WSU-USU Cup:
To kick off the 2023 fall season, the Weber State men’s golf team faced off against Utah State University in the annual WSU-USU Cup on Sept. 3. Heading to Logan, the Wildcats have won this tournament outright in the first two years of the competition.
On the first day of the tournament, the Wildcats lost three out of four matches in both sessions of play at the Logan Country Club. Utah State came out swinging, taking a 3–1 advantage after the first session. After matching that score for the second session, Utah State had a 6–2 lead over the Wildcats heading into singles action.
The second day of the WSU-USU Cup, the Wildcats had to take six and a half of eight points available that day to tie the match and retain the Cup. The Wildcats were able to defeat the Aggies in the singles format but were unable to recover from the deficit from doubles to fall 9–6 in the WSU-USU Cup.
The Wildcats finished singles with a 4–3 advantage and threatened a come-from-behind win, but the Aggies responded late to end Weber State’s rally. This marks Utah State’s first time winning this tournament.
Hayden Banz wins Big Sky Golfer of the Week:
After the WSU-USU Cup, the Big Sky Conference released its first Golfer of the Week award for the 2023-24 season on Sept 6. Weber State’s Hayden Banz received the honor after an exceptional tournament against Utah State University. Banz went 2–1 to tie for a team-high two points as Weber State fell to Utah State.
Banz teamed up with Brendan Thomas in the doubles meet against Utah State and secured the team’s lone win of the session as Utah State took the 3–1 lead. The pair of Banz and Thomas took down Ashton McArthur and John Cook in their match. The senior from Salt Lake City followed up on singles play to score a 4–3 win over John Cook.
“Utah State is kind of a rival to us, we play a match against them every single year and it’s always fun, the last two years we beat them pretty good, and we always want to bring the fire and we always want to take it to them,” Hayden Banz said.
Throughout Banz’s four years at Weber State University, he has been named All-Big Sky Second team in 2022 and All-Big Sky Honorable Mention in 2021. Throughout his 2022 season, Banz tied for eighth place overall with rounds of 73, 70 and 74 to help the Wildcats lift the 2022 Big Sky Conference Championship title.
“I just think overall I’m a good golfer, I hit the driver well, putt well, so yeah I think we have a really good team and I think we have the capabilities of taking home the Big Sky Championship once again,” Banz said.
Weber State travels to Falcon Invitational:
Weber State’s men’s golf team will swing off their 2023 fall tournament schedule with the Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational, hosted by the Air Force Academy on Sept 10-12. The team competition will be held on the Blue Course, each representing University will have five members and the tournament will keep scores of the top four of the day.
The 24-team tournament includes the host Air Force, California Polytechnic, Colorado State, California State University Northridge, Idaho, Incarnate Word, New Mexico State, Northern Colorado, George Washington, Gonzaga, Missouri State, Northern Iowa, South Dakota, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, Southern Utah, Utah State, Utah Tech, University of California Davis, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, Valparaiso, Wofford, and Wyoming.
Competing for the Wildcats will be seniors Isaac Buerger, Hayden Banz, Brendan Thomas, Oliver Gothe, and sophomore Ty Anderson.
The Eisenhower Blue Course, a par-72 layout spanning 7,541 yards, will be the battleground for the teams. Each group will play 18 holes every day from Sept 10-12, totaling 54 holes over the course of the tournament.
Following the first day of action, the men’s golf team started their tournament with a score of 11-over par 299, placing them in a tie for 13th out of the 24 participating schools. Valparaiso seized the lead with an impressive 3-under par 285, while New Mexico State followed closely in second place at even-par 288.
Weber State’s Brendan Thomas performed exceptionally well, carding a 3-under par 69 during the first round, positioning himself in fourth place after 18 holes. Thomas started the back nine with three consecutive birdies after a 1-over 37 on the front and added a fourth birdie on the 16th hole to reach 3-under. After the first day, Thomas trails the leader, Colorado State’s Christoph Bleier, by four shots.
“I definitely wanted to do better than last year, my goal was to shoot under par in one of the rounds and I’d like to finish under par overall in this tournament but at least one round under par is my main goal,” Brendan Thomas said.
Ty Anderson, with a score of 75, is tied for 46th, Hayden Banz, scoring 76, is tied for 58th, Isaac Buerger, with a score of 79, is tied for 98th and Oliver Gothe, carding 81, is tied for 111th.
The Wildcats will resume their tournament on Monday, Sept 11, with the second round teeing off at 10 AM, the competition will conclude on Tuesday, Sept 12.
