Men's Golf Set for 2022 NCAA Championships Starting Friday
TOURNAMENT: 2022 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships
DATE: May 27-June 1
LOCATION: Scottsdale, Ariz./ Grayhawk Golf Club
PAR/YARDAGE: 70; 7,289
LIVE SCORING: Golfstat.com or the Golfstat App
THIS WEEK
After capturing their highest finish at an NCAA Regional in program history, the Utah men's golf team travels to Scottsdale, Ariz., to compete at the 2022 NCAA Championships for the first time since 1988 and the seventh time in program history. The championships will take place May 27-June 1, at the Grayhawk Golf Club and is hosted by Arizona State University.
THE FIELD
Advancing to where the road comes to an end for the NCAA men's golf season, Utah will compete against the nation's best 30 teams. In order of seeding, the teams that have punched their tickets to the NCAA championships are Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Vanderbilt, Arizona State, North Carolina, Pepperdine (2021 Champions), Texas, Texas Tech, Florida, Georgia Tech, Texas A&M, Stanford, Arkansas, Georgia, Wake Forest, Auburn, Florida State, Ole Miss, Kansas, Arizona, Oregon, East Tennessee State, South Florida, Ohio State, North Florida, Liberty, BYU, Georgia Southern and College of Charleston.
Utah comes in as the #29 seed and will be paired with Georgia Southern and the College of Charleston for the first two rounds. The Utes will be apart of the morning wave on Friday with the first tee beginning at 9 a.m. MDT off the 10th tee. All three teams will tee it up on Saturday during the afternoon wave, starting at 2:20 p.m. MDT off the first tee.
UTAH'S LINE-UP
The Utes' six-man lineup will consist of their normal five players in Javier Barcos, Tristan Mandur, Blake Tomlinson, Braxton Watts, Martín León and rounding out the team as an alternate making his third tournament appearance will be Oscar Maxfield.
Mandur returns to the NCAA Championships for the second consecutive season. Earning a bid last year as an individual, Mandur recorded Utah's highest finish on record tying for 17th at the 2021 NCAA Championships with a career low 72-hole score of 283 (+3). Mandur has collected one top-five finish and a pair of top-10's to go along with a 72.0 scoring average competing in all 12 events this season.
Tomlinson is having a career year with two top-five finishes, five top-10's and a career low 70.8 scoring average so far through 12 events. At the moment, this gives Tomlinson the lowest season scoring average (Min. 10 rounds) in Utah history. Tomlinson posted the third-lowest round of the year at the Mark Simpson Invitational, shooting 64 in the second round to tie his career low.
Barcos has played in all 12 tournaments this season and ranks second on the team in scoring average with a 71.2. Barcos has finished in the top-five two times and has posted three top-10 finishes. At the Visit Stockton Invitational, Barcos tied for the lowest round of the year with a career low 63 in the second round.
Leon rounds out the four Utah players that have seen action in all tournaments this season. Finishing in the top-10 just one time, Leon owns a season scoring average of 72.8 and ties with teammate Barcos for the lowest round of the year shooting a blistering 63 (career low) in the opening round of the Mark Simpson Invitational.
Watts has played in eight events in his freshman campaign and has finished in the top-10 once. Watts has a scoring average of 72.6 and recorded his lowest round of the year in the first round of the Lake Las Vegas Intercollegiate, turning in a 68. Watts paced the Utes for most of the Pac-12 Championships, holding the team lead after three rounds with his lowest 54-hole score of his career (213, E) and went on to capture the highest finish by a freshman in program history at the conference championships (T-28th).
The alternate player this week, Maxfield has played in one tournament at the Pac-12 Championships and posted scores of 79-76-75-75 to shoot a 305 (+21).
COACHES THOUGHTS: Head Coach Garrett Clegg
"We are excited to get to the championship and I'm thrilled for Blake, Tristan and Oscar. They have given everything they could to this program and to be able to finish their careers at the NCAA Championships is a great way to go out," head coach Garrett Clegg said. "We know it is great to be at the championship, but the goal is to compete to get into that final eight for match play. We know it will take a great effort from everyone and we are excited for the opportunity!"
TOURNAMENT DETAILS
The 2022 NCAA Championships will be held at the par-70, 7,289-yard Raptor Course at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., between May 27-June 1. Live scoring will be available via Golfstat and Golf Channel will provide live TV coverage on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
All 30 teams will compete in the first three rounds (Friday through Sunday) and the field will be cut to 15 teams for the fourth and final round of stroke play on Monday. The top eight teams will move on to match play, with the quarterfinals and semifinals on Tuesday and the national championship match on Wednesday.
Last Time Out
Going up against a field that featured five teams in the top-25, the Utes posted their best-ever finish at an NCAA Regional by placing fifth in Norman, Okla. Starting on the 10th tee in the final round, it was a battle between Utah 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 Barcos made a clutch birdie on the par five 18th to tie it up. 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 capturing the fifth and final spot to punch their ticket to the NCAA Championships for the first time in 34 years.
Post Season History
As a team, the Utes have made an appearance at the NCAA Championships just six times. Their first appearance came in 1948 where they placed third (651). Utah would make it a three-peat in appearances playing at the championships in both 1949 and 1950, where they earned finishes of 11th (614) and ninth-place (597), respectively.
The Utes made their fourth showing at the championships in 1954 capturing a top-20 finish (19th, 631) and tied for 36th 10 years later in 1964. It would be another 24 years until Utah made their sixth and final showing at the championships, but were eliminated after 36 holes of play.
On record, three individuals have represented Utah at the championships. Current volunteer assistant coach, Dustin Pimm, became the first Ute ever to qualify as an individual in 2006. Pimm finished three rounds at even par, but didn't qualify for the final round. Kyler Dunkle became the second Utah player to compete at the championships in 2019. Advancing to the final round, Dunkle shot a 296 (+8) to finish t-28th. Lastly, Utah senior Mandur became the third individual to play in 2021 and went on to record Utah's highest finish on record, tying for 17th with a career low 283 (+3).
All-Conference Utes
The Pac-12 Conference announced their all-conference teams on May 4, as senior Blake Tomlinson was tabbed All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention and freshman Braxton Watts was given Honorable Mention honors on the Pac-12 All-Freshman team. This is Tomlinson's second conference honor of his career, being named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman team in 2018.
In his senior campaign, Tomlinson has been in the starting five in all 12 tournaments and saw his highest finish of the year at the Duck Invitational, finishing in a team high fourth-place after shooting 2-under (211). Other tournaments Tomlinson brought home a top-10 finish from include the Mark Simpson Invitational (T-5th), Visit Stockton Invitational (T-7th), Pac-12 Championships (T-6th) and the NCAA Norman Regional (T-9th).
His 72-hole score of 284 (E) is the third lowest at a conference championship on record at Utah and became just the third Ute to finish in the top-10 at the Pac-12 Championships.
In his first season with the Utes, true freshman Watts achieved a feat that many freshmen aren't able to do in their first year of collegiate golf - earning a spot in the starting five of the teams' first tournament of the season. Making his collegiate debut at the Maui Jim in Scottsdale, Ariz., Watts shot his best round on the second 18 shooting 1-over (71).
He captured his highest finish at the Duck Invite, finishing T-9th after shooting 2-over (215) and excelled in round two climbing the leaderboard six spots carding a 2-under (69).
LIVE SCORING
Live scoring for the 2022 NCAA Championships is available on GolfStat.com. Fans can also follow along on social media (Twitter: @UtesGolf | Instagram: @UtesGolf).