Men's Golf | 4/24/2026 11:38:00 AM

Utah Tech will vie for its first D-I conference title as the Trailblazers head to "The Lone Star State" for the 2026, and final, Western Athletic Conference Men's Golf Championships. 
            The three-day, 54-hole championship tournament will be held April 27-29, at The Clubs of Stonebridge Ranch Dye Course in McKinney, Texas.
 
The five player lineup for Utah Tech will feature juniors Braden Anderson and Ashton McArthur, sophomore Frank Miao, and freshmen David Liechty and Joe Zhou. 

GOING "BIG" IN 2026: This past June 25, Utah Tech announced that it had accepted an invitation to join the Big Sky Conference beginning on July 1, 2026. 
            Starting in the 2026-27 season, 14 of the Trailblazers' 17 sports, including men's golf, will compete under the Big Sky Conference banner.

HEAD COACH BRAD SUTTERFIELD: Brad Sutterfield (BYU, 1994) is in his 14th season as head coach of the Utah Tech men's golf program. Last season, Sutterfield led the Trailblazers to seven top-eight showings in 10 team events, highlighted by a runner-up finish at last season's Colorado State Ram Masters Invitational (9/17-18/24), and a seventh place showing at the 2025 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 is in second season as an assistant coach, along with volunteer coach Marc Briggs.  

LAST TIME OUT: Utah Tech closed out its 2025-26 regular season tournament schedule by tying for seventh place at the UC Santa Barbara Gaucho Invitational, which was played this past April 6-7, at the Sandpiper Golf Course in Goleta, Calif. 
            After opening with a solid 4-over par 292 their first morning loop, the Trailblazers combined to fire a 6-over 294 during their afternoon round to stand in the middle of the pack in sixth place through 36 holes. 
            Utah Tech came back on day two and carded a 5-over 293, but wound up falling one spot on the team leaderboard to join Creighton (301-295-283) at plus-15 879. 
            Liechty led the way with his third top-five finish and his fourth top-10 overall as he wound up in a two-way tie for fourth at minus-4 212. 
            Liecthy opened with rounds of 1-over 73 and 1-under 71, then went out recorded four birdies and one eagle as part of a final round 4-under 68. Liechty penciled in 13 total birdies and two eagles over his 54 holes. 
            Miao came away with his third top-20 of the season as he tied for 18^th at plus-3 219. Miao found himself as the 18-hole leader after he rolled in six birdies to tie his collegiate career low round with a 5-under 67. 
            Miao then came back with a 5-over 77 in his afternoon loop, which he followed with a final round 3-over 75, while he finished with 11 total birdies for the event. 
            McArthur played a steady three rounds to join three others tied for 30^th at plus-8 224. McArthur, who recorded five total birdies and 38 pars overall, carded rounds of 75 and 73 on day one, and a final round 4-over 76. 
            Anderson posted his best overall showing as a Trailblazer as he finished in a five-way tie for 34^th at plus-9 225. After opening with a 77, Anderson came back with rounds of 73 and 75, and tallied 11 combined birdies. 
            Zhou (t-51^st; plus-19 235) bounced back after rounds of 10-over 82 and 6-over 78 with two birdies and an eagle to shoot a final round 75. 

TRAILBLAZERS AT A GLANCE: Bolstered by his two victories in his debut campaign, Liechty leads all active Trailblazer players with a 71.43 scoring average through 10 team events this season. The freshman has also carded a team-high 16 par or better rounds and posted four top-10 finishes overall, which includes his first collegiate individual victory at the CSUN Bill Cullum Invite in February, and at the Seattle U Redhawk Inv'l last month.
            Meanwhile McArthur is second at 73.00 with 12 par or better rounds out of the 24 loops he has played, followed by Miao in third at 73.58 (seven par-or-better rounds), Anderson in fourth at 77.13 (three par-or-better rounds), and Zhou in fifth at 77.52 (four par-or-better rounds). 

NEXT UP FOR THE TRAILBLAZERS: The winner of the 2026 WAC Men's Golf Championship will earn the conference's automatic bid into the 2026 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Regionals, which will be held May 18-20 at a site to be announced at a later date.