MESCALERO, N.M. (October 1, 2024) – Will Tate tied for second place and The University of Texas Permian Basin men's golf team won the RJGA South Central Shootout played on Monday and Tuesday at the par-72, 7166-yard Inn of the Mountain Gods Golf Course in Mescalero, New Mexico.

UTPB (289-284-298; 871) was the only team to finish day one of the tournament under par after shooting four-under during round two. The Falcons held a four-stroke lead over Fort Lewis College (291-286-298; 875) entering the final round, and were able to hold off No. 20 nationally-ranked West Texas A&M University (294-286-293; 873), which shot five-over-par during the final round to jump Fort Lewis and finish in second place.

Head Coach Paul Chavez spoke after getting his first-career NCAA win, "This was a huge victory for myself and more importantly, for the team. Today was one of the proudest moments I have had as a coach, because we were not at our best, but the guys hung in there. I stress to our team to give their best every time because you never know how it will play out, and they did that and we won."

Tate (70-72-72; 214) shot even-par during each of the final two rounds of the tournament and rose six spots on the individual leaderboard from round two to round three to tie for second place with Western New Mexico University's Arnav Arkanath (68-71-75; 214). Fort Lewis' Traejan Andrews (69-70-72; 211) won the tournament at five-under par.

"Will has been our leader and has very played well in every tournament and qualifying round so far," continued Chavez. "He has definitely stepped up his game, and I am really proud of him. To win a tournament like this, you have to have a No. 1 guy that you can count on, and Will definitely delivered."

Ioan Rowe (74-72-72; 218) also shot even-par during each of the final two rounds and rose five spots to tie for a spot in the top-10.

Thonsaeng Nunya (74-70-76; 220) and Waase Iqbal (71-70-79; 220) tied for 16th and Juan Elias (77-79-78; 234) finished 36th.

Tate, Rowe, Iqbal and Elias each came up big with par on a long par-3 on their last hole to seal the win.

"This was truly a team victory," said Chavez. "Everybody contributed and everybody was really focusing and wanting this victory not only for myself, but to get this season off to a great start."

The Falcons led the tournament in pars (170) and eagles (3). Nunya, Tate and Iqbal were each responsible for one of the team's eagles. Rowe led the team and was tied for third in the tournament with 36 pars while Iqbal was tied for fifth with 35 pars.

In addition, Rowe tied for third in par-3 scoring (3.17; +2) and tied for fifth in par-4 scoring (4.01; +1) while Tate tied for third in par-5 scoring (4.33; -8).

This is the third tournament title for the Falcons in the last two seasons after winning their first two tournaments in program history in Hawaii last season.

"Obviously we are making an impact pretty quickly here at UTPB, and that is something that I wanted to do right away," added Chavez. "Our guys are buying in to what I teach, and that is allowing us to play at a different level. I did not expect to win my first NCAA victory at my second event, but whenever my teams tee it up, we play to win. I have had lots of victories in my career, but this is definitely a milestone and is something to be proud of for sure."

It was career win No. 159 for Coach Chavez, who concluded by saying "One reason I took this job was because I wanted to leave my mark on NCAA golf. Today was a great start to that goal."

The team is back in action next week (Oct. 7-8) in Amarillo, Texas, for the Ryan Palmer Invitational hosted by West Texas A&M at the Amarillo Country Club.

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