’t typically go out and paint plaid, but that was one that I was going to challenge, and it was very fulfilling to see it turn out the way it did.”
The reactions of having the paintings hung up in the gallery blew everyone’s expectations away.
“It was even better than I imagined,” Thurmond said. “They’re really professional. It feels like you’re going to an art gallery that you should be paying admission for. It’s really beautiful art and it’s also very modern and current and vibrant and inspiring. They’re better in person, even better than pictures can show.”
Thurmond’s favorite is of Rahm when he sealed the victory for the Ryder Cup by defeating Tiger Woods. Lucks captured the emotion of Rahm winning, while also including the defeat of Woods in the background.
For Lucks, painting Mickelson is a dream come true.
“I grew up in a golf household,” Lucks said. “Phil Mickelson is the player I’ve known the longest out of the 12 paintings that I’ve done so I guess the sentimentality of that. I’ve known Phil my whole life and so to finally get the chance to bring one of his moments to life, that was pretty cool for me as a lifelong sports fan.”
Coach Loy is proud of how the project came together as well.
“I’m very excited, very proud and happy for all of the recipients that are sitting out there on that board,” Loy said. “It’s pretty impressive to walk down that hallway.”
Thurmond and Farr-Kaye both stressed how close the men’s and women’s programs are and that they are one program. Having these portraits added to the facility shows the importance of the golf culture created at ASU.
“It honors the past, but what the past is still doing in their present, it inspires the present,” Thurmond said. “I think there will be kids that we recruit, who will say, ‘Hey I want to come to ASU because I want to be one of the guys on that wall.’ It creates a vision for a young kid who’s thinking about his or her future, for what could be.
“It’s everything that we want it to be. It connects generations. It inspires excellence and celebrates excellence. It shows that we’re all kind of part of the same thing, which is being a part of an amazing program to celebrate.”
