PLANO, TX (03.21.21) - The UT Dallas men's golf team shot a second-round 294 to propel the Comets to the team title of the 2021 Texas Cup, the program's home tournament held at The Courses at Watters Creek.
Trailing by five shots after Monday's opening 18 holes, the Comets rallied hard on Sunday with four golfers with a 75 or lower over the final round to finish the two-day event with a three-shot victory. In the process, the unranked Comets bettered five nationally ranked programs.
The Comets posted a 298 on Saturday to trail day one leader and No. 19-ranked LeTourneau (293) by five strokes. No. 16 Mary Hardin-Baylor was one shot back of the Comets in third place at 299. With the Comets shaving four shots off their first round to finish at 592, they still needed help to claim their first-ever Texas Cup team championship since the event's inception in 2017.
The first-round leading YellowJackets lost 12 shots on Sunday, carding a team 305, to finish in third place at 598. UMHB made a three-stroke improvement (296) from Saturday, but finished in second place at 595.
Hudson Hicks led the Comets on the weekend, earning All-Tournament honors by thing for fourth place at 146 (73-73) over the two days.
Ryan Kropp tied for seventh at 148 (76-72),
Davis Archer (76-74) and
Aashish Achanta (75-75) tied for 15th at 150 and
Jared Harvey tied for 30th at 154 (74-80). There were 67 golfers in the field.
No. 15 Concordia Texas was a close fourth behind UMHB at 599 while Hardin-Simmons was fifth at 608, No. 18 Dallas sixth at 613, Howard Payne seventh at 616, No. 14 Nebraska Wesleyan eighth at 617, Hendrix ninth at 641 and Belhaven 10th at 659.
UMHB's William Sammons claimed medalist honors with a 36-hole total of 143 (70-73) while Belhaven's Peyton Tuttle was one shot back at 144 (72-72). Joining Sammons, Tuttle and Hicks on the All-Tournament team were LETU's Wes Nolen (146), CTX's Justin Skorheim (147) and HSU's Nick Vella (148).
The Comets will return to action Mar. 29-30 when they will compete in the Texas Showdown, hosted by Southwestern Christian at Cedar Crest Golf Club in Dallas.
