News

Utah Takes Third at Duck Invitational; Wunderli Cards a Hole-In-One During Tuesday’s Final Round

By: Dameon Myers, Associate Director of Communications U of U Athletics

EUGENE, Ore. – Utah sophomore Nathan Wunderli carded a hole-in-one in Tuesday's final round and the Utah men's golf team went on to finish in third-place at the 28th Annual Duck Invitational at Eugene Country Club.
 
The Utes combined to card a final-round 5-over par (289) en route to a three-round total score of 15-over par (867). No. 10-ranked Oregon won the event, registering a score of 8-under par (844) over the 54-hole tournament. Arizona finished in second-place, just five strokes ahead of the Utes, at 10-over par (862). No. 23-ranked San Diego State (+17, 869) came in fourth-place and Oregon State (+20, 872) rounded out the top-five.
 
“We had a really solid tournament,” said Utah head coach Garrett Clegg. “As a team, we did a great job. We actually played well last week, but did not get it finished. This week, we managed to play all 54 holes and get it done.
 
“We did a lot of really good things this week. We have been building on each performance all spring, now we just need to stay consistent.”
 
Freshman Jordan Costello carded a final-round 2-under par (69) on the way to registering the first top-10 performance of his career. He finished in a tie for 10th-place with a three-round score of 1-over par (214).
 
Senior Gentry Hicks carded his fourth top-20 performance of the season, finishing in a tie for 16th with a total score of 3-over (216). Sophomore Kyler Dunkle tallied a top-20 performance as well, posting a three-round score of 4-over par (217) and finishing in a tie for 18th.
 
Wunderli finished in sole possession of 28th-place with a three-round score of 7-over par (220). The Sandy, Utah, native was the only golfer to record a hole-in-one during the event, holing-out the par-3, 228-yard No. 2 hole.
 
“Nathan's hole-in-one came on one of the toughest par-3's on the course,” said Clegg. “The pin was in the very back. It was an amazing hole to record a hole-in-one at.
 
Wunderli becomes the first Ute to card a hole-in-one since Ben Bankhead registered one at the Colorado Invitational back on Sept. 24, 2012, and is just the third Utah golfer overall to do so since 2008.
 
Freshman Mitchell Schow rounded out Utah's scoring, coming in 79th-place with a combined score of 21-over par (234).
 
In addition to Wunderli's hole-in-one that went for eagle, Utah had a tournament-best four eagles overall during the two-day event. Costello led the way with two eagles and Dunkle added the other.
 
Tuesday's third-place finish marks the first top-three finish for the Utes this spring and the first since taking second-place in the weather-shortened Utah Invitational back in October. It is the first top-three performance for the Utes in a spring tournament since tying for second at the Loyola Golf Invitational back in 2015.
 
Overall, Utah has four top-three finishes this season – the most in a single season for the Utes since 2006-07 (four).
 
Utah returns to action in a few weeks when the team heads to Provo to compete in the PING Cougar Classic, which will take place Monday and Tuesday, April 10-11, at Riverside Country Club.