Ute Golf in Second Place Following Two Rounds at Mark Simpson Invitational

Monday, September 24

Erie, CO

All Day

University of Utah

Mark Simpson Collegiate

Ute Golf in Second Place Following Two Rounds at Mark Simpson Invitational

9/24/2018 7:49 PM | Men's Golf

First and Second Round Results

Kyler Dunkle heads into final round tied for first place.

ERIE, Colo. – The Utah men's golf team completed the first two rounds of the Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational on Monday and will head into the final round of play in second place behind tournament host, Colorado. The two-day event is being held at the Colorado National Golf Club in Erie, Colo.

Utah and Colorado battled stroke for stroke throughout the two rounds on Monday. Both the Utes and Buffaloes posted first-round scores of 9-under par (279), which were the best rounds of the day. In the second round, Colorado pulled just ahead of Utah after registering a second round of 1-over par (289), just three strokes ahead of Utah's second round of 4-over par (292).

"We had a solid opening round," said Utah head coach Garrett Clegg. "We were tied with Colorado after the first round. This afternoon, we were playing great until the 14th, 15th, and 16th holes. We had a terrible stretch that cost us a ton of strokes, but we are still in a great position, only three strokes behind Colorado going into the final round. If we can have a good 18 holes tomorrow, then we have a chance to win. It will be a challenge to run them down on their home course, but we are excited to get after it!"

Behind Colorado (-8) and Utah (-5) in the 16-team field, CSU-Fullerton (+6) sits in third place, Houston Baptist (+10) follows in fourth place, while Grand Canyon (+12) completes the top-five schools heading into the final round.

Coming off an individual title at the Showdown in the Rockies last week, senior Kyler Dunkle picked up right where he left off. Dunkle posted the lowest round of the day carding 6-under par (66) in the first round. Dunkle then recorded a second round of 1-over par (73) to sit in a tie for first place at 5-under par (139).

Junior Jordan Costello heads into Tuesday tied for sixth place with a combined score of even par (144). Costello notched rounds of 1-over par (73) and 1-under par (71).

Sophomore Blake Tomlinson shot 1-under par (71) in the first round and followed with 2-over par (74) in the second round. Tomlinson is tied for 12^th overall at 1-over par (145). Also tied for 12^th place is junior Mitchell Schow, who made Utah's lineup for the first time this year. Schow opened the event shooting 3-under par (69) in the first round of action and finished the day carding 4-over par (76).

Freshman Axel Einarsson is tied for 20^th place with a combined score of 3-over par (147). Einarsson registered rounds of 1-over par (73) and 2-over par (74) to round out Utah's five-man team on Monday.

Competing as an individual, sophomore Tristan Mandur is tied for sixth place with teammate Costello, with a combined score of even par (144). Mandur shot 1-over par (73) in the first round and 1-under par (71) in the second round.

The Utes will close out the Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational on Tuesday beginning at 7:55 a.m. MT with tee times of the No. 1 tee. Live stats for the final round can be found at GolfStat.com.