Joe Jensen brought his Wyoming team under the shade of an adjacent tree to breathe in relief after a long day of hard work. The Cowboys were in a fight during the second round of the National Golf Invitational held at Ak-Chin South Dunes, Maricopa, Arizona. Jensen wanted to let his men know that he was proud of their fight.
He said: “I’m proud of my team because I know that we slipped and they fought back the majority of the day. They did an excellent job, so as a Coach, this makes me proud.” “Because, as I told them their attitude stayed unchanged, they were still committed, we didn’t start off the best but we kept fighting,” he said.
Wyoming began the day with an advantage of one shot and finished four shots behind Texas State, who led in the second round. The second round of NGI’s inaugural event was much more complex than that.
Seven different teams took the lead as the day progressed. Wyoming needed to be ruthless on a day such as this when every shot was important.
Jensen remarked, “There were many pars that were hard-fought on par 5, and I could talk for hours about the thought of, ‘Gosh, lets just make par and get out of this place.
Jensen says that winning the first NGI title would be “unbelievable”. He knows that he will have to do his best not to undermine the process that got his team this far. Jensen will not change his enthusiasm or the morning routines of his team.
Shane Howell, the head coach at Texas State, liked the fighting spirit he saw among his players, especially on the back nine. The Bobcats recovered from a poor start and finished 11 under par to gain the lead.
He said he was proud of his team for enduring a rocky front nine. It allowed them to finish strong on the back nine, and gave them a shot tomorrow.
The guys are excited for tomorrow’s final round. We are grateful to have the opportunity to attend the NGI.
Utah Valley, Wyoming and Texas State will be in the final group on Sunday. The Wolverines are six shots behind at 5 under. The team of head coach Chris Curran has a lot experience in this position, having won three spring tournaments.
He said: “I think that our message will be just to say, Hey, you’re not going to sleep with the lead. You’ve got nothing to worry about. Let’s go out firing tomorrow and shoot the lowest possible score and then count them at the end.”
This Utah Valley golf team has in many ways shattered Wolverine golf’s norms. Brady McKinlay, who won four individual titles consecutively in the fall season and qualified for a NCAA regional qualifies him to compete in this week. Caden Weber was the winner of the Bash at the Beach back in March. Curran believes that the entire roster benefited from McKinlay’s performance, particularly his stretch.
Curran explained, “They play and practice with him every single day. They see what he does and think to themselves: I can do that.” It really raised the expectations of everyone else.
Curran believes that for the first time since he has been coaching Utah Valley he can win the individual title with any player in the starting five if they get hot. Curran will find out this week just how deep the roster is with McKinlay and Kai Iguchi both absent. Both players competed at the PGA WORKS Individual Collegiate Championship.
Curran explained, “It is like a brand new crew.” “We joked around saying that this qualifier is for next year, just because of who we brought.”
Braden O’Grady is a redshirt freshman in Utah Valley’s NGI line-up. He has never competed with the Wolverines prior to this week. O’Grady, who transferred to Utah Valley from Western Washington in December following a year there, was positioned just outside of the traveling squad during the spring.
Curran explained, “He didn’t really get a chance to play in the lineup, and with the way things turned out, we felt like we had to give this kid a few reps.” “He has done an excellent job for us.”
Utah Valley will break its scoring record this week at the NGI, adding another milestone to a historically significant season.
Utah Valley is making its first postseason debut, and the team has taken inspiration and competition from the men’s program. The Wolverines reached the semifinals in March of the National Invitational Tournament. This is the equivalent to the NGI for men’s golf.
Curran joked, “Now we’re kind of joking about how well, our basketball team didn’t do as well.” “We must win this.”
