DORADO, Puerto Rico — Paced by 5-under-par scorecards from Hunter Bott and Jack Wehman, the UTSA men’s golf team posted its best score of the season in the opening round of the Dorado Beach Collegiate, which teed off Sunday at TPC Dorado Beach’s Sugarcane Course (par 72/7,112 yards).
Bott and Wehman each carded a 67 to settle into a tie for eighth place and help the Roadrunners turn in a 10-under 278, good for sole possession of seventh in the 17-team field. UTSA’s opening-round tally, which was buoyed by a tournament-high four eagles, is tied for ninth-best team score in program history and it marks the best round since a 277 at the 2022 Jim Rivers Intercollegiate.
UTSA is one stroke ahead of Butler and two in front of a tie for ninth between George Mason and Valparaiso. The Roadrunners are only one shot out of a tie for fifth between Illinois State and Kent State in the team standings led by host UNC Greensboro (-18).
Wehman wrote down two eagles and three birdies en route to matching the best score of his collegiate career, a 67 logged in the second round of the 2021 Jim Rivers Intercollegiate. Starting on No. 10, the junior from Austin Vandegrift High School followed a pair of pars with a birdie on the 542-yard, par-5 12th. After another par on No. 13, Wehman recorded an eagle on the 502-yard, par-5 14th. He closed the back side of the course with a bogey followed by a trio of pars en route to a 2-under 34. On the front, Wehman registered birdies on the 400-yard, par-4 second and 510-yard, par-5 ninth holes to go along with his second eagle of the day, a three on the 525-yard sixth.
Bott logged a team-best six birdies en route to his 17th career sub-70 round. The senior from Montgomery, Texas, started the day by circling his number on four of his first five holes, as he birdied Nos. 9-10 before posting a par on the 11th followed by back-to-back birdies on the 542-yard, par-5 12th and 230-yard, par-13th holes. The all-conference performer also had birdies on the 410-yard, par-4 17th and the 420-yard, par-4 third while breaking 70 for the seventh time this season.
Wehman and Bott sit only three shots out of the individual leader, Kent State’s Chris Vandette, who fired an 8-under 64.
The Roadrunners also counted a pair of even-par scorecards on Sunday, as Walker Franklin and David Harrison each turned in a 72. The two players are part of a 14-way tie for 60th with 36 holes remaining.
Franklin was steady with 14 pars to go along with birdies on the second and 12th holes, equaling his best score of the season.
Harrison had 13 pars in a round that was highlighted by an eagle on the 525-yard, par-5 sixth and a birdie on the 465-yard, par-4 18th. The 72 marked his fifth par-or-better score of his senior campaign.
Brock Blais is one shot back in a tie for 72nd after posting a 73. The freshman from Florida accounted for UTSA’s other eagle on the day, a three on No. 14, to go with a pair of birdies.
Playing as an individual, Bryson Thurston joins Franklin and Harrison in a tie for 60th after the senior from Montgomery carded an even-par 72 that featured five birdies, including three in a row on Nos. 5-7.
The second round is slated for Monday.
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