Men's Golf | 4/4/2025 10:27:00 AM

Utah Tech wraps up the 2024-25 regular season this Monday and Tuesday at the UC Santa Barbara Gaucho Invitational. The two-day, 54-hole event will be played at the par-72, 7,071-yard Sandpiper Golf Club in Goleta, Calif. 
        In addition to the Trailblazers and the host Gauchos, the 11-team tournament field will comprise of fellow WAC members Utah Valley and Seattle U, along with Utah State, Boise State, Cal Poly, UC Riverside, Denver, Incarnate Word and San Francisco.

The five-player lineup for the Trailblazers will feature juniors Zach Felts and Tanner Telford, and sophomores Ashton McArthur, KJ Ofanhengaue and Jackson Rhees. In addition, freshman Frank Miao will play as an individual. 

HEAD COACH BRAD SUTTERFIELD: Brad Sutterfield (BYU, 1994) is in his 13th season as head coach of the Utah Tech men's golf program. Last season, Sutterfield led the Trailblazers to six top-15 team finishes in 10 events, highlighted by a sixth-place finish at the 2024 WAC Championships.  
        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. Utah Tech 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 Utah Tech 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.
        Coach Sutterfield is joined on his staff by former Utah Tech standout player Spencer Wallace, who returns to the program in his first season as an assistant coach.

LAST TIME OUT: Utah Tech finished in the middle of the pack in t-seventh place at the Seattle U Redhawk Invitational, which wrapped up play this past Tuesday at Chambers Bay Golf Course in University Park, Wash.
        The Trailblazers played their way into contention from the get-go, jumping out to a 9-under start midway through Monday morning's opening round. 
        However the winds would pick up, which dropped the scores throughout the entire 18-team field, though the Blazers managed to close the first round (par 71) in solo second place at minus-2 282, one shot back of leader George Mason (281).
        Utah Tech managed to remain at or near the top of the team leaderboard as the field battled through the windy conditions during the Monday afternoon loop (par 71). The Trailblazers closed day one with a second round 11-over 295, which was good enough to move up one spot into a tie for the clubhouse lead with St. Thomas at plus-9 577. 
        The Blazers were not able to maintain their momentum during Tuesday's final round (par 72) as they combined for a 7-over 295 and wound up tied for seventh with George Washington (298-290-284) at plus-16 872. Meanwhile St. Thomas (284-293-279) went the other direction, firing a final round 9-under 279, while UC Riverside (292-288-276) blistered the course with a 12-under 276, as those two teams tied for the tournament title at even-par 856.
        Felts had himself a solid tournament, penciling in three birdies in each of his three loops en route to his first top-10 finish of the season. Felts shot rounds of even par 71 and 2-over 73 on Monday, then chased that with a 2-under 70 on Tuesday with three birdies and 14 pars, which vaulted him 10 spots into a tie for sixth place at even par 214. 
        Telford, who co-led Utah Tech with 11 total birdies for the event, opening with a 1-under 70 and a 3-over 74, before closing with a 1-over 73 to finish in solo 18^th-place at plus-3 217.
        McArthur tied Telford for the team lead in birdies with 11 and wound up a shot back of his teammate at plus-4 218, which tied him with five others for 19^th place overall. McArthur posted rounds of 71 and 70 on Monday with 10 combined birdies, before closing with a 5-over 77 on Tuesday.
        Miao (71-78-75), who was playing in his third collegiate event, rolled in seven birdies over his three rounds on his way to a t-53^rd place showing at plus-10-224, and Rhees (70-78-78) penciled in seven birdies on his way to a four-way tie for 67^th at plus-13 227. 
        Ofahengaue (75-73-75), who played as an individual, collected seven birdies over the two days en route to a four-way tie for 49^th at plus-9 223.
 
TRAILBLAZERS AT A GLANCE: Through eight team events this season, Telford leads the team with a 72.14 scoring average with nine par or better rounds, while Felts follows closely behind in third at 72.63 with 10 par or better rounds.
        Rhees is fourth on the team with a 72.79 stroke average with a team-high 11 par or better rounds, followed by Miao in fifth (72.89) with six par or better rounds in the nine loops he has played in. McArthur checks in in sixth at 73.24 with 10 par or better rounds, and Ofahengaue (two par/better rounds) is eighth at 74.61.

NEXT UP FOR THE TRAILBLAZERS: Utah Tech will vie for its first WAC conference title at the 2025 Western Athletic Conference Men's Golf Championships, which will be held April 25-27, at The Golf Club at Chaparral Pines in Payson, Ariz.