It’s become old hat for the University of Utah golf team to punch its ticket to the NCAA regionals.
For the fourth straight year, the Utes are headed back to postseason play to try to earn a place in the NCAA championships for the third season in a row.
It’s been a steady climb for Utah’s golf program since coach Garrett Clegg took over in 2016, with each passing year bringing more and more success.
Before Clegg took the helm, the Utes had been to the NCAA championships six times in program history, with the last appearance coming in 1988. Under Clegg’s leadership though, the Utes have now been to the NCAA championships twice in three seasons — and don’t plan on slowing down anytime soon.
“It’s been getting more and more successful every year. I think as you look through our progress every year, for the most part, we’ve been trending better and better and better,” Clegg said.
“Then this year it looks like we’ve made a huge jump just because we’ve had so much success, but last year at the end of the year we were playing really good and a couple of years prior we had a really good program, and so things have just been kind of working and going.”
The biggest reason for Utah’s success is the same as it happens in all other college sports — leveling up in recruiting and getting more talented players through the program.
Thanks in part to an international recruiting class that included freshmen Sergio Jimenez from Spain and Gabriel Palacios from Guatemala, the Utes turned in a good performance last year on the final day of the 2024 NCAA regionals, with Palacios firing a 3-under and Jimenez shooting even par to earn their way to the championships.
After finishing 27th out of 30 teams in last year’s NCAA championships, this year’s version of the Utes is looking to better that — and feels like it has the talent to do so.
Utah started out the season hot, finishing first in the Palouse Collegiate and Tindall Invitational tournaments, while also winning the Schenkel Invitational and tying for first place at the John Burns Intercollegiate.
Leading the charge this season hasn’t been any one player — Clegg is confident in the ability of anyone in his starting five to deliver a performance that could be the difference in whether Utah goes to its second consecutive NCAA championships.
“You got to get the right players in place, right? And that’s a big, big deal, and so our recruiting and the kids that are in the program are the key to all of our success,” Clegg said.
Jimenez, Palacios, Davis Johnson and Brandon Robison have all either won or tied for first in tournaments this season, proving the group’s versatility.
“I think I’ve been most impressed by our balance. When we start the tournament before it even begins, any one of our five players could win the golf tournament individually, and a lot of people like to think that and say that, but we’ve had all five of our players win a college golf tournament from the individual side, and that’s what’s helped lead us to all of our success. It’s been a true group effort,” Clegg said.
The Utes have been rewarded for their play this season with a national ranking, spending 20 consecutive weeks inside the Top 20 and heading into the NCAA regionals as the No. 17 team in the country.
Despite a seventh-place finish in the Big 12 tournament, its showing throughout the season meant that Utah earned a No. 3 seed at the NCAA Regionals at Gold Mountain Golf Club in Bremerton, Washington.
The course is familiar to the Utes, who played it last season at the Husky Invitational.
“It was held here and we’ve had a number of our players competed there that were in the program then are still in it now, and so we’re fortunate and we’re excited to be back,” Clegg said.
Utah will compete against Arizona State, Florida, South Carolina, South Florida, Colorado, Charlotte, Kansas, Colorado State, Elon, Coastal Carolina, Oral Roberts and Seattle U from May 12-14, with the top five teams advancing to the NCAA championships.
What would back-to-back trips to the NCAA championships mean for the Utes? Just another step forward to Clegg’s goal of being a great program.
“When you’re a great program, you get to regionals, then nationals all the time, and so I’d say we’re not fully where we need to be in the minds of everyone else,” Clegg said.
“However, I feel like in our program and our players, we have that expectation to be at the regional and national championship year in and year out.”