United Athletic Conference

Lamar's Hugo Hellman has been named TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Men's Golfer of the Week for February 9 through February 15.

 

Hellman, a senior from Salem, Sweden, took third at the Border Olympics while also leading the Cardinals to a third-place team finish. Starting strong from the beginning, Hellman opened the tournament with a 4-under-par 68 in the first round. He followed that up with a 2-under-par 70 in the second round and finished the tournament with a 2-over-par 74 to earn the top three finish.

 

Other nominees: Dixie State's Brock Nielson tied for ninth at the Pat Hicks Thunderbird Invite, shooting a 211 on the tournament … NM State's Aidan Thomas shot a 67 in the second round of the Border Olympics to lead the Aggies … Utah Valley's Kai Iguchi recorded his first top-10 finish of the season with a seventh-place finish at the Pat Hicks Thunderbird Invite.

 

This week, Grand Canyon opens the spring with a trip to Hawaii for the John A. Burns Intercollegiate in Lihue. Utah Valley opens competition on Sunday at the Loyola Invitational in Goodyear, Ariz while California Baptist hosts The Joust, beginning on Monday in Jurupa Valley, Calif.

 

Sam Houston's Chad Sewell leads the WAC in stroke average at 70.2 per round. CBU's Eeli Kujanpaa is second at 71.4 strokes per round and NM State's Aidan Thomas is third at 72.1. As a team, SHSU is the leader at 287.1 strokes per round. Lamar is second at 290.5 and NM State is third at 291.4

 

The WAC will be in a unique situation this season with two teams having earned automatic qualifications to NCAA Regionals in May. NM State will be the defending WAC champions, having won the 2021 Championship by just one stroke at Boulder Creek GC. Sam Houston also earned an automatic selection after winning the Southland Conference Championship by 10 strokes over Lamar. The Bearkats then placed fourth at the NCAA Stillwater Regional to earn a spot at the NCAA Championship in Scottsdale, where SHSU tied for ninth in the team standings. 

 

On Jan. 14, the WAC announced the addition of five new schools in the upcoming years. Abilene Christian, Lamar, Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin and Southern Utah were all offered and accepted membership invitations. With the addition, the WAC now has six schools in Texas, more than any other conference in the country, and will have three schools in Utah, also a national best. The four Texas schools joined the league on July 1, 2021 and Southern Utah will follow 365 days later, officially joining the WAC on July 1, 2022. More recently, Tarleton announced this fall its intention to revive men's golf, beginning in fall of 2022.

 

For the second straight season, the 2022 WAC Men's Golf Championship will be played at Boulder Creek Golf Club in Boulder City, Nev. Made up of three nine-hole courses, the course is considered by many to be one of the top municipal golf courses in the country. Scenic vistas, cool creeks, colorful wildflowers, and smooth beach bunkers add to the lure of this unique golf course.