TEMPE, Ariz. – The Utah men's golf team has three players in the top-30 and head into tomorrow's final round in ninth-place out of 16 teams following first and second-round action at the ASU Thunderbird Invitational. The Utes carded a two-round score of 4-under par (564) at the par-71, 7,013-yard Karsten Golf Course on Saturday.
 
Utah, who posted 3-under par (281) in the first round and 1-under par (283) in the second round, carded back-to-back rounds under par for the first time this spring season and for the first time since the first and second rounds of the Bridgestone Invitational back on Oct. 30.
 
"We played really well today, but we just did not putt great and capitalize on the greens," said Utah head coach Garrett Clegg. "We hit the ball great today and the guys played really good golf, we just could not get the ball in the hole once we got on the greens."
 
Senior Gentry Hicks led a trio of Utah players that carded rounds under par, finishing the day at 3-under par (68-71=139) and heading into tomorrow's final round tied for 18^th place overall. Sophomore Kyler Dunkle (72-69=141) and freshman Jordan Costello (70-71=141) are both tied for 26^th place at 1-under par after two rounds of action on Saturday.
 
"Gentry played phenomenal all day," said Clegg. "Same thing with him, he just couldn't get over the hump. He had a really good first round and got things going in the second round, but had a few bogey's there coming in.
 
"I thought Jordan played some really good golf at times today and Kyler finished out the day scoring better than others, so it was great to see him finish well.
 
Freshman Mitchell Schow (71-75=146) carded 4-over par and sits in a tie for 51^st place, while sophomore Nathan Wunderli (75-72=147) posted a two-round score of 5-over par and sits in a tie for 57^th place.
 
The Utes head into tomorrow's final round 33 shots back of tournament host Arizona State, who leads the 16-team field with a combined score of 37-under par (531). Colorado State (-18), UNLV (-16), California (-14) and ASU's B-Team round out the top-five teams in the field.
 
Utah is just three shots back of fellow Pac-12 member Washington (-7), who sits in eighth-place after two rounds of play, and are three shots ahead of 10^th-place Arizona (-1).
 
"Hopefully tomorrow we can get a few more putts in," said Clegg. "If we can finish under par again tomorrow, that would be great and would probably be the first time all year that we posted three rounds under par in a tournament."
 
Final round action begins at 7:30 a.m. PDT tomorrow morning from Karsten Golf Course. Wunderli will get things underway for the Utes from Hole No. 10 at 8:30 a.m. PDT. Schow (8:40 a.m.), Dunkle (8:50 a.m.), Costello (9 a.m.) and Hicks (9:10 a.m.) will follow.
 
Live scoring for the final round can be found here.