AUSTIN, Texas — UTSA senior Hunter Bott wrapped up a record-setting season with the best 54-hole total posted by a Roadrunner in the NCAA postseason, registering a 4-over-par 217 at the Austin Regional, which concluded on Wednesday at UT Golf Club (par 71/7,399 yards).
Entering the day with a share of 37th at 2-over-par 144 after firing a 4-under 67 on Tuesday, Bott carded a 73 that featured four birdies in the final round to jump into a three-way tie for 35th. His 217 clipped the previous school record for best 54-hole total in an NCAA event of 6-over 218 set by Chad Sewell in a 39th-place showing at the 2021 Kingston Springs Regional at the Golf Club of Tennessee.
Additionally, Bott’s 67 in the second round marked the lowest score registered by a Roadrunner in any NCAA postseason round, eclipsing by three strokes Christian Fanfelle’s 1-under 70 logged for the final 18 holes of the 2021 Kingston Springs Regional.
Bott also etched his name atop the school’s single-season scoring average list, as he ended the 2023-24 campaign with a 71.91 mark to eclipse the previous standard of 72.03 set by Zander Lozano in 2016-17. The Montgomery, Texas, native also closed out his UTSA career with a 73.49 scoring average, which ranks second in program annals behind Lozano (72.55).
Celebrating his birthday during Wednesday’s final round, Bott opened the morning with a birdie on the 370-yard, par-4 first hole. He added his second birdie of the day with a three on the 475-yard fourth hole in bouncing back from a double bogey on No. 3. After recording three consecutive pars, he closed the front nine with a pair of bogeys en route to a 2-over 37.
Bott got back to even for the day over the first five holes on the back nine. He logged a par on No. 10 before making a birdie on the 596-yard, par-5 11th. Following back-to-back pars over the next two holes, the two-time all-conference performer reached the 562-yard, par-5 14th in two and then two-putted for his fourth birdie of the day. He posted two pars and two bogeys over his final four holes as a Roadrunner to finish off an even-par 36 on the back.
🎥 Left it all on the course 😤
— UTSA Men's Golf (@UTSAMensGolf) May 16, 2024
Congratulations on a great career, Hunter!#LetsGo210 | #BirdsUp 🤙 pic.twitter.com/2eclV0cFkQ
Bott finished only two shots out of the top 25 golfers in the field of more than 70 golfers that was won by Texas’ Christiaan Maas with a 9-under 204 (71-67-66).
Texas captured the team title with a 27-under 825, followed by Tennessee (-11), Notre Dame (-6), Utah (-2) and a tie between Wake Forest and BYU at 2-over for the fifth and final NCAA Championships qualifying spot that was won by the Demon Deacons in a playoff.
UNC Greensboro’s Kelvin Hernandez earned the top individual qualifying berth to nationals by tying for third (-6).
In addition to the trio of aforementioned school records, Bott capped his UTSA career with 45 par-or-better scorecards, 19 sub-70 rounds and nine top-10 finishes. This season, he totaled four top 10s, nine top-25 finishes and nine sub-70 scores en route to setting the program’s single-season scoring record.
-UTSA-