PALM DESERT, Calif. – The University of Utah men’s golf team shot 3-under and moved up to second place on day two of the Desert Intercollegiate and Martín León and Javier Barcos both maintained positions in the top 10 on the individual leaderboard on the Utes second day at the Classic Club Golf Course.
“We were playing great,” said head coach Garrett Clegg, “but finished really poorly! Even though we are in second place, we left the course with a bad taste in our mouth. Tomorrow, we will need to clean things up and play a great round to catch Wyoming. I’m excited to see what we will do tomorrow!”
The Utes’ score of 285 was the third-best mark of the day in the 16-team field and allowed them to jump over Fresno State and conference rival Colorado. Clegg’s crew will head into the tournament’s final round with their sights set on their highest team finish of the season and they’re only six shots behind the first-place Wyoming Cowboys. Utah’s score of 7-over on par-4’s so far in Palm Desert is by far the best score on such holes in the tournament.
León did some spectacular work on the front nine on Thursday, including a birdie on the par-4 eighth, followed by an eagle on the ninth, putting him 3-under after nine holes. Despite a few stumbles in the second half of his round, León still entered the clubhouse with an even-par 72, leaving him 1-under through 36 holes and tied for seventh.
Barcos was steady throughout most of the day and was 1-over with 14 holes in the books before encountering a difficult stretch at the end of his round. He nonetheless ended the day with a birdie on the 18th, allowing him to jump back into a tie for 10th after carding a 75. For the tournament, Barcos is at even.
No Ute collected more birdies on Friday than Braxton Watts, who totaled six, including a run of four over five holes on back nine on his way to a 2-under 70. This makes three consecutive rounds in the red for Watts after he posted back-to-back 67s at the John Burns Intercollegiate.
Brandon Robison sliced three shots off his day one 74 to finish round two 1-under and move up from 28th to nab a share of 19th. Robison matched León’s mark on the front nine, posting a 3-under 33 that included birdies on the second, seventh and ninth. Robison collected four total birdies on the day and his 71 tied for his lowest…
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