STOCKTON, Calif. (May 7, 2026) – The University of Texas Permian Basin men's golf team opened the first round of the 2026 NCAA Division II West/South Central Regional Championship at The Reserve at Spanos Park on Thursday. Opening the tournament with a first-round score of 301 (+13), the Falcons are currently tied for 18th place, and have some ground to make up over the rest of the tournament.

The field for the tournament consists of (RV) Cal State East Bay, (RV) CSU Monterey Bay, (RV) Cal State San Bernardino, Cal State San Marcos, (RV) Cameron, Chico State, No. 25 Colorado Christian, No. 22 Colorado Mesa, No. 16 Colorado State-Pueblo, No. 21 DBU, Dominican (CA), (RV) Hawai'i-Hilo, Midwestern State, Simon Fraser, No. 9 St. Mary's, (RV) UT Permian Basin, UT Tyler, Vanguard, No. 20 West Texas A&M and (RV) Western Washington.

UTPB (seeded No. 5 in the South Central Region) was paired with St. Mary's (seeded No. 4 in the South Central Region) and Hawai'i-Hilo (seeded No. 4 in the West Region).

In the early going, Ioan Rowe led UTPB with a birdie on the par-4 hole one, and then Laurent Beech birdied on two of his first five holes and led the Falcons at two-under through five holes.

On the front nine, Will Tate and Beech were both even-par, and then Tate began to pull ahead of the rest of the team by shooting even-par or better on six of the first seven holes on the back nine.

Tate looked like he was going to finish the opening round even-par, but a bogey on a par-four on hole 17 instead put him at one-over (73) for the round. He shot three birdies, 11 pars and four bogeys during round one.

After a rough start to the round (three-over through four holes, three straight bogeys), Thonsaeng Nunya rebounded to shoot even-par or better on seven straight holes (5-11). Then after three more bogeys in a row on holes 12-14, Nunya finished strong over the final four holes. He finished three-over (75) with three birdies, nine pars and six bogeys.

Beech finished round one at four-over (76) with two birdies, 11 pars, four bogeys and one double bogey while Rowe finished at five-over (77) with two birdies, 10 pars, five bogeys and one double bogey.

Nizar Bourehim shot even-par or better on each of the first seven holes of the back nine. However, he finished the round with back-to-back double bogeys and finished at six-over (78). He recorded one birdie, 12 pars, three bogeys and two double bogeys.

Unfortunately, UTPB's four combined double bogeys tied for the seventh most during round one.

After 18 holes, Tate is tied for 40th, Nunya is tied for 75th, Beech is tied for 82nd, Rowe is tied for 90th and Bourehim is tied for 100th out of 122 golfers.

Over the course of the final few holes, UTPB fell from eight-over to 13-over, falling four strokes behind St. Mary's (297; +9). The Falcons are tied with Dominican (CA).

UTPB has finished 13-over during the opening round of all three of its regional appearances in program history. In their first regional appearance in 2023, the Falcons were tied for 15th place after the first round (301; +13). Then in 2024, the Falcons were 16th after round one (297; +13).

UTPB gets rolling in round two on Friday, May 8, at 11:10 a.m. (Central Time) as the Falcons look to climb the leaderboard. The Falcons will once again be paired with St. Mary's and Hawai'i-Hilo during round two, teeing off every 10 minutes between 11:10 a.m. and 11:50 a.m. (Central Time). StMU is in 17th after finishing nine-over-par while UH Hilo is tied for seventh at one-under par.