The men’s golf team at Arizona State was selected as Golfweek’s “national team of the week’’ on Tuesday. Actually, that’s quite a feat for a team ranked no better than 18 th in the country.

Expect that number to move up significantly in the next two months, as the Sun Devils are sleepers come NCAA Championship time. It will be an interesting road, with two of the four stops – this week’s Thunderbird Invitational and the NCAA West Regional in mid-May -- being played at the ASU Karsten Golf Course.

Norwegian import Knute Borsheim, who enrolled at the semester break, is the Sun Devils’ secret weapon. Borsheim has played twice and earned an 11 th-place finish in Oregon and a sixth at Tucson . His coach, Randy Lein, thinks Knute has the game to win. (He’s certainly got the name!)

Steele DeWald, a sophomore from Park City , Utah , also has proven to be a big plus while providing instant offense with a couple of 63s along the way. Together, DeWald and Borsheim have solidified the inside of the Sun Devils’ lineup, something that is not easy to do in college golf.

That has to be a good feeling for Lein, who is loaded with pure firepower up front. Senior Niklas Lemke of Sweden and red-hot Chilean Benjamin Alvarado Holley are a proven one-two punch, among the best in college golf. That was evident last week, when Lemke had to hold off Alvarado Holley with a chip-in on the last hole to claim medalist honors at the National Invitational hosted by Arizona .

“We had been underachieving most of the year, right up until Tucson ,’’ reported Lein, who is now in his 15 th season at ASU. “And we win it by eight shots, which is a ‘bunch’ in college golf.’’

Lemke is ranked No. 2 among the nation’s elite. He currently boasts a 70.13 stroke average, and is being considered for every national honor and team. If Lemke shows up in a big way from here on in the sky is the limit for the lanky Swede and his teammates.

It all starts this weekend with the Thunderbird, a tournament that has changed its format in order to get more teams and players in the field with the idea of previewing the course before the NCAA West Regional, which takes place May 16-18.

“That was the big consideration, to add a few teams and take care of more people,’’ Lein said of playing 18 holes on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, instead of the standard 36 holes on Saturday and 18 on Sunday. And with a college-am on Thursday, everybody will end up getting a 72-hole peak.

Besides ASU, other ranked teams in the top 25 which will be competing in the Thunderbirds include No. 4 USC, No. 5 UNLV, No. 11 Texas A&M and No. 23 Arizona, which happens to be the defending champ. The Sun Devils have won this tournament 13 times, the last victory coming in 2004.

This will be a last shot for Lemke to add his name to the tournament’s honor roll. Past winners of the Thunderbird Invitational include Phil Mickelson (1991-92), Larry Barber (’94), Todd Demsey (’95), Jeff Quinney (’99), Paul Casey (2000) and Alejandro Carnizares (’04).

Thunderbird Invitational
Where: ASU Karsten Golf Course
Par 72; 7,057 yards
When: Friday, Saturday and Sunday starting at 7:30 a.m.
Format: 18 holes each day
Teams: UA, ASU, Baylor , California , UCF, Fresno State , Kansas State, New Mexico , Oklahoma , Oregon , San Diego State , USC, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, UNLV
Live scoring: www.golfstat.com