Golf finishes 15th at SUU tourney
Day one of the Southern Utah Pat Hicks Invitational gave the men’s golf team a fresh start on the spring season.
Sophomore Devin Daniels of Smithfield led the Aggies with a three under par score of 70 on his first day of play, leaving Daniels in a tie for ninth place. Daniels is followed by fellow teammate senior Preston Otte of Burley, Idaho, who finished off the day with a 71, tying him for 21st place overall.
“It went pretty well for the first tournament of the year,” Coach Dean Johansen said. “It’s always hard coming off the winter time, but the kids did really well, I thought.”
During the off-season, the team met twice a week to do some inside chips and putts. They also headed down to Ogden to hit up Mulligan’s Golf and Game to take full advantage of the covered and heated stalls to wait out the duration of the cold weather, Johansen said.
“We just do the best we can,” Johansen said. “They try to get a bit stronger.” This is the first competition for the Aggie golfers since October when they placed 13th as a team in the Bill Cullum Invitation in Simi Valley, Calif., on Oct. 30 and 31. After this opening round in St. George, USU stood in 10th place awaiting day two of their competition.
Also competing for the Aggies was senior Jake Blair of Smithfield who tied for 83rd place after shooting an opening 78. Blair picked up an individual title during the Southern Utah Duel in Cedar City on Oct 21 and 22, defeating Southern Utah University’s Jesse Wheeler two games to one.
Otte, who was named Athlete of the Week for the week of Oct. 1, led the men in the Vandal Golf Classic during the fall golf season with three consecutive rounds of shooting one under par to give him a final tally of 210. This score offered Otte the honor of having the lowest finish in the program since 2004 and gave him an 11th place individual finish.
Day two of the Pat Hicks Invitational for the Aggies proved to be successful for Otte as he became the lowest scorer for the team, completing his final round with 141, three under par. Daniels didn’t have his first round fervor as he shot 81 to give him a total of 151. Blair came in even for the complete day of play.
Overall, USU gathered a 597 total – 35 strokes from the lead – and finished in 15th place out of the 18 competing teams. SUU won the invitational, narrowly edging out Denver by three shots.
Freshman Brandon Broadhead of Brigham City and Jeremy Pack of Salt Lake City also made the trip with the team. In this type of tournament play, five members of the team play and the top four scores are used to compile the final team score which then allows the team to be ranked among 18 other teams, in this case.
This season’s schedule will take USU to Beaumont, Calif., on March 5 and 6 for the Braveheart Classic and then the Cuesta Vista Intercollegiate in Arroyo, Calif., on March 29 and 30.
Sunshine and green grass is what Johansen and his team are looking forward to this season.
“Assuming that the weather stays decent,” Johansen said, “I think this will go a little bit better than last year. I think we will have a better opportunity.”
-eawads@cc.usu.edu