Men's Golf | 4/26/2023 10:28:00 AM

Utah Tech will wrap up its third NCAA Division-I season at the 2023 Western Athletic Conference Men's Golf Championships. The three-day, 54-hole event will be played this Friday-through-Sunday at the par-72, 7,482-yard Boulder Creek Golf Club in Boulder City, Nev.
        The five player lineup for the Trailblazers will feature seniors Davis Heslington and Tyler Jones, sophomore Taft Lewis, and freshmen Zach Felts and Parker Reese.
 
ELIGIBLE FOR POSTSEASON PLAY: Utah Tech will be making its third appearance at the WAC Men's Golf Championships, though it will be the first time the Trailblazers will have a chance to play for a team conference title. 
        This past June, the WAC announced that D-I transitioning members Utah Tech and Tarleton would be allowed to participate in all conference championships beginning this 2022-23 competition season. 

HEAD COACH BRAD SUTTERFIELD: Brad Sutterfield (Brigham Young, 1994) is in his 11th season as head coach of the Utah Tech 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, posting 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. UT 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 UT 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, the program 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 Utah Tech, 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.

LAST TIME OUT: Utah Tech closed the 2022-23 regular season with a 13^th-place finish at the BYU PING Cougar Classic last weekend at Riverside Country Club in Provo.
        The Trailblazers opened with a 3-under 285 on Friday morning to stand tied for 10^th-overall, but struggled on their afternoon loop with an 8-overr 296 to drop three spots to 13^th. Utah Tech closed with a 1-under 287 on Saturday, but could not make up any ground on the field. 
        Heslington carded the Trailblazers' low-round of the event with an opening 4-under 68 that included five birdies. Heslington followed that up with a 3-over 75 in round two and a 1-over 73 on Saturday to finish in a four-way tie for 41^st at even par 216. 
        Jones played steady over the two-day tourney, carding consecutive even par 72s after opening with a 1-over 73 to join three others tied for 45^th at 1-over 217. 
        Felts posted two red numbers on the weekend, opening with a 1-under 72 followed by a 3-under 69 on Saturday, which bracketed a 6-over 78 in his second loop as he tied for 49^th at plus-2 218. 
        Meanwhile Lewis fired three-straight 73s on the weekend, which placed him in a pack of eight players tied for 53^rd at 3-over 219, and freshman Maddox Vincent (76-76-74) tied for 80^th at 10-over 226. 
        In addition, Reese, who was playing as an individual, wound up as Utah Tech's top finisher as he followed rounds of 75 and 71 with a 69 on Saturday to vault 16 spots up the leaderboard to t-36^th at minus-1 215. 

TRAILBLAZERS AT A GLANCE: Through 10 events this season, Heslington leads the team with a 72.76 scoring average in 29 competitive rounds and a team-best 12 par or better rounds, highlighted by his medalist performance at the USAFA Miranda (9/9-11/22) individual tournament. 
        Felts moved up to second on the team at 73.59 after last weekend with 10 par or better rounds in 29 total loops, which includes a t-sixth showing at the USAFA Miranda in his first collegiate event. 
        Jones is currently in fourth overall (74.10 in 29 rounds; 10 par/better rounds), followed by Lewis in fifth (74.44 in 18 rounds; five par/better rounds), and Reese in sixth (75.50 in 22 rounds; four par/better rounds).