Men's Golf | 9/4/2023 2:46:00 PM

Utah Tech men's golf opens the 2023-24 season this week with the first of back-to-back tournaments played in the state of Colorado. 
 
The Trailblazers begin the trip at the Colorado State Ram Masters Invitational this Wednesday and Thursday. The two-day, 54-hole event will be played at the par-70, 7,218-yard Fort Collins Country Club. 
 
In addition to Utah Tech and the host Rams, the 13-team tournament field will feature fellow WAC members Southern Utah, Utah Valley and Tarleton, along with Cal State Fullerton, Creighton, Idaho, Kansas City, Long Beach State, Morehead State, Wyoming and Xavier.  

HEAD COACH BRAD SUTTERFIELD: Brad Sutterfield (Brigham Young, 1994) begins his 12th season as head coach of the Utah Tech men's golf program. Last season, Sutterfield led the Trailblazers to six top-10 team finishes in 11 events, highlighted by a pair of sixth-place showing at the SUU Pizza Hut/Pat Hicks and UC San Diego Invitationals, along with a seventh-place showing in their WAC Championships team debut.  
            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.

2023-24 TRAILBLAZER PREVIEW: The Trailblazers return five players from last year's squad that combined for one individual event victory and seven top-10 individual finishes overall in 11 events last season. 
            Sophomore Zac Felts (St. George, Utah/Crimson Cliffs HS) is UT's top returner after he finished second on the team in scoring with a 73.44 stroke average, one top-10 finish, and 13 par or better rounds in 11 team events.
            Seniors Tyler Jones (Highland, Utah/Lone Peak HS/Southern Utah) and Camron Saunders are back for their final seasons. Jones posted two top-10s, including a t-third showing at the UCSB in the spring, and finished fourth on the team in scoring at 73.97 with 11 par or better rounds in 11 events. Meanwhile Saunders played in four team events and recorded a 75.92 stroke average.
            In addition, sophomores Maddox Vincent (Draper, Utah/Corner Canyon HS) and Parker Reese (Alpine, Utah/Lone Peak HS) look to build upon solid freshmen campaigns a season ago. Vincent played in seven events last year and came away with two top-10 finishes and seven par or better rounds, highlighted by a t-fourth place showing at the UCS San Diego Inv'l, while Reese posted a 75.08 stroke average in nine events with six par or better rounds.  
Four talented freshmen round Utah Tech's roster heading into the 2023-24 campaign, including Utah products KJ Ofahengaue (Lehi, Utah/Lehi HS), Jackson Rhees (Spanish Fork, Utah/Spanish Fork HS) and Bode Salas (Price, Utah/Carbon HS), along with Idaho prep standout Carter Williams (Weiser, Idaho/Weiser HS). 

UTAH TECH'S LINEUP AT CSU: UT will travel six players to this week's tourney, with Jones, Ofahengaue, Felts, Saunders and Reese all having qualified for the team competition. In addition, Vincent will play as an individual. 

2023 FALL TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE: Including the CSU Invite, Utah Tech will play in five falls events overall. The Trailblazers will stay in the "Centennial State" through early next week as they will head south to the Colorado Springs to play in the 54^th-Annual Air Force Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational.
Utah Tech is also slated to tee it up at New Mexico/William H. Tucker Intercollegiate later this month (Sept. 25-26), along with the Oregon State Invitational (Oct. 9-11) and the Pacific/Visit Stockton Inv'l (Oct. 16-18) in October.  
Though the 2024 spring schedule has not been finalized, the 2024 Western Athletic Conference Championships will be played April 26-28, at Chapparal Pines in Payson, Ariz.