On Thursday, March 30, the University of Utah men’s golf team traveled to San Francisco to compete in The Goodwin golf tournament at TPC Harding Park. The three-day, 54-hole tournament, hosted by the Stanford Cardinal, included 28 teams and some of the best collegiate golfers in the nation. This year’s tournament was the Utes’ first time competing in The Goodwin since the 2017-18 season. 

After day one and the first 18 holes of competition, freshman Brandon Robison led the Utes with an opening round score of 67. Robison started out hot, carding a birdie on the day’s first hole and then continuing with birdies on holes three, seven, nine and 10. After a short slump during the middle of the back nine, Robison carded a final birdie to finish 3-under-par on the day. The 3-under performance slotted the freshman from Centerville, Utah at third overall out of 155 competitors and was only one stroke behind first place (-4). 

“Brandon played incredible golf for most of the day,” said head coach Garrett Clegg. “As part of our tough stretch, he made three bogeys in a row on 13-15, but he had a great birdie to finish his round. It was by far the best round of golf he has played for us this year.”

Javier Barcos was the second-highest finisher for the Utes through round one. The junior from Spain sat tied for 59th with an opening round total of 2-over 72. Barcos’ round was filled with pars, as he totaled 12 once the round was finished.

As a group, the Utes had a team total of 8-over-par, with a score of 288 on the day, and were tied for 17th place with two other competitors: Santa Clara and Washington State.

The Utes’ biggest improvement through round two of the competition came from freshman Go Nakatsukasa. After a tough opening round where Nakatsukasa carded a score of 80, the Ute rebounded with a personal best tying score of 70 in round two. Nakatsukasa led the Utes with a team-high five birdies, the first coming on holes 15 and 17 (Nakatsukasa began his round on the back nine holes) and three more later on the front nine.

Nakatsukasa was also the only competitor to score even-par or better in round two after carding a score of 80 or higher in round one. This feat raised him 20 spots in the standings from tied 149th to tied 129th overall. 

Besides Nakatsukasa, Robison was able to put together a round good enough to hold the Utes’ best 36-hole total in the tournament (2-over). Robison was 5-over-par on the day with a total of 75. The score saw him fall to 47th in the overall standings.

As a team, the Utes fell from 17th to being tied for 19th place after round two of the tournament came to an end. 

Saturday, the final day of The Goodwin, was characterized by especially strong plays from multiple Ute competitors. The finest finish of the bunch came from Nakatsukasa who replicated his even-par score from round two of the tournament. With a second consecutive round with 70 total strokes, Nakatsukasa capitalized on his rise from day two and managed to finish the weekend tied for 95th place with a 10-over-par total. 

Barcos was the Ute squad’s highest finisher at the end of the weekend, earning the moniker “Mr. Consistent” as he scored his third consecutive finish of 2-over 72. With a 54-hole total of 6-over-par and 42 total pars throughout the tournament’s three rounds, Barcos claimed a tied 60th place overall.

The Utes’ second-highest finisher of the tournament was Robison, who had a 3-over final round that resulted in a 7-over-par finish to the tournament in a tied 77th place overall.

Martín León had his best round of the tournament on the last day with a score of 1-over 71. The shot total placed him in a tied 111th place overall. Braxton Watts was the Utes’ final competitor and finished tied for 117th place.

As a team, the Utes had their best round on Saturday with a total of 6-over 286 strokes on the day. At tournament’s end, the University of Utah claimed 19th out of 28 teams with a final team total of 25-strokes-over-par.

The Utah men’s team has one final regular season event in Phoenix, Arizona, April 14-15. Hosted by the Arizona State Sun Devils, The Thunderbird is sure to be a classic.

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