TEMPE, Ariz. – The Utah men's golf team closed out play at the ASU Thunderbird Invitational, finishing in a tie for ninth-place out of the 16-team field Saturday afternoon at Karsten Golf Course in Tempe, Ariz.
 
The Utes carded a final-round 4-over par (288), but finished the event at even-par overall (281-283-288=852) and registered a season-low for total strokes over a three-round event this season. Utah's previous low was a total of 853 strokes, which the squad recorded at the Colorado Mark Simpson Invitational back on Sept. 26-27.
 
"We are getting close to playing really well," said Utah head coach Garrett Clegg. "We played great for 52 holes this week. Unfortunately, it's a 54-hole event. We fell from fourth to ninth-place in our last two holes, but these guys are getting close. It will not be long before we have a great week."
 
Tournament host, Arizona State, won the event carding a three-round score of 41-under par (811). UNLV took second-place posting a score of 21-under par (831), while ASU's B-Team took third-place at 18-under par (834). Nevada and Washington both finished at 6-under par (846) in a tie for fourth-place and rounding out the top five teams on the weekend.
 
Senior Gentry Hicks picked up a top-20 finish after carding a 2-over par (73) on Saturday. He finished the week tied for 20^th-place overall with a three-day score of 1-under par (212). Sophomore Kyler Dunkle and freshman Jordan Costello both finished in a tie for 27^th-place, scoring even-par (213) over the 54-hole event.
 
Sophomore Nathan Wunderli led Utah on Saturday, posting a team-low score of even-par (71) and finishing in a tie for 52^nd-place overall with a three-round score of 5-over par (218). Freshman Mitchell Schow rounded out Utah's scoring with a three-round total of 10-over par (223).
 
"Gentry, Kyler and Jordan played solid golf all week," said Clegg. "Nate had a really good final round."
 
Utah has now posted back-to-back top-10 finishes, but this week, the Utes finished ninth out of 16 teams for its best finish of the spring season. Meanwhile, the Utes had three players finish among the top-30 during a 54-hole event for the first time since the Colorado Mark Simpson Invitational.
 
Utah will be back in action a little over a week from now, competing at the Duck Invitational next Monday and Tuesday, March 27-28. Action will get underway that Monday at Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Ore.