Braxton Watts Earns First Collegiate Victory at The Goodwin

SAN FRANCISCO - Braxton Watts carded the best 54-hole score of his Utah career and that mark was good enough to earn him first place in a field of 168 golfers at The Goodwin, where the University of Utah men's golf team also took second place on Saturday at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco.
 
"It was amazing for Braxton to win," said coach Garrett Clegg. "This tournament has been around for over 50 years and the list of champions is amazing. I'm so happy for Braxton! Last year, I think he finished 112th here and now to win is an incredible turn around.  He's worked his tail off all winter long to get to this point and this is a great victory!
 
"As for the team, we were awesome! The team fought so hard today and the guys were absolutely incredible. We didn't win, but we started the day with the lead and shot the third lowest round of the day. They hit amazing shots and made huge timely putts and I'm so proud of them. This is the best performance we have had all year and each of our players came through huge this week."
 
Watts' earned his win by posting a 2-under 68 on Saturday, one day after shooting a second-round 66. He started round three with a difficult front nine that included three bogeys and a birdie and left him 2-over, but he quickly got hot on the back nine and started piling up birdies.
 
His first one came on the par-3 11th, then he recorded another on the 13th. After a par on the 14th, he rattled off three straight birds on holes 15 – 17 that propelled him into first. One more par on the 18th locked down the junior's first triumph as a Ute.
 
Watts' 5-under 205 is the lowest score ever recorded by a Ute at The Goodwin and it is also Utah's best 54-hole score so far in 2023-24.
 
Watts wasn't the only Ute who excelled in San Francisco, however, as Sergio Jimenez duplicated his teammate's Saturday score. Jimenez collected two birdies on the front nine and two more on the back nine for his own 2-under 68 that jetted him 16 spots up the leaderboard into 19th at 1-over, his team-high sixth top 20 finish of the year.
 
Gabriel Palacios posted five scores in the red during the final round, including three-in-a-row on holes 2 – 4 and logged an even par 70. That mark enabled Palacios to climb over a couple of competitors and tie for 33rd at 3-over.
 
Javier Barcos and Brandon Robison were both consistent throughout the day and entered the clubhouse at 1-over. Barcos was 2-under through his first 12 holes, including birdies on the third and 10th, before a challenging end to his day, while Robison racked up 14 pars and was even on back nine. Both players ended the tournament at 5-over and tied for 44th.
 
As a team, the Utes were 3-under on Saturday, putting their 54-hole score at even par, just a single stroke behind tournament champion Georgia. Their overall stroke count of 840 ties the eighth-best mark in program history since 1990, while Saturday's 277 is the second-best round the squad has cobbled together during the current campaign. The list of 29 teams Clegg's crew bested in San Francisco includes No. 7 Tennessee, No. 15 Georgia Tech, No. 20 California and No. 24 Oregon, as well as Stanford and San Diego State, both of whom are receiving votes.
 
Up Next
The Utes will return to the course on April 8 – 9, when they'll compete in the UCSB Invitational in Goleta, Calif.
 
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