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Utah Golf Advances to 2022 NCAA Championships for First Time in 34 Years

by Utah Athletics
May 18, 2022

NORMAN, Okla. – The University of Utah men's golf team closed out competition at the Norman Regional on Wednesday afternoon, finishing with a tournament total 860 (-4) to capture one of the five qualifying spots to advance to the 2022 NCAA Championships. This is the first team appearance the Utes will make since 1988.

"I'm so proud of what this team accomplished. It has been our goal all year and recently we haven't been playing as well as we would have liked. Today we got off to a rough start, but really turned it on in the middle stretch of our round," said head coach Garrett Clegg. "Our team has been great all year at hitting the hardest shots on a course and this week was no different. The opening hole today, the 10th, was the hardest hole on the course and we stood up and had five players hit perfect tee shots down the middle of the fairway."
 

In a regional that featured the No. 1 team in the nation (Oklahoma) and seven other programs that entered the week ranked above the Utes, Utah posted a score of 288 (E) on the final round to snag the fifth and final spot over No. 24 South Carolina (6th), No. 36 Louisville (7th), No. 48 San Diego State (8th) and No. 37 Missouri (10th).

Starting on the 10th tee, it was a battle between the Utes and the South Carolina Gamecocks as they both bounced between fifth and sixth for most of the round. Three of the five Utah players had already made the turn and the Utes were one shot back of South Carolina at the time in sixth, when Javier Barcos made a clutch birdie on the par five 18th to tie it up. Blake Tomlinson followed and reached the green in two shots, setting himself up for the massive eagle putt he would roll in to give the Utes a two-shot lead over the Gamecocks heading into the final nine. Utah never looked back combining for another eight birdies on their way to their best regionals finish on record in program history, fifth-place.  

Individually, Tomlinson played a strong regional from start to finish never turning in a round over par. In his final round, Tomlinson started off slow with two bogeys through the first five holes but would turn it on over the next nine holes with the aforementioned eagle on 18 and birdie on the par three 2nd to go along with seven pars. He bogeyed the par three 6th (his 15th) and parred out to record a 36 on each side to shoot 72 and pick up his fifth top-10 finish of his senior campaign.  
 

"Blake did an incredible job leading us this week. He played great golf and was rock solid in today's final round," Clegg said.

Barcos saw a roller coaster of a finish in his final round going birdie-birdie-bogey-birdie-bogey over his final five holes to shoot a 1-over 73. Starting the day, Barcos bogeyed the 11th, 13th and 17th holes before his first birdie of the round on the 18th to make the turn at 2-over 38. After the bogey on his final hole, Barcos headed into the clubhouse with a final tournament score of 213 (-3) to place T-11th.
 

"Javier didn't play the best on his first few holes, but turned it on with a huge birdie on 18 and then made a number of key birdies on his back nine," said Clegg.

Tristan Mandur parred his first four holes of the day before a tough stretch of back-to-back bogeys on holes 14 and 15. He went par-birdie-par to close out his first nine and bogeyed the par three second hole (his 11th), his last bogey of the round. Mandur finished strong over the last seven holes, birdieing the 4th to gain the shot back and parred out to shoot even (36) on the back nine for a 1-over 73 and total 219 (+3) to finish T-28th.
 

"Tristan's round was a huge confidence boost! We needed a big round from him and he came through in a big way. He was great today," Clegg said.

Braxton Watts wrapped up his regionals debut with his best round of the tournament, a 2-under 70 with five birdies on the card. Watts came out firing in his final round with a birdie on the opening hole (10th) and 13th. He would bogey the par three 15th and the first hole (his 10th) after making the turn to move back to level par on the day. But Watts zoned in over the next seven holes with birdies on the 3rd, 7th and 8th holes before a bogey on his final hole of the tournament brought him back to 2-under. Watts finished the regional shooting a 221 (+5) and climbed 24 spots during his final round to place T-34th.
 

"Braxton got off to an incredible start and to shoot the low round of the day for us was awesome! It isn't often you have a freshman lead the team in perhaps the most important round of the year," said Clegg. "It shows how important he is to the program and gives a small insight into how great he will become as his game continues to grow and develop."

Rounding out the Utes was Martín León , also closing out his first regional tournament. Leon's day started out tough with three bogeys on the first four holes but settled in over the last five holes of his first nine with four pars and his lone birdie of the day on the par four 16th. Three more bogeys were made on his second nine to go along with six pars and turn in his second consecutive 77 (+5). He would total 227 (+11) over the three days of play to finish T-61st.
 

"Martin didn't have his best stuff this week, but he was calm and fought hard all week. He will learn from it and will be ready at nationals," said Clegg.

Up Next
The Utah men's golf team will now head down to the desert to make their first NCAA Championships appearance in 34 years. The championship is hosted by Arizona State and will be held at the Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., Friday-Wednesday, May 27-June 1.  

Follow the Utes
For fans of the Utah golf program, follow the Utes on Twitter (@UtesGolf) and Instagram (@UtesGolf).
 

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