Trio of freshmen powers Texas to team crown in Southwestern Invitational

   Riding the wave of spectacular opening-round 61 from freshman homeboy Jacob Sosa, reigning national champion Texas rolled to a 13-shot victory over 2021 national champion Pepperdine in the Southwestern Invitational, which wrapped up Wednesday at North Rock Country Club in Westlake Village, Calif.

   There is very little resemblance between this Texas team and the group of Longhorns that captured the fourth national crown in program history with a 3-2 victory over an Arizona State team that was basically playing a home game at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.

   The Coody twins, Pierceson and Parker, and Cole Hammer were seniors who had battled through a lot of adversity and they led the way for Texas at Grayhawk before going off in pursuit of their professional dreams.

   But a trio of freshmen, including Sosa, Keaton Vo, who, like Sosa, is an Austin, Texas homeboy, and Christiaan Maas of South Africa, looked ready for prime time in the victory for the Longhorns in the Southwestern.

   The Southwestern has become something of the opening act of the spring portion of the wraparound college season. The tournament shows up on The Golf Channel and draws a field full of potential national championship contenders.

   College golf, both the men’s and women’s games, apparently have made something of a splash on the golf scene and rightfully so. Maybe it’s because some of the recent college standouts have made such a seamless transition to the pro game. Or maybe it’s the same youthful enthusiasm that has always made college kids, regardless the sport, so much fun to watch.

   Sosa’s brilliant opening salvo, which featured three eagles, five birdies and nary a bogey, led Texas, a perennial Big 12 power, to the best team round of the tournament, an 18-under-par 270, in Monday’s opening round over the 7,017-yard, par-72 North Ranch layout.

   The wind came up a little and the golf course was toughened a little as the Longhorns added a pair of 2-over 290s in Tuesday’s second round and Wednesday’s final round, but nobody was able to catch up to them after their fast start. Texas, No. 20 in the Golfstat rankings entering the spring portion of the wraparound 2022-2023 season, finished with a 14-under 850 total.

   West Coast Conference power Pepperdine, ranked 14^th, opened with a 2-over 290 and trailed Texas by 20 shots. The Waves had the best team rounds in the final two rounds, an even-par 288 in Tuesday’s second round and a 3-under 285 in Wednesday’s final round, to finish 13 shots behind the Longhorns with a 1-under 863 total. Pepperdine was the only other team to finish under par for the week.

   Pac-12 power Arizona State, ranked fourth, was another five shots behind Pepperdine in third place with a 4-over 868 total. The Sun Devils were Texas’ closest pursuer following a solid opening round of 13-under 275 before struggling to a 304 in Tuesday’s second round. Arizona State closed with a solid 1-over 289.

   Those top three finishers have been running into each other a lot in the last eight months. Pepperdine joined Texas and Arizona State in the semifinals in the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk last spring.

   Those semifinal berths earned all three teams a spot in the field for the East Lake Cup in Atlanta, an event that puts an exclamation point on the fall portion of the wraparound college season and also draws the attention of The Golf Channel’s cameras.

   Arizona State edged Pepperdine, 3-2, in the semifinals at East Lake before dropping a 3-2 decision to a veteran Vanderbilt team in the final. Vandy rolled to a 4-1 victory over Texas in the semifinals and Pepperdine handed the Longhorns a 4-1 setback in the third-place match.

   Arizona State’s Pac 12 rival Oregon, ranked 26^th, finished four shots behind the Sun Devils in fourth place in the Southwestern as the Ducks opened with a solid 4-under 284 and added a 5-over 293 in Tuesday’s second round before finishing up with a 7-over 295.

   Two more Pac-12 entries, No. 29 Washington and No. 140 UCLA (not sure 140 sounds right for the Bruins, but it will be going up shortly), finished in a tie for fifth place in the 12-team field, each landing on 16-over 880, eight shots behind Oregon.

   After opening with a 2-over 290, the reigning Pac-12 champion Huskies added a pair of 7-over 295s in the final two rounds. UCLA got a little better in each round, opening with a 7-over 295, improving by a shot with a 294 in Tuesday’s second round and closing with a 3-over 291.

   It certainly looked like Texas’ freshmen did some growing up during the midseason pause. Or maybe they were just thrilled to have left Austin behind as it was preparing to be slammed by a long-duration ice storm for the relatively benign conditions of Southern California.

   Sosa made eagles at the par-4 second hole and at a pair of par-5s, the fourth and 12^th holes, in his spectacular opening round.

   Sosa cooled off in the last two rounds with a pair of 2-over 74s, to finish in third place in the final individual standings with a 7-under 209 total.

   Turned out Sosa wasn’t even the low Longhorn. That honor went to Vo, who opened with a relatively modest 5-under 67, added a 71 in Tuesday’s second round and closed with a 2-under 70 for an 8-under 208 total that left him a shot behind the individual champion, Michael Brennan, a junior at Wake Forest from Leesburg, Va. and No. 19 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).

   Maas, No. 25 in the WAGR, gave Texas a third finisher among the top five as he landed in a tie for fifth place with a 4-under 212 total. Maas contributed a 4-under 68 to the opening-round surge by the Longhorns and added a 2-under 70 in Tuesday’s second round before finishing up with a 2-over 74.

   The veterans in the Texas lineup, perhaps biding their time for the postseason a few months down the road, were further down the line in the individual standings.

   Brian Stark, a graduate student from Kingsburg, Calif. and No. 34 in the WAGR, finished in the group tied for 28^th place with a 7-over 223 total. Stark, a transfer from Texas’ arch-rival, Oklahoma State, sandwiched a 3-over 75 in Tuesday’s second round with a pair of 74s.

   Rounding out the Texas lineup was its best and most experienced player, Travis Vick, a senior from Houston and No. 7 in the WAGR. Vick finished among the group tied for 42^nd place with a 228 total. Vick struggled in the first two rounds, adding a 5-over 77 in Tuesday’s second round to his opening-round 79, before matching par with a 72 that was a counter for the Longhorns in the final round.

   Vick was the only player in the Texas lineup at North Ranch who was in the lineup for the Longhorns’ victory over Arizona State at Grayhawk. His 1-up win over Cameron Sisk provided the clinching point in Texas’ 3-2 victory over the Sun Devils in the Final Match.

   Vick actually suffered a 2-up setback at the hands of Stark in Texas’ 3-2 victory over Oklahoma State in the quarterfinals at Grayhawk.

   Brennan, who helped Wake Forest win the Atlantic Coast Conference team crown last spring, bided his time after his opening round of 2-under 70 left him nine shots behind Sosa.

   Brennan’s 4-under 68 was the best round of the day when the wind came up for Tuesday’s second round as he crept within three shots of Sosa heading into the final round. Brennan’s final round of 3-under 69 gave him a 9-under 207 total and a one-shot edge on Vo for his fifth collegiate individual victory.

   Arizona State’s freshman phenom, Luke Potter of Encinitas, Calif. and No. 98 in the WAGR, finished two shots behind Sosa in fourth place with a 5-under 211 total.

   Potter, coming off a stellar junior career, was Sosa’s closest pursuer after opening with a sparkling 7-under 65. Potter fell back with a 3-over 75 in Tuesday’s second round before finishing up with a solid 1-under 71.

   Joining Texas’ Maas in a tie for fifth place at 4-under was Oregon’s Owen Avrit , a senior from Arroyo Grande, Calif. After opening with a 1-under 71, Avrit matched par in Tuesday’s second round with a 72 before finishing up with a solid 3-under 69.

   A pair of Washington players, Taehoon Song, a junior from South Korea, and Teddy Lin, a junior from Taiwan, shared seventh place, each landing on 3-under 213, a shot behind Maas and Avrit.

   After opening with a 1-over 73, Song carded a pair of 2-under 70s in the second and third rounds. Lin opened with a solid 4-under 68 and added a 1-under 71 in Tuesday’s second round before cooling off in the final round with a 2-over 74.

   Pepperdine’s Derek Hitchner, a graduate student from Minneapolis, Minn. and No. 35 in the WAGR, headed a group of four players tied for ninth place at 1-under 215. Hitchner, who was in the lineup for the Waves’ run to the NCAA semifinals last spring, opened with a solid 3-under 69 and matched par with a 72 in Tuesday’s second round, before closing with a 2-over 74.

   Hitchner, who made a run to the semifinals of last summer’s U.S. Amateur at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J., joined Wake Forest’s Brennan among a group of players who auditioned under the watchful eye of captain Mike McCoy for the U.S. team that will play in the Walker Cup Match this summer at the Old Course at St. Andrews. The practice session was held in mid-December at golf courses in the Jupiter, Fla. area.

   Rounding out the foursome tied for ninth place at 1-under were Georgia’s Caleb Manuel, a junior from Topsham, Maine, San Diego State’s Justin Hastings, a sophomore from the Cayman Islands, and UCLA’s Pablo Eveno, a sophomore from Spain.

   Manuel was steady all week, matching par in each of the first two rounds with back-to-back 72s before closing with a 1-under 71. After opening with a 2-under 70, Hastings added a 1-over 73 in Tuesday’s second round before matching par in the final round with a 72.

   Ereno was 4-under after adding a 3-under 69 in Tuesday’s second round to his opening-round 71 before closing with a 3-over 75.

   Interesting name popped up on the Pepperdine roster, that of former Delaware standout Roberto Nieves, who is taking the extra year granted by the NCAA for the spring of 2020 lost to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic with the Waves.

   Nieves, who represented the Blue Hens as an individual in the NCAA’s New Haven Regional last spring, competed as an individual for the Waves in the Southwestern and finished in a tie for 40^th place with a 227 total.

   Nieves, a native of Miami, Fla., struggled a little in the opening round with a 78 before adding a 3-over 75 in Tuesday’s second round and finishing up with a 2-over 74.