The Utah men’s golf team battled this week in the Oregon Invitational at Eugene Country Club and achieved a final score of 902. That number earned them 12th place.
Head coach Randall McCracken said play off the tee was a big problem for the Utes during the two-day event.
“A lot of the guys weren’t driving the ball well enough,” McCracken said. “Eugene Country Club is peppered with 200-foot Douglas fir trees, and if you hit it offline your only two options were to hit a miracle shot or punch it out into the fairway.”
Junior Ben Bankhead led Utah on the first day at 3-over-par and was in 32nd place overall. Daniel Engle was three strokes behind as the Utes stood in 12th place. Bankhead struggled on the second day and finished the event out of the top 50.
Though Bankhead was unable to get his game going after a good first day, junior Casey Halliday picked up the slack. After a pedestrian opening day in which he finished 9-over-par, Halliday posted an even par-72 on the final day and finished the event as Utah’s leader and 48th overall.
“Casey is one of the better putters on the team, and Eugene Country Club is a very difficult course to putt on,” McCracken said. “The greens are fast and undulating, so it’s one of those courses that suits his style of game.”
Though Halliday had a solid final round, McCracken was frustrated with his team’s overall performance.
“None of the guys are pleased with that type of finish,” McCracken said. “We are shooting for top-25 [scores]. Any team with four or five guys in the top 25 usually finds themselves finishing first second or third, and that’s our goal.”
Engle also finished with a solid showing, a 10-over-par 226. Brandon Kida finished with a 25-over-par 241.
Fellow Pac-12 foe Oregon won the event in its hometown with a blistering 6-under-par total, and Arizona posted a 40-over-par and finished just behind the Utes.
Utah’s next tournament will be the Cowboy Classic in Scottsdale, Ariz., on April 8-9.