The Utah Tech University men’s golf team has the chance to make a comeback at their upcoming Western Athletic Conference Golf Championship following a low ranking at the University of California, Santa Barbara Gaucho Invitational tournament.
Finishing eighth in the tournament that took place April 5-6, the men’s golf team finished its regular season on a low. On Day 1, the Trailblazers started with a 3 over par 291 and ended the day tied for seventh place with a score of plus 8 over 584.
On Day 2 of the tournament, the team dropped down a score and ended in eighth place overall, right behind San Francisco University. Head Coach Brad Sutterfield said the team felt disappointed with the outcome of the game.
“There were some not-so-great finishes. I think overall we’re a little bit disappointed in the results, but we’re headed in the right direction and we’re getting better every year,” Sutterfield said.
The Trailblazers have the opportunity to recover from the UCSB Invitational in the upcoming WAC Championship April 25-27. The three-day event is being held at The Golf Club at Chaparral Pines in Payson, Arizona, which boasts a 54-hole course.
Utah Tech has a five player lineup consisting of Zach Felts, Tanner Telford, Ashton McArthur, KJ Ofahengaue and Jackson Rhees.
Tanner Telford, a junior recreation and sports management major from Mountain Green, led the team in the previous tournament with a top 20 finish. He played throughout all three rounds and ended in a four-way tie for 16th place overall. He said he plans on taking the momentum he had from the last game forward into the WAC championship.
Telford said both he and the team are practicing hard for the upcoming tournament after this season’s ups and downs.
“We’re playing a lot, trying to keep it competitive,” Telford said. “And then practicing wedges a lot, a lot of three irons off the tees… it’s kind of a weird course. Just practicing what the course will look like coming up.”
The team has been spending this week preparing for the specific golf course and getting to know the course before playing at the championship.
Utah Tech will be playing against defending champion Grand Canyon University and third-seeded Utah Valley University in the first round on Friday, and the stakes couldn’t be higher.
The men’s golf ranking currently isn’t high enough to advance to regionals, so a win at the WAC championship would mean the team gets to play in the 2025 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Regionals and continue their season.
The 2023-24 championship saw the Trailblazers place sixth overall, a ranking they’ll need to overcome if they want to advance this year.
“If we finish second or worse, our season is over. If we win it, we advance to the regional championship and from regionals is when we get to advance to the national championship,” Sutterfield said.
The stakes are high, but the UT men’s golf team feels prepared to meet the challenge and win the WAC championship in order to advance to regionals and beyond.
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