SARASOTA, Fla. — Jack Wehman fired a 5-under-par 67 on Wednesday to help lead UTSA to a sixth-place finish at the American Athletic Conference Men’s Golf Championship at Ritz-Carlton Members Club (par 72/7,292 yards).
Wehman’s bogey-free scorecard featured five birdies and vaulted him into a tie for 21st at 3-under 213. It now ranks as the second-best score versus par ever posted by a Roadrunner at a conference tournament, trailing only John Elizondo’s 6-under 65 and tied with Mike Mezei’s 66, both of which were carded on the par-71 Canebrake Golf Club that hosted the 2003 Southland Conference Tournament.
Meanwhile, the Roadrunners ended up sharing sixth place with Rice, a six-place improvement from their debut in The American a year ago. Led by Wehman’s 67 and Logan Vargas’ 70 on Wednesday, UTSA registered a 5-under 283, which followed Monday’s even-par 288 and Tuesday’s 280 to close out a 13-under 851, the program’s best 54-hole team total versus par at a conference tournament.
The Roadrunners were two strokes ahead of Florida Atlantic and nine in front of Wichita State while finishing only three shots behind fifth-place East Carolina in the 11-team race. No. 33 South Florida and 44th-ranked Charlotte finished regulation tied atop the leaderboard at 35-under par. Charlotte captured the team title following a second playoff. North Texas was third (-19) and Memphis finished fourth (-18).
Wehman enjoyed a steady start to his final round with pars on each of the first 10 holes. The senior from Austin then caught fire with five birdies over a six-hole stretch, including three in a row on Nos. 14-16, to help him record a 5-under 31 on the back nine. After opening with rounds of 75 and 71, Wehman matched the best score of his collegiate career on the final day, as he also was 5-under par in the second round of his UTSA debut at the 2021 Jim Rivers Intercollegiate and again for the first 18 holes of the 2024 Dorado Beach Collegiate.
Brayden Bare was the top individual finisher for the Roadrunners, ending up in a tie for 17th at 5-under 211. The redshirt sophomore opened the week with back-to-back 4-under 68s before settling for a 75 on Wednesday that was headlined by four birdies, three as part of a 34 on the back nine. The Waco native finished with a team-high 14 birdies and he played the par fours at 3-under for the event.
Vargas was one shot behind Bare in a tie for 19th with a 4-under 212. The junior from Lubbock’s final-round 70 included five of his dozen birdies with three coming on a six-hole span on the back nine. After starting the week with pair of 71s, his 70 on Wednesday made him the only Roadrunner to register a red number in all three rounds.
Walker Franklin and Logan Zurn rounded out the UTSA lineup as part of a four-way tie for 36th at 2-over 218.
Franklin, a senior out of Colorado, posted a pair of 74s sandwiched around a 2-under 70 in the second round, which was his low score of the season and helped him match his season-best 54-hole total from the Desert Intercollegiate earlier this spring.
Zurn, a junior from Grapevine, Texas, bounced back from a 75 on Monday with a 1-under 71 on Tuesday followed by an even-par scorecard that was highlighted by five birdies, three over a five-hole stretch on the back nine.
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