The Stetson men's golf team has traveled to southwestern Utah and the Mojave Desert to open its spring season at the Pizza Hut-Pat Hicks Thunderbird Invitational, hosted by Southern Utah University.
The event will be played on Monday and Tuesday, with 18 holes each day, at the Sunbrook Golf Club. The course, which first opened in 1990, is home to three distinctive nine-hole layouts, all designed by Ted Robinson. The Pointe plays out into the desert, into canyons and along plateaus, The Woodbridge side plays through tall, mature cottonwoods and the third nine, Blackrock, offers a few holes woven through ancient lava fields.
Since opening, the facility has been named as one of the top 50 municipal courses in the nation.
For the tournament the course will play to a par of 72 over 6,900 yards.
The host Thunderbirds won the tournament last year with an 11-under par team score of 565. The top individual player last year, Aaron Yeates from Southern Utah, posted consecutive rounds of 68 for a two-day score of eight-under par 136.
While Yeates will not return to defend his title, the field this year includes 10 teams that vary in the GolfStat rankings from a high of 118 (Northern Colorado) to a low of 275 (Fairleigh Dickinson). The Hatters enter the event in the middle of the rankings for the field at 245.
Other schools in the field include Creighton (257), Middle Tennessee (150), South Dakota State (187), Southern Utah (246), Utah Valley State (172), Weber State (269) and Western Illinois (268).
Stetson will be led into the event by senior
Baylor Payne and junior captain
Chris Williard, who is fully healed from a stress fracture in his foot that cost him the final event in the fall. Williard was twice selected as the ASUN Player of the Week in the fall, posting a 71.78 scoring average over nine rounds. Payne completed his 12 rounds in the fall with a 72.42 scoring average.
That duo will be joined in Utah by a trio of freshmen –
Benjamin Resnick,
Michael Sumner and
Carson Tewell. Resnick and Sumner played in just one event each in the fall while Sumner had a 77.33 scoring average while playing in all four fall events.
The event in Utah kicks off a busy spring for the Hatters, who will compete in five events leading up to the ASUN Championship, which will be played April 21-23 in Braselton, Ga. Other spring tournaments include the Houston Beptist Spring Invitational (February 24-26), the Bash at the Beach (March 10-12) hosted by Appalachian State at Myrtle Beach, SC, the UNA Spring Classic (March 24-26) in Florence, Ala., and Lipscomb's Ryman Intercollegiate (April 7-9) in Nashville.
Play is scheduled to begin on Monday in Utah with a shotgun start at 11 a.m. (ET). That start could be delayed if there is frost on the golf course in the morning. Results from each round will be available through GolfStat.com but live scoring will not be available.
About Stetson University Athletics: Stetson University's Athletics Program has a vision of developing a culture of champions athletically, academically and within the community. This vision is accomplished through a mission of recruiting and developing student-athletes, coaches and staff, creating a culture of champions, within and outside of competition. The department operates with five core values: Championship Culture, Integrity, Excellence, Pride/Tradition and Leadership. To learn more about the Vision, Mission and Core Values for Stetson Athletics, visit GoHatters.com and click on Mission Statement under the Inside Athletics tab.
