No. 24 UTC Golf Opens Play At Prestige With Score Of 291

Mocs Tied At Seventh With Baylor, UCLA

  • Tuesday, February 20, 2024
John Houk and the Chattanooga Mocs got their week started at the Prestige tackling the Norman Course at PGA West.
John Houk and the Chattanooga Mocs got their week started at the Prestige tackling the Norman Course at PGA West.
photo by gomocs.com

The 24th-ranked Chattanooga Mocs opened with 291 at the Prestige on PGA West’s Norman Course. The 7-over total is tied for 18th with Baylor and UCLA.

John Houk and Braedon Wear led the way with twin 70s. Their 1-under scores ranked two shots better than Paul Conroy’s 72. Samuel Espinosa completed the counting cards with 79, a stroke better than Ward Harris.

“We didn’t have our best stuff today,” Coach Blaine Woodruff explained. “The good news is we have plenty of golf left. We’ll use what we learned today and keep building not only for this week but as we continue to grow as a team.”

No. 19 Texas Tech has the early lead shooting 271. That’s three better than No. 5 Washington and Kansas State. The Red Raiders’ Tyran Snyders sits atop the individual leaderboard with 6-under 65.

The field makes its way back onto the tee at 9:45 a.m., Eastern Time, Tuesday morning. The Mocs tee off No. 10 starting at 2 p.m. Harris leads off followed by Espinosa, Conroy, Wear and Houk. The squad is paired with Washington and Duke again.

Scoring and pairings are linked above when available.

The Prestige

Feb. 19-21 (Mon-Wed) | Palm Desert, Calif.

PGA West (Norman) | Par 71 | 7,100 yards | 54 holes (18/day)

Notes to follow…

- First of three possible trips to California this season. The Western Intercollegiate in Santa Cruz is in April and televised on the Golf Channel. The third would be earning another trip to the NCAA Championships which is now in SoCal in the San Diego area.

- Just the fourth score above 289 this season…three of the four came in first round…5 over in the first round this season (286.83 avg)…22 under over second (-13, 283.8) and third rounds (-9, 283.75).

- 10 birdies today…13 of 15 team rounds with double-digit birdies…tied for third lowest single-round total of the season.

Lineup

T18th of 24: 291 (+7)

T24) Braedon Wear: 70 (1)

T24) John Houk: 70 (-1)

T56) Paul Conroy: 72 (+1)

T116) Samuel Espinosa: 79 (+8)

T118) Ward Harris: 80 (+9)

Field

(24) Chattanooga, Baylor, UC Davis, UCLA, Cal Poly, Colorado State, (25) Duke, Iowa State., Kansas, Kansas State, Louisville, Loyola Marymount, Nevada, Northwestern, (18) Oregon, Oregon State, Princeton, San Diego, San Francisco, SMU, Stanford, (19) Texas Tech, (5) Washington & Washington State

History

First entry in this event

Sports
Lee Athletics Announce Partnership With Teamworks
  • 7/14/2025

Lee University Athletics has announced a partnership with Teamworks. The digital software partnership takes all 18 Lee sports and centralizes all the daily functions of the athletic department ... more

111 Covenant Athletes Named Academic All-Conference
  • 7/14/2025

The Collegiate Conference of the South released its Academic All-Conference Team on Monday afternoon with 111 student-athletes from Covenant making the cut. To qualify, student-athletes ... more

UTC Athletics Seeking Scrappy Kids Club Members
  • 7/14/2025

Beloved Chattanooga Mocs mascot Scrappy is on the lookout for recruits to the nest for the 2025-26 athletic seasons. Once described by "Late Night" host Jimmy Fallon as "a sledgehammer wielding ... more