No. 4 Texas men’s golf finished third at the Valspar Collegiate Invitational at the Floridian National Golf Club in Palm City, Fla.
The Longhorns carded a 54-hole score of 34-under 818 (268-280-270), leaving them 11 strokes behind first-place finisher No. 11 Texas Tech and five strokes behind runner-up No. 2 Auburn.
Texas Tech set a tournament scoring record at 45-under par, breaking the mark Texas set at last year’s event. It was Texas Tech’s first team win in more than two years.
The tournament featured one of the most competitive fields the Longhorns have faced all season, including four of the 16 teams featured ranked inside the top 10 and nine in the top 25 of the latest Bushnell/Golfweek Division I Coaches poll.
Heading into the tournament, senior Luke Potter had the event circled on his calendar.
“I haven’t played my best in years past, and I think I’ve got a really good game plan to go at that tournament and play great,” Potter said. “And just on top of that, it’s an awesome field and a great golf course, so I’m really excited for that challenge.”
Potter’s game plan proved to be successful — he finished as the lowest Longhorn, surging up the leaderboard with six birdies on his final nine holes to finish tied for 10th in the individual standings at 10-under overall.
Behind Potter, senior Tommy Morrison finished tied for 17th at 8-under par with three straight rounds in the 60s (68-69-68).
Despite recent strong finishes — including four top-3 results — the team has expressed relative disappointment in its spring season so far, with only one first-place finish, compared to four at this point last year.
“I feel like we haven’t had the best spring start we were looking for,” said sophomore Eduardo Derbez Torres, who was not in the lineup for Valspar. “We can always improve, and we’ve been improving a lot lately. I think we can grow a lot if we just keep our heads down and just keep practicing.”
Texas will have the chance to finish its regular season strong at The Ford Collegiate on April 13-14 in Richmond Hill, Ga., a tournament the Longhorns won last year.
The Longhorns will then compete at the Southeastern Conference Championship on April 22-26 at Saint Simons Island, Ga.
“We still have regionals … and nationals coming up, and that’s what really matters,” Torres said. “So we just have to keep our heads down, keep believing and trusting the process, and we know it’s going to come.”