FRESNO, Calif. – The Utah men's golf team finished in third place at the Nick Watney Invitational on Tuesday, which was held at the Sunnyside Country Club in Fresno, Calif.
Utah carded a final round 14-over par to finish the two-day tournament with a combined score of 22-over par (286-290-298=874). BYU won the event after registering a combined score of 13-over par (283-293-289=865).
The Utes have now finished in the top-five of the team standings in all three events they have competed at this season.
"We started out the day very poorly," said head coach
Garrett Clegg. "It was a very rough day for us and we had a terrible start. Even though it was a disappointing day for us, I am proud of the way they fought back. I am also proud of the resiliency our team showed and to still place third is solid for us. Next week we really need to work on playing well out of the gates. We need to improve how our rounds begin.""
Freshman
Tristan Mandur posted a top-10 finish to lead the Utes on the final day of action, finishing in a tie for sixth place with a two-day score of 4-over par (71-73-73=217).
"This is great for Tristan to place in the top-10 as a freshman," said Clegg. "This is his first time placing in the top-10 in an event thus far. We are very excited for him and he did a very nice job."
Both freshman
Blake Tomlinson and junior
Kyler Dunkle finished in the top-20 with Tomlinson finishing in a tie for 14
th place, while Dunkle finished in a tie for 19
th place. Tomlinson posted a combined score of 6-over par (70-70-79=219) and Dunkle recorded a three-round score of 7-over par (73-72-75=220).
Sophomore
Jordan Costello placed in a tie for 23
rd with a three-round score of 8-over par (72-75-74=221).
Rounding out the Utes, sophomore
Mitchell Schow carded a combined score of 19-over par (78-78-76=232) to finish in a tie for 69
th place.
Utah finished the event second overall in a field of 16 teams, registering an average score of 4.71 on par-5 holes for the tournament and ranked third overall with a score of 3.15 on par-3's. The Utes tallied an average score of 4.29 on par-4's.
The Utes close out fall competition at the Mountaineer Intercollegiate in Bridgeport, W. Va. The two-day event will take place on Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 9-10.