ROCKWALL, Texas (April 14, 2025) – After the first 36 holes of the 2025 Lone Star Conference Men's Golf Championship, The University of Texas Permian Basin men's golf team opens the postseason by finding itself in seventh place out of 11 teams.

The conference championship will be determined by 54 holes of stroke play followed by medal match play for the top-four teams at the par-72, 7219-yard Rockwall Golf & Athletic Club in Rockwall, Texas. This is the first time that Rockwall G&AC will host the LSC Championship after they were moved from Winstar Golf Club earlier this year. The top-10 ranked teams in the final edition of the NCAA regional rankings from both the South Central and West Regions, along with the top-four individuals from each region not on a team will make the regional tournament. Those selections will be made Friday, April 25th.

After finishing round one in a three-team tie for eighth place, UTPB (310-291; 601; +25) had the third-best round of all teams during round two (+3) to overtake West Texas A&M University (307-297; 604; +28) for seventh place. The Falcons trail sixth-place Midwestern State University (298-301; 599; +23) by two strokes and are nine strokes behind Cameron University (288-304; 592; +16) for a spot in the top-four. UTPB was paired with West Texas A&M and fifth-place Lubbock Christian University (298-296: 594: +18) during the opening two rounds on Monday.

UTPB's Head Golf Coach Paul Chavez spoke after his team's performance on Monday and said, "I think anytime you are in a position to make the top-four and qualify for medal match play, that is what you are shooting for, so we are in a great position to make a run tomorrow, and we definitely have that in us."

To get into contention, the Falcons had a great start to round two, shooting three-under over halfway through the round (11-14 holes).

"Round two was just one of those rounds were everyone contributed, and we were able to keep the ball in play and not make any silly errors," said Chavez. "I think midround we were a couple under par, so we got off to a great start, battled tough, and hung on the rest of the round to put up a very good score."

Will Tate (76-70; 146; +2) shot two-under-par during round two to rise an impressive 20 spots on the individual leaderboard into a seven-player tie for eighth place in the field of 55 total golfers.

After each being tied at the end of the first round, Waase Iqbal (78-72; 150; +6) shot even-par during round two to rise 10 spots into a tie for 23rd place, Ioan Rowe (78-73; 151; +7) shot just one-over-par during round two to rise eight spots into a four-player tie for 25th place, and Thonsaeng Nunya (78-78; 156; +12) shot plus-six during both round one and round two and is in a four-player tie for 43rd place.

Juan Elias (86-76; 162; +14) had the biggest improvement from round one to round two - improving by 10 strokes to shoot plus-four during round two, which contributed to UTPB's team score and moved him into a three-way tie for 52nd place.

"Everyone contributed today, and anytime you have everybody playing well at the same time, that just builds for a better overall vibe. Everyone is feeling good, and that is what you shoot for," concluded Chavez.

As a team, the Falcons are tied for second in the tournament with 29 birdies and are 10th in pars (90). The Falcons are also seventh in par-4 scoring (4.38; +38), eighth in par-5 scoring (5.00; E) and ninth in par-3 scoring (3.17; +7). Individually, Rowe is tied for first place in par-3 scoring (2.75; -2) while Tate is tied for fifth with eight birdies.

Tomorrow marks the last round of stroke play with the top-four teams advancing to match play.