Feb. 2 – Southern Utah University's men's golf team opens its 2010 spring season at home next week when it hosts the Sixth Annual Pat Hicks Thunderbird Invitational at Sunbrook Golf Course in St. George, Utah.
The 36-hole tournament will be contested on Monday and Tuesday over the Point and Black Rock nines at Sunbrook. The tournament will play at par-72 over the 6,758-yard layout.
Eleven teams are scheduled to compete this year, including Boise State, Utah State, Oral Roberts, UMKC, Western Illinois, Butler, Seattle, IPFW, College of Charleston, Cal State Fullerton and host Southern Utah.
Five players will compete for the Thunderbirds, including junior Brad Millard and sophomores Jeff Evans, John Lindsay, Doug Fowles and Jordan Orth, while SUU sophomore Justin Bateman will compete as an individual. Fowles, Orth and Bateman will be competing in their first tournaments for the Thunderbirds after joining the team at mid-year.
San Jose State claimed the team title last year after firing a final-round 293 to finish at eight-over-par 584 and out-distance Washington State (590), CS Northridge (591), Denver and Southern Utah (598). Kentucky claimed the team championship in 2008 to break a two-year string of SUU wins. The University of Denver won the inaugural Pat Hicks Invitational. Last year's individual champ was Northridge's Erik Jarvey, who won a one-hole playoff with WSU's Nick Ellis. It was the third time in the tournament's five seasons that the individual title was determined in a playoff.
The Coach: Richard Church (Utah '89) is in his 10th season as head golf coach and his 13th on the staff at Southern Utah. Prior to taking over the program from former Coach John Evans, Church spent four seasons as the Thunderbirds' assistant coach. During his tenure on the SUU staff, Church has coached five academic all-Americans, one Summit League (ne. Mid-Continent Conference) medalist, two Summit League runner-ups and the University's first two NCAA post-season competitors in golf. He has also seen the team finish second in the league four times since SUU began competing in the Summie League in 1997-98.
Pat Hicks Last Year: Matt McArthur finished fourth and Jeff Evans was 10th but Southern Utah slipped out of a first-place tie to finish fourth at the fifth annual Pat Hicks Thunderbird Invitational.
McArthur shot 73 on the day to finish at 144 and in a four-way tie for fourth, while Evans slipped from second to 10th after his second round 76 gave him a 146 total. McArthur was tied with SJSU's Aaron Conrad, Oral Roberts Scott Stiles and Northridge's Nick Delio.
Rounding out SUU's entry, Nate Page was 27th at 152, with Denny Job 49th (156) and Tai Reynolds 82nd (164). SUU's Kyle Hill and Chas Boorman, playing as individuals, finished 97th and 98th, with respective scores of 174 and 176.
College of Charleston finished sixth at 607, followed by Oral Roberts (608), Weber State (610) and Dixie State (613). UC Riverside was 10th at 616, with Utah State (618), Boise State (621), Grand Canyon (635) and Utah Valley (638) rounding out the 14-team field.
Last Time Out: SUU cut 20 strokes off its second-round score to move up one place and finish 16th at Cal State Northridge's Bill Cullum Invitational.
The Thunderbirds, who shot 304-308 in the opening two rounds, shot 288 in the third as all but one player carded his best round of the tournament. Sophomore John Lindsay shot a final round 68 to lead the team and jumped from 73rd to 41st place in the final standings with a cumulative score of 224. Jeff Evans shot 72, Tai Reynolds shot 73 and Denny Job shot 75 in the final round – the best scores of the tournament for all three –while Brad Millard finished with a 76.
Millard finished tied with Lindsay in 41st, while Evans (227) was 61st, Reynolds (229) was 66th and Job (232) finished 74th.
