Longhorns men’s golf team rolls to first win of season at Southwestern Invitational
The Texas men’s golf team swamped the competition on the way to a 13-stroke win in the first tournament of the spring season at the 44th Southwestern Invitational at North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village, California.
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Texas, the defending national champion, finished with a three-round total of 14-under-par 850, leading from start to finish. Pepperdine was a distant second at 1-under, followed by Arizona State (+4) and Oregon (+8).
The Southwestern Invitational is 54-hole men’s college tournament with team (best four scores of five players each day) and individual competitions. The 12-team field of this year’s event featured five teams that are ranked in the latest Bushnell/Golfweek Division I Coaches poll (Nov. 18).
The 18th-ranked Longhorns had three players, all of them freshman, in the top-10 of the individual standings. Michael Brennan of Wake Forest shot a final round 3-under 69 to win the individual title at 9-under 207, with Texas’ Keaton Vo finishing second at -8, Jacob Sosa third at -7, and Christaan Maas tied for fifth at -4.
The Longhorns’ Brian Stark ended up tied for 28th at +7 while team leader and preseason All-American Travis Vick finished tied for 28th at +14.
“This was a challenge,” Texas coach John Fields said. “The weather was difficult and a coach couldn’t ask for more from his team early in January. North Ranch has made a lot of great players humble, and it is a heck of a golf course. And I’m really proud of these guys. Everybody did a great job this week.”
It was Texas’ first team victory of the 2022-23 season after a challenging fall swing. Texas which finished fourth in the East Lake Cup in Atlanta; seventh in the Big 12 Match Play in Hockley, Texas; fourth in The Stephens Cup in Juno Beach, Florida; eighth in the Ben Hogan Challenge in Fort Worth; and 10th in the Olympia Fields Invitational outside Chicago.
Sosa, from Austin Westlake, was the talk of the tournament after firing an 11-under 61 in the opening round on Monday to set a new program record. Sosa’s 61 eclipsed the previous school record of 63 previously set by four players — Gavin Hall (2016-17), Brandon Stone (2012-13), David Gossett (2000 NCAA Championship) and Justin Leonard (1994 NCAA Championship).
Sosa recorded three eagles and five birdies without a bogey during his round on Monday. His 61 was a tournament and course record and the lowest 18-hole round ever played at North Ranch Country Club.
Sosa couldn’t match that performance in the second round, but his 2-over 74 on Tuesday was enough to carry him into the Wednesday’s final 18 holes at 9-over and with a three-shot lead over Maas, Vo and Brennan.
Sosa still had a piece of the lead with Brennan, who finished two and a half hours ahead of the final group, when he made the turn. He bogeyed the 10th after a wayward tee shot, bogeyed the par 5 12th and double bogeyed the 14th to fall four shots off Brennan’s pace. Sosa birdied the par 5 15th and then the finishing hole after a rousing approach to four feet.
The Longhorns’ men’s team is in action next at the Amer Ari Invitational Feb. 8-10 at the Hapuna Golf Course in Kamela, Hawai’i.
