PARK CITY - Utah Valley University men's golfer Noah Cook posted his best career finish Tuesday, coming in third at the Utah Invitational played at The Jeremy Golf and Country Club in Park City.
Cook, whose scores did not count toward UVU's team score since he was playing as an individual, fired a career-low 67 in Monday's first round and followed that with back-to-back even 71s to finish the tournament at 4-under par. He was just three shots back of tournament champion Seokown Jeon of Utah State. Jeon (-7) won the title in a two-hole playoff with Boise State's Ty Travis.
Cook's previous best finish came during his true freshman season of 2009-10 when he finished tied for 10th at the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate. He would finish second on the team in scoring average that year.
"Noah had a fantastic week," Utah Valley head coach Chris Curran said. "This could be a turning point in his career. He played with a lot of poise."
As a team, UVU came in fifth place at The Jeremy, recording a team score 1093. Brayden Eriksen (71-70-73) was the low Wolverine on the week, posting a 1-over 214 to finish in a tie for seventh on the overall leaderboard. From there, Corey Eccles (72-71-71) tied for 11th at 2-over and Clark Fredrickson did well to bounce back from a first-round 77 to finish in a tie for 18th at 3-over 216.
"Brayden fought hard today," Curran said. "He had two double bogies but got it back to 2-over. He's been our rock so far this season and had another good week."
Boise State (1076) claimed the team title by 10 strokes behind Travis' strong performance. UTEP and Utah State tied for second at 1086 apiece, a draw that host Utah missed by only one stroke at 1087. On the other side of Utah Valley's 1093, Northern Colorado was sixth at 1095 and Southern Utah seventh at 1101. Westminster (1136) and Bakersfield (1167) rounded out the field.
"We had four guys play pretty solid today but had to count another high score in the end," Curran said. "We had the secone best round of the day but that wasn't enough to make the jump up the leaderboard we were hoping for."
Preston Richards (75-72-78) shot a +12 to finish outside the top-30 for the first time this season at 36th. At +14, Stratton Schulz (73-77-78) closed the tournament tied for 40th, and Michael Dart's +19 (78-81-73) placed him in 50th overall.
Freshman JT Timmons (72-71-75), UVU's final golfer this week and another individual competitor, secured the best finish of his young career when his +5 placed him in 25th.
The Wolverines will be idle for two weeks before they close out their fall schedule at the Bill Cullum Invitational in Simi Valley, Calif. That tournament runs Oct. 21-22 and will be hosted by Cal State Northridge.
Kellen Hiser is an assistant sports information director at Utah Valley University. For more information on Wolverine athletics, visit WolverineGreen.com.