Men's Golf | 9/8/2022 11:47:00 AM

Utah Tech men's golf opens the 2022-23 season this weekend at the 53^rd-Annual Air Force Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational. The three-day, 54-hole event will be played at the par-72, 7,541-yard USAFA Eisenhower Blue Course in Colorado Springs, Colo.  

In addition to UT and the host Falcons, the 24-team tournament field will fellow WAC members California Baptist, New Mexico State, Southern Utah, and Utah Valley, along with in-state foes Utah State and Weber State. In addition, Boston College, Cal Poly, CSUN, Colorado, Colorado State, Denver, Idaho, Murray State, Northern Colorado, Northern Iowa, San Jose State, SIU-Edwardsville, South Dakota, UETP, Wofford and Wyoming round out the field. 

HEAD COACH BRAD SUTTERFIELD: Brad Sutterfield (Brigham Young, 1994) begins his 11th season as head coach of the Dixie State men's golf program. Last season, Sutterfield led the Trailblazers to three top-10 team finishes in 10 events, highlighted by a fifth-place showing at the SUU Pizza Hut/Pat Hicks Inv'l. 
            In the 2018-19 campaign, Coach Sutterfield and the Trailblazers enjoyed arguably their most successful season in the program's four-year era as Dixie State posted six top-five team finishes and 11 total top-10 showings in 12 total team events, highlighted by a wire-to-wire victory at the 2019 NCAA Division II Men's Golf South Central/West Regional Championships. DSU also placed ninth-overall at the 2019 NCAA National Championships and recorded a runner-up finish in its debut at the RMAC Championships.
            In 2018, Sutterfield led DSU to its third Pacific West Conference team title in four seasons, which earned him his second conference Coach of the Year award. The Trailblazers collected four tournament wins overall that season, along with seven-straight top-three team finishes and nine total top-10s in nine events overall.
            Under his direction, DSU finished in the top-three overall in the PacWest in six seasons overall, including consecutive PacWest team titles in 2015 and 2016, and a runner-up finish in 2014, for which Sutterfield was named conference Coach of the Year. Prior to his arrival at DSU, Sutterfield, who played collegiately at BYU, played professional golf for 15 years as a member of the PGA Tour, European Tour, the Web.com Tour, Canadian Tour, Asian Tour and European Challenge Tour.

2022-23 TRAILBLAZER PREVIEW: The Trailblazers return four players from last year's squad to post three top-10 team finishes in 10 events last season. 
            Junior Camron Saunders (Willard, Utah/Box Elder HS) is UT's top returner after he finished third on the team in scoring with a 74.90 stroke average and four par or better rounds in seven team events.
            Seniors Triston Gardner (Ivins, Utah/Snow Canyon HS) and Davis Heslington (Beaver, Utah/Beaver HS) are back for their final seasons. Gardner played in six events last season and finished fourth on the team in stroke average (75.33) with one par/better round.
            Meanwhile Heslington qualified for nine team events a year ago and tied for third on the team with five par/better rounds to go with a 75.48 stroke average in 27 loops. In addition, sophomore Taft Lewis(76.25 strk avg/12 rds) after he played in four events in his debut season. 
Five newcomers dot Utah Tech's roster heading into the 2022-23 campaign, headlined by SUU transfer Tyler Jones (Highland, Utah/Lone Peak HS), who led the Thunderbirds in scoring average (74.13) last season.  
            The Trailblazers welcomes in four talented freshmen, three of whom hail from Utah, including local product Zach Felts from Crimson Cliffs HS. Parker Reese (Alpine, Utah) from Lone Peak HS, and Maddox Vincent (Draper, Utah) from Corner Canyon HS. UT also landed international player Gota Hoshino (Tokyo, Japan), who prepped at Montverde Academy in Florida last year. 

UTAH TECH'S LINEUP AT AIR FORCE: UT will travel seven players to this weekend's tourney, with Reese, Felts, Jones Saunders and Lewis having all qualified for the team competition. In addition, Vincent and Heslington will play as individuals. 

2022 FALL TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE: Including the USAFA Invite, Utah Tech will play in four falls events overall. The Trailblazers are also slated to tee it up at New Mexico/William H. Tucker Intercollegiate later this month (Sept. 23-24), along with the Oregon State Invitational (Oct. 10-11) and the Pacific/Visit Stockton Inv'l (Oct. 20-22) in October.  
            Though the 2023 spring schedule has not been finalized, the 2023 Western Athletic Conference Championships will be played April 28-30, at Boulder Creek Golf Club in Boulder City, Nev. 
            This past June, the WAC announced that D-I transitioning members Utah Tech and Tarleton would be allowed to participate in all conference team championships beginning this 2022-23 competition season. The Trailblazers had played at the previous two WAC tournaments, but only as individual participants.