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Dixie State Men’s Golf Captures the 2018 PacWest Championship Wednesday

(Photos courtesy of Pacific West Conference)

By Steve Johnson, Associate Athletic Director for Media Relations and Collegiate Licensing at Dixie State University

(LITCHFIELD PARK, Ariz. – April 25, 2018) Junior Nicklaus Britt fired a 4-under 68 to claim medalist honors for the second time as many tournaments, while freshman Spencer Wallace placed second overall, as Dixie State clinched its third Pacific West Conference championship in four seasons Wednesday at the Wigwam Resort Golf Course. 

The victory, DSU’s second-straight and third tournament win of the 2017-18 season, also clinched the program’s 10th-straight NCAA postseason appearance. The win also gave the Trailblazers’ their seventh-straight top-three team finish and their ninth top-10 in nine events overall.

DSU (292-283-298) began the day with a three-stroke lead and that proved to be the winning margin as the Trailblazers finished with a 54-hole total of plus-9 873. Holy Names (286-301-289-876, +12) and Dominican (293-285-299-877, +13) pushed DSU for most of the day, with Dominican briefly overtaking the Trailblazers for the tournament lead. However, the Trailblazers regained the tourney lead managed to hold both teams on the back nine, while HNU outlasted Dominican by one shot to take runner-up honors.

California Baptist (288-303-288-879, +15) finished the tournament in fourth place, followed by Hawai’i Hilo (295-292-295-882, +18) in fifth, Academy of Art in sixth (295-293-302-890, +26), Biola (304-301-305-910, +46) in seventh, Hawai’i Pacific (305-305-309-919, +55) in eighth, Chaminade (331-316-303-950, +86) in ninth and Notre Dame de Namur (324-323-316-963, +99) in 10th. 

Britt (72-71-68) penciled in five birdies on his final round and played the back nine at 2-under with two birdies and seven pars en route to his first PacWest individual championship at minus-5 211. For Britt, who took runner-up honors at last season’s PacWest tournament, it was his second collegiate tourney win overall, which included his victory earlier this month at the Western New Mexico Mustang Intercollegiate (4/2-3), an event DSU also won.

Meanwhile Wallace (73-67-72-212, -4), who was the clubhouse leader through 36 holes after carding the low-round of the tournament with a 5-under 67 in round two Tuesday, parred his first nine holes before a bogey at the 10th put him at 1-over. Wallace then rattled off seven more pars before rolling in a birdie putt on the 18th to post an even-par 72 and seal the DSU victory.

In all, three Trailblazers finished in the top-20 on the player leaderboard as freshman Landon Anderson (75-69-79) placed 17th at plus-7 223. Additionally, sophomore Jayce Frampton (78-76-79) tied for 32nd at plus-17 233 and senior Dalton Stanger (72-80-94) followed in 38th place at plus-20 236.

“Today was just one of those days where it was all about survival,” DSU Head Coach Brad Sutterfield said. “To have two guys play really well and have three guys struggle through it, it was tough, but I will tell you the guys who struggled really battled hard.

“Nick [Britt] shooting 68 was a phenomenal round in the [near 100-degree] heat and tough conditions,” Sutterfield added. “I couldn’t be more proud of Spencer [Wallace] – 16 pars and he birdied the 18th-hole, so awesome. It was intense, but it was so much fun to watch.”

DSU wrapped up its 11-year run in the PacWest Conference with three conference championships, along with three runner-up finishes and five third-place showings overall. 

Dixie State will advance on to the 2018 West/South Central Regional Championships, which will be held May 7-9, at the Tascosa Golf Club in Amarillo, Texas.