WICHITA FALLS, Texas (March 25, 2025) – Will Tate claimed the first individual win of his career with a great start at the Midwestern State Invitational while the UT Permian Basin men's golf team finished strong and put together its second top-five team finish of the Spring season. The par-71, 6884-yard Wichita Falls Country Club course featured 14 teams and 80 golfers.

"I am very excited with the upward trend the team has going into the last two events," said Tate. "We've had some great performances this season and we are making a final push for the postseason."

It was a fantastic opening round for UTPB, which shot just six-over-par during the opening round and found itself in a three-way tie for first place with No. 1 NJCAA Midland College and No. 2 NJCAA Odessa College, making it a Permian Basin trifecta at the top of the team leaderboard.

The great first round was spearheaded by Tate, who shot six-under-par during the opening round and led the tournament by four strokes. Also playing strong golf in the opening round was Ioan Rowe and Thonsaeng Nunya, who were both tied for 11th after shooting two-over-par during round one.

In round two, UTPB shot plus-14 and was aided by improved rounds from Waase Iqbal and Juan Elias shooting plus-five and plus-six, respectively.

Tate kept up his great pace with a minus-one during round two and led the tournament by six strokes in front of Midland College's Scott Spark (71-70-74; 215; +2), who fell back into a tie for sixth place after the final round. After shooting under-par during each of the first two rounds, Tate (65-70-72; 207; -6) was plus-one during the final round, but still won the tournament by five strokes over Odessa College's Chase Williams (72-72-68; 212; -1), who shot three-under during the final round and rose five spots on the individual leaderboard.

"Winning the individual title is a sign of a lot of hard work and dedication," said Tate. "It is my first collegiate victory, and I am very proud of myself for overcoming the hurdles and challenges I have faced during my time in college."

Tate jumped into the top-five of three categories in the UTPB record book. His single-round score of 65 during round one ranks as the fifth-lowest in program history while his three-round score of 207 is tied for fifth. Lastly, with the tournament win, he is now second all-time with three top-five finishes in his career at UTPB, all coming this season at the RJGA South Central Shootout (2nd place), the Shadow Valley Invitational (4th place) and now the Midwestern State Invitational (1st place).

Tate is also the third-ever UTPB golfer to win a tournament, joining Sangha Park (2022-24) and Colton Hilburn (2020-22).

The rest of round three for UTPB saw Nunya (73-78-70; 221; +8) go from shooting seven-over during round two to leading the team at minus-one during the final round and rising 20 spots into tie for 21st place. Rowe (73-75-75; 223; +10) finished his tournament with back-to-back rounds of plus-four and finished tied for 30th. Iqbal (79-76-71; 226; +13) was even-par during round three and rose 15 spots into a tie for 40th. Lastly, Elias (83-77-78; 238; +25) finished plus-six and plus-seven during his final two rounds and rose one spot during the final round to take 73rd place.

The Falcons' best round as a team came in the final round when they shot plus-four (288), the third-lowest score of the round, and rose one spot from a tie for sixth place to a solo finish in fifth place. UTPB (290-298-288; 876; +24) nearly caught fourth-place and No. 16-ranked St. Mary's (296-288-291; 875; +23), but came up short by just one stroke. UTPB also finished ahead of sixth-place and No. 32-ranked Henderson State (291-291-304; 886; +34) and seventh-place and No. 40-ranked DBU (309-287-291; 887; +35).

No. 34-ranked Midwestern State (294-284-279; 857; +5) overtook both second-place Odessa College (290-288-283; 861; +9) and third-place Midland College (290-286-290; 866; +14) over the final round to claim the team championship.

Head Coach Paul Chavez said, "This Spring season we got off to a slow start, but over the last three events, I saw us trending in the right direction, and with Will coming out with a victory today, it is not only great for our program, but it also gives us some great momentum heading into our last two events."

UTPB's final tournament before the Lone Star Conference Championship will be the RJGA Palm Valley Classic on Monday, April 7, and Tuesday, April 8, at the Palm Valley Golf Club in Goodyear, Arizona.