ROCKWALL, Texas (April 20, 2026) – The University of Texas Permian Basin men's golf team wrapped up its first day at the 2026 Lone Star Conference Championship as the Falcons rank fourth in the tightly contested field. The Falcons carded a combined score of 600 and 24-over-par and improved their score by 22 strokes during round two.

Seeding (first day only) is based on the Clippd head-to-head national rankings. For stroke play, the low four-scores of each round will be counted. The LSC Championship will be determined by 54 holes of stroke play followed by medal match play for the top-four teams at the par-72 Rockwall Golf & Athletic Club in Rockwall, Texas.

From there, the top-four teams will advance into medal match play. The No. 1 and No. 4 seed will face off, as well as the No. 2 and No. 3 seed. The winners of those two matches will move into the championship round to determine the LSC Tournament team champion and earn the automatic bid into the NCAA Regional Tournament.

Rockwall Golf & Athletic Club is located along the banks of Lake Ray Hubbard and features rolling fairways and Bermuda grass greens. The course was designed by Ralph Plummer, who also worked on the course at Wichita Falls Country Club. Plummer designed, built or reworked 86 golf courses, primarily in Texas.

With the No. 23 national ranking, UTPB is one of four nationally-ranked teams competing at the LSC Championship. The other teams are No. 8 St. Mary's, No. 20 West Texas A&M, and No. 21 DBU.

After shooting plus-23 during round one and finding itself in eighth place, seven strokes away from the top-four, UTPB (311-289; 600; +24) improved its score dramatically during round two, shooting just one-over-par as a team and breaking into the top-four on the team leaderboard. In all, UTPB posted the third-best team score during round two.

With just one round to play, UTPB leads fifth-place Midwestern State University (319-283; 602; +26) by just two strokes, sixth-place St. Mary's University (308-297-605; +29) by five strokes, seventh-place The University of Texas at Dallas (304-302; 606; +30) by six strokes, and eighth-place Dallas Baptist University (309-299; 608; +32) by eight strokes. MSU led the tournament with a five-under during round two, so the Falcons will have some stiff competition to remain in the top-four.

At the top of team standings is Cameron University (306-288; 594; +18) and West Texas A&M University (300-294; 594; +18) in a tie for first place, six strokes ahead of the Falcons, followed by The University of Texas at Tyler (301-296; 597; +21) in third place, just three strokes in front of UTPB.

Each of the top-eight teams in the field improved their scores from round one to round two. MSU was the biggest riser, moving up by five places, while UTPB and Cameron both moved up four spots on the team leaderboard. Cameron shot even-par during round two to claims its share of first place while WT remained atop the standings after shooting the best score during round one (+12).

UTPB currently leads the tournament in par-3 scoring (3.08; +3) and total pars (112).

During round one, all five of UTPB's players finished within three strokes of each other, and then during round two, all five Falcons improved upon their scores.

Senior Will Tate (77-69; 146; +2) leads UTPB in a tie for third place after improving by eight strokes and 14 places over round two. Tate's three-under-par was tied for the second-lowest score among all players during round two.

Junior Ioan Rowe (78-70; 148; +4) also improved his score by eight strokes during round two, and is also vying for a spot in the top-10 (currently T8th place). He was UTPB's biggest mover during round two, rising 21 spots on the individual leaderboard after shooting two-under, tying for the fourth-lowest score during the round.

Senior Thonsaeng Nunya (77-75; 152; +8), matched Tate at five-over to co-lead the Falcons during round one, but despite improving his score by two strokes during round two (+3), he still dropped seven spots into a tie for 24th place.

Freshman Laurent Beech (80-75; 155; +11) matched Nunya at plus-three during the second round, rose eight spots from round one to round two, and is now tied for 41st place.

Rounding out the lineup for UTPB was junior Nizar Bourehim (79-78; 157; +13), who fell four spots and is tied for 44th.

"After struggling a bit this morning, we came out with a purpose to put ourselves in contention for the top-four. Mission accomplished. Falcons up," said Head Coach Paul Chavez.

Tuesday, April 21, marks the last round of stroke play with the top-four teams advancing to match play. UTPB has never qualified for medal match play, finishing as high as fifth place (twice) as a member of the Lone Star Conference.

The top-10 ranked teams in the final edition of the NCAA regional rankings from both the South Central and West Regions will make the regional tournament. If the Falcons advance, they will compete in the NCAA West/South Central Regional on May 7-9 in Stockton, California.