Barcos, Jimenez Achieve New Benchmarks For Utah Golf at Pac-12 Championships

CAREFREE, Ariz. – Javier Barcos became the first Ute to achieve back-to-back top 15 finishes at the Pac-12 Championships and Sergio Jimenez accomplished the highest finish in program history by a Utah freshman at the conference tournament as the University of Utah men’s golf team completed the final round of the Pac-12 Tournament on Sunday at the Desert Forest Golf Club in Carefree, Ariz.
 
As team, the Utes tied for fourth-best score on Sunday and Barcos, Jimenez, Braxton Watts and Gabriel Palacios all played major roles.
 
Barcos had a difficult beginning to his day, which started on the back nine, but he settled in after the turn and immediately posted a birdie on the par-4 first. Barcos was 1-under on the front nine, putting him at 3-over for the day and 8-over for the tournament, landing him in 11th.
 
Combined with his fourth-place finish in 2023, Barcos is the first Ute to finish inside the top 15 in multiple Pac-12 Tournaments and he also registered his team-high ninth top 20 finish of 2023-24.
 
Jimenez climbed into the top 15 by playing his best golf of the week, shooting a 2-under 69 that moved him up 15 places. No one on Utah collected more pars than his 14 and he supplemented that total with birdies on the 11th, second and fourth to post his ninth score under 70 during the current campaign. Jimenez’s 72-hole mark of 11-over tied him for 15th, the best performance by a Utah freshman at the Pac-12 Championships.
 
The best final round score from a Ute was supplied by Watts, who used a red-hot back-nine to card a 3-under 68, a score that tied for third-best in round four. The Utah native rattled off four birdies over his first seven holes, including consecutive red scores on the 11th and 12th and followed that with a run of six straight pars. His Sunday exploits allowed him to jump 16 spots and finish tied for 44th.
 
Palacios also played his best golf of the competition over the final 18 holes and was 3-under over his final 14 to enter the clubhouse even for the day. His tournament score of 22-over tied him for 54th. Brandon Robison tied for 59th, while Go Nakatsukasa placed 67th. Utah’s team score of 76-over put them in 10th.
 
Up Next
The Utes must now await to find out their fate for NCAA Regionals, which will begin on May 8.
 
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