Earlier in the week, the Utah men’s golf team headed to Provo to finish off its 2016 season at the PING Cougar Classic (Apr. 11-12). Utah finished the tournament in fifth place, just behind Colorado State, with 865 points, good enough for one-over-par.
“Well, we aren’t exactly excited about that finish,” said head coach Randall McCracken. “We had such a great first round, but we didn’t do anything after that. We didn’t get it rolling.”
On that great first day of competition, Utah finished a place higher in fourth after two rounds of play and was hoping to build on it in the ensuing days. Senior Brandon Kida led the way on Monday as he carded his first round score of five-under-par (67) and finished up his second round tied for seventh at even-par (72), bringing his total to 139. Senior teammate Jonathan Thomas finished his first round five-under-par (67) as well, ending the first day tied for 10th after his second round two-over-par (74).
“Brandon [Kida] played some great golf this week,” McCracken said. “It was really cool to see him play well this week leading up to the championships.”
Teammates junior Gentry Hicks and senior Steven Croft tied for 31st at two-over-par, with Hicks recording a one-under-par (71) and three-over-par (75) in consecutive rounds while Croft finished with an even par (72) and two-over-par (74), pushing both of their scores up to 146 after Day one.
As the second day rolled around, Kida finished his final round in a tie for third, shooting four-under-par (68) to secure his spot as the top Ute finisher. Thomas and Hicks tied in-match together, taking 28th-place overall with 219 points. Thomas finished his final round with a six-over-par (78) mark, while Hicks fared a little better at one-over-par (73).
“Overall, we got a few things we have to work on before the championship meet in a few weeks,” McCracken said. “We are going to head home, get to work, and get ready to host the Pac-12 Championships.”
Up next, Utah will be hosting the Pac-12 Championships, which will take place at the Salt Lake Country Club in Salt Lake City from April 29 to May 1.
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