TYLER, TEXAS – The University of Texas at Tyler men's golf team will compete in the first of five spring events leading up to the 2022 Lone Star Conference Men's Golf Championships this week at the 2022 Jack Brown Memorial Invite at Laredo Country Club in Laredo, Texas.
 
The Patriots are slated to compete in 54-holes of stroke play competition on Monday and Tuesday with 36 holes scheduled for Monday and a final round 18 holes on Tuesday. UT Tyler will have five events to prepare for the LSC Men's Golf Championships, scheduled for Apr. 18-20 at Squaw Valley Golf Course in Glen Rose, Texas.
 
A RECAP OF THE FALL
 
UT Tyler men's golf averaged 298.36 in 11 competitive rounds during the fall semester, and enter the championship spring semester ranked 17^th in the NCAA Division II South Central Region. The Patriots used the fall semester to get a young roster experience in collegiate golf as UT Tyler's spring roster will feature four sophomores and four freshman.
 
The fall slate of events was highlighted by a ninth-place team finish at the NCAA South Central/West Regional Preview at Pueblo Country Club in Pueblo, Colo. with a team score of 577 (287-290). That total was good enough to better 10 regional foes in one of Division II's toughest regions, and will hopefully set the tone for a quality spring semester for the Patriots.
 
Jackson Powers, Jackson Naeger, Garrett Honeycutt and Francesco Abba each competed in all 11 competitive rounds for head coach Michael McMunn in the fall, and were paced by Powers, who averaged 72.45 in his four events. Carter Lewis averaged 73.63 in his three events, while Naegar (75.27), Honeycutt (76.91) and Abba (77.00) all showed glimpses of high-level golf as underclassmen at various points throughout the semester.
 
POWER UP
 
Sophomore Jackson Powers will enter the spring semester ranked 25^th in a loaded South Central Region with his 72.45 scoring average, and played his best golf in the final three events of the fall semester. The Mansfield, Texas product fired rounds of 71-67 to finish in a tie for sixth on the individual leaderboard at the South Central/West Regional Preview back on Oct. 4-5, and capped off his semester with UT Tyler's first LSC Men's Golfer of the Week accolade back on Oct. 28^th.
 
His Player of the Week nod came on the heels of a tie for eighth-place finish at the 2021 Dennis Rose Intercollegiate in which he shot rounds of 72-73-66 to finish four-under par for the three rounds. His final-round 66 was bogey-free, and earned Powers a second top-10 finish of the fall semester after his previous performance in the regional preview.
 
A TRIP TO LAREDO TO GET THE SPRING STARTED
 
Powers will lead the Patriots into their inaugural event to start the 2022 spring season on Monday and Tuesday at the 2022 Jack Brown Memorial Invite in Laredo, Texas. This will be the fourth straight spring semester in which UT Tyler will kick-off their championship segment in Laredo, and will come on the heels of last spring's third-place team finish.
 
UT Tyler posted rounds of 296-305-312 on Feb. 8-9 of last year, and were paced by Powers' tie for ninth on the individual leaderboard with rounds of 73-76-78 for a 227 total. Lewis will also return to the event after carding a 234 (75-77-82) total at Laredo Country Club last spring.
 
The Patriots will go with the lineup of Powers, Naeger, Kopenhaver, Pollard, Lewis and Honeycutt for the event this week that will feature a load of LSC and South Central Region talent.