Golf Finishes in Eighth at the NIT Invitational
Tucson, Ariz. - The Utah Men's Golf team finished in eighth at the NIT Invitational today after shooting 7-under (857) through three rounds, securing their third consecutive top-10 finish. Utah played in a field of 10 top-50 teams this weekend, showing resiliency in the third round.
Saturday, the team finished the first round of play shooting 1-over par (289) placing them in 13th among an 18-team field. The Utes had planned on playing 36 holes on the first day, but were unable to do so due to there not being enough light on the course after the sun went down.
Today, not only did the squad finish the last few holes of round two, but put together a strong final 18 all together. The Utes were able to also overcome strong winds on the last few holes to have their best round of the tournament. The Utes shot 8-under (280) in round three to help them climb the leader board five spots to eighth place on the final day of play.
INDIVIDUAL BREAKDOWN
Leading the Utes was freshman Javier Barcos, who was solid from start to finish. Barcos shot 6-under (71-71-68=210) for the tournament, and just like the team saved his best for last, shooting a career-low 4-under (68) on the final 18 to finish in a tie for 17th among a field of 104.
Junior Blake Tomlinson was also steady for the duration of the tournament, shooting 4-under (212) and fishing in a tie for 24th. Tomlinson shot 3-under (69) on the final 18 to help him secure a place in the top-25.
Fellow junior Tristan Mandur also tied for 35th after shooting 1-under (215) for the tournament. Mandur shot even par or better on seven of the back nine holes in round two for his best round score of 1-under par (71).
Rounding out the team were freshman Jesper von Reedtz and redshirt freshman Oscar Maxfield who tied for 68th and 92nd respectively. Reedtz shot 1-under (71) in the final 18 to record his best round score while, Maxfield shot 3-over (75) in round one to achieve his.
TALKING ABOUT THE ROUND: HEAD COACH GARRETT CLEGG
"Today was a good day for the Utes. We played very poorly for our two rounds yesterday and just could not get anything going. Today we played a lot better. We knew going into the final round that realistically eighth place was the best we could finish without a lot of help from another team. For the boys to play at their best in the final round is a great sign for things to come. You can see that we still have a long way to go as a program, but we are excited about where we are going."
UP NEXT
The team will be back in action on March 29 to compete in the Redhawk Invitational in Phoenix, Ariz.