Men's Golf | 2/5/2024 12:00:00 PM

Utah Tech men's golf opens its 2024 spring season this week when the Trailblazers tee it up at the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate this Tuesday-through-Thursday in Palm Desert, Calif. The three-day, 54-hole event will be played at the par-72, 7,322-yard Classic Club Golf Course. 
        Along with the Trailblazers, the 17-team field will include fellow WAC members Southern Utah, California Baptist, Grand Canyon, Seattle U and Tarleton. In addition, Cal State Fullerton, CSUN, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara, Charlotte, Drake, Old Dominion, Oral Roberts, Sacramento State and the host Cowboys round out the field. 
 
The five player lineup for the Trailblazers will feature sophomore Zach Felts, seniors Tyler Jones and Camron Saunders, sophomore Maddox Vincent and freshman KJ Ofahengaue. 

HEAD COACH BRAD SUTTERFIELD: Brad Sutterfield (Brigham Young, 1994) is in 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.

LAST TIME OUT: Utah Tech wrapped up the 2023 fall season with a 16th-place finish at the Visit Stockton Pacific Invitational, which was played on Oct. 16-18, at The Reserve at Spanos Park in Stockton, Calif.
        The Trailblazers stood tied for 16th place after carding an opening 13-over par 301, and despite improving by three strokes with a 10-over 298 in round two, they slid one spot to 17^th through 36 holes. Utah Tech then came back and fired its low round of the event, a final round 4-over 292, which moved the Blazers back up to 16^th with a final team score of plus-27 891.
        Felts paced the Trailblazer effort, chasing an opening 2-over 74 with back-to-back even par 72s to finish tied for 51^st at plus-2 218.  
        Jones fired UT's low round of the event with an opening 2-under 70, which he followed with a 5-over 77 and 1-over 73 to join five others tied for 57^th at plus-4 220.
        Ofahengaue (76-74-77) tied for 86^th at plus-11 227, while freshman Bode Salas (82-77-70) posted his first collegiate under par round with a final round 70 to finish in solo 88^th at plus-13 229, and freshman Carter Williams (81-75-79) placed 94^th at plus-19 235.

TRAILBLAZERS AT A GLANCE: Through five fall events, Felts (five events/15 rounds) leads the team with a 72.33 scoring average with a team-best seven par or better rounds, while Vincent (two events/six rounds) is second at 74.83 with one top-10 and two par or better rounds.
        Jones (five events/15 rounds) is third at 75.87 with two par or better rounds, followed by Ofahengaue (five events/15 rounds) in fourth at 75.93, and Saunders in fifth (three events/nine rounds). 


2024 SPRING SCHEDULE: Utah Tech will play in four regular season events this spring, and including this week's event in Palm Desert, three tournaments will be played in California.  
        The Trailblazers will stay close to home later this month, playing in the Arkansas State-hosted Lake Las Vegas Intercollegiate at Reflection Bay Golf Club in Henderson Nev. 
        Utah Tech will also tee it up at the Stanford Goodwin at the TPC Harding Park Golf Club in San Francisco March 28-30, before wrapping up the regular season at the UC Santa Barbara Collegiate Invitational at Sandpiper Golf Course in Santa Barbara on April 7-9. 
        The 2024 WAC Championships will be played on April 26-28, at The Golf Club at Chaparral Pines in Payson, Ariz.