Utah eliminated in NCAA golf championships, Braxton Watts finishes tied for 35th

Utah’s time at the NCAA golf championships has come to a close.

For the second time in three years, the Utes advanced to the NCAA championships, this time by finishing in fourth place at the Austin regional by firing a 2-under over three rounds.

That earned them the opportunity to play at Omni La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, California — a tough course where all but one team finished over par at the NCAA championships.

As a team, the Utes shot 45-over-par-72 to finish 25th out of 30 teams, led by Braxton Watts, who was 4-over on the weekend. Gabriel Palacios was 10-over, while Sergio Jimenez was 18-over, Javier Barcos was 19-over and Brandon Robison was 24-over.

Only the top 15 teams moved on after the third round.

“It’s never easy to qualify for the NCAA Championships,” said coach Garrett Clegg in a press release. “This group did an outstanding job earning their spot in this event. They were great. Javier was able to finish his career the last week of the year in college golf. It has been a really cool year and a fun one to coach!”

As one of the top individuals from a non-advancing team, Watts won a playoff on Monday morning to advance to the fourth round — the final round for individuals. He finished that round 3-over for a total score of 7-over to finish tied for 35th out of 151 players that advanced to the fourth round.