Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina men's golf opens it six-event spring schedule this weekend as the Catamounts head south of the border for the Los Vaqueros Intercollegiate, hosted by the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) at the Iberostar Playa Paraiso Golf Club in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.
The three-day, 54-hole spring-opening tournament is scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 2 through Tuesday, Feb. 4, as 15 teams compete for team and individual titles at the par-72, 6,701-yard course located on the Yucatan Peninsula in the Gulf of America, just south of Cancun and northwest of Cozumel.
In addition to the Catamounts and the host UTRGV Vaqueros, the field includes golfers from Abilene Christian, California Baptist, Denver, Lamar, Louisiana-Monroe, Northern Colorado, North Texas, Seton Hall, SMU, UT Arlington, UTEP, UTSA, and Wichita State. UTRGV opened their 2024-25 season at WCU's JT Poston Invitational back in mid-September.
Live scoring of each round is available through the
Scoreboard app (link) powered by Clippd, or available through
CatamountSports.com.
Los Vaqueros Intercollegiate
Date: Sunday, Feb. 2 – Tues., Feb. 4
Schedule: 8:30 a.m. Shotgun start each day (18 holes)
Location: Playa Del Carmen, Mexico
Course: Playa Paraiso Golf Club
Course Layout: Par 72, 6,701 yards
Live Scoring Link:
https://scoreboard.clippd.com/tournaments/233240/scoring/participants
Six Catamounts make the trek to the Maya region of Mexico with one individual competitor accompanying the team's scoring five. Freshman
Chase Cline paces the lineup into the spring opener after closing the fall portion of the schedule second on the team – and 18th in the SoCon – with a stroke average of 73.25. Cline recorded a career-best finish inside the Top 10 at the JT Poston Invitational, finishing ninth at the home event.
Cline is flanked by sophomore
Jace Butcher and junior
Ivan Ninkovic as the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds who both finished the fall with matching 73.67 scoring averages. Butcher collected WCU's top finish last fall with a fourth-place tie at The Johnson Group Carolina Cup, while Ninkovic had a top 10 with a seventh place showing at the home Poston Invite.
Rounding out WCU's scoring five sophomores
Andrew Korytoski and
Michael Bevins, who shot 74.00 in the fall and 76.63, respectively. Korytoski played in all four fall tournaments while Bevins saw action in three with eight combined rounds.
The program's lone senior in Canadian-born
Kiefer Bulau travels as the individual competitor in vying for the medalist honors. The Ontarian played in four events in the fall, three where WCU competed as a team while concluding the opening quartet of scheduled events at the App State Individual tournament. Bulau twice finished just outside of the top 10 with a 13th-place finish at the Carolina Cup and 14th at the aforementioned individual event just outside of Boone, N.C.
"It's been a cold month prepping for Mexico and the start of the spring. But the guys have worked hard to get ready despite the weather," said WCU head coach
Tim Eckberg. "There is always some rust to shake off when coming off the long break, but we're looking forward to a great event and to grow with this group in our program's first international trip.
Following WCU's Mexican jaunt, the Catamounts have four regular-season tournaments ahead of the Southern Conference Men's Golf Championship in late April. WCU closes February in the Big Easy at the Gulf Coast Collegiate on Feb. 24-25, hosted by the University of New Orleans at the English Turn Golf and Country Club.
A pair of tournaments in March open with WCU hosting its second event of the year with the Peoples Golf Championship at Sea Palms in St. Simons Island, Ga. It's the fifth-straight year the Catamounts have hosted in coastal Georgia dating back to the COVID-altered season, and the second that Peoples Golf has been the presenting sponsor. Then on March 23-25, WCU travels to the Bulls Bay Golf in Mount Pleasant, S.C, for the 54-hole Hootie at the Bulls hosted by the College of Charleston.
In the penultimate event of the season, the Catamounts head to State College, Pa., for Penn State's Rutherford Intercollegiate hosted at the Penn State Golf Course on the Blue Course. It is the first time for WCU to compete in the event.
The 2025 SoCon Men's Golf Championship returns to the Reynolds Lake Oconee for the three-round, 54-hole league-champion crowning event. The team champion and the top individual if not on the championship squad garner automatic bids into the NCAA postseason.
Of his squad's spring slate, Eckberg said, "It's going to be a fun stretch this spring in getting us ready for the SoCon Championships in April."
Keep track of everything related to Catamount men's golf and WCU Athletics through its social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/catamountsports), Instagram (@wcu_catamounts), and Twitter (@catamounts, @CatamountMGolf).
