Fall season comes to a close for men’s golf

The Utah Valley men’s golf team had a new face in the lineup for their final tournament of the fall season on Oct. 14-15. The Bubba Barnett Intercollegiate Invitation in Jonesboro, Arkansas was the setting for the final tournament where the Wolverines placed ninth out of 13 teams. 

“We switched up the lineup this week. This is a new event for us and it’s fun to see some teams we rarely see throughout the year. The guys are ready to compete and finish the fall on the right note,” said UVU head coach Chris Curran to a sports information director. 

Senior Zane Loveland played in his first tournament of the season and played consistent throughout all three rounds. An opening round of 5-over-par 77 put Loveland in a five-way tie for 39th place. The team as a whole all shot over par, with junior Gabe Lysen leading the team with a score of 1-over-par 73. UVU ended the first round in seventh place with a team card of 302. 

Round two ended the first day of play on somewhat of a high note, with the Wolverines sitting in sixth place heading into the final round. Sophomore Jake Bryson cut six strokes off of his first round from 5-over-par 77 to 1-under-par 71. This put him in a 7-way tie for 26th place. Freshman Kai Iguchi and sophomore Tanner Johnson also eliminated strokes from their first round score cards. 

Lysen again had a solid performance with another 1-over-par 73 round. He sat in a six-way tie for 16th place heading into the final round. 

The Wolverines would ultimately fall to ninth place to end the tournament with a team score of 902. Four of the five Wolverines carded worse than both of the previous rounds. Loveland, who carded 77 in round one and three, was the only Wolverine that carded the same or better than his first two rounds. In round two, he carded 6-over-par 78.

“It was a disappointing way to end our fall season,” said Curran. “We put up some big numbers that did us in. Our guys will put in some work this winter and we will prep for the spring season.” 

As has been on par for most of the tournaments the Wolverines have played in this fall, the host team won the tournament. Arkansas State carded 829 as a team and had two golfers tie for first place, carding 206. 

UVU will now have a four-month break to practice and fine-tune their skills for the spring season. Their next tournament will be at Sunbrook Golf Course in St. George, Utah on Feb. 10-11.