Utley Wins Individual Title At Joe Agee Invitational; Spiders Finish Fourth
10/03/2006 | Men's Golf
Oct. 3, 2006
TOANO, Va. - Richmond junior Jordan Utley was the individual champion at the Joe Agee Invitational, shooting a 2-under-par 68 in the final round Tuesday to finish 5-under par at Stonehouse Golf Club's Tradition Course.
The Richmond, Va. native finished first out of 94 golfers and led the Spiders to a fourth-place finish out of 18 teams at 27-over-par 867. Utley's score of 5-under-par ranks second on Richmond's all-time career list for a three-round tournament.
"Jordan's been close to winning a lot last year, I'm thrilled he was able to battle through and get his first collegiate win," Richmond head coach Adam Decker said. "I'm proud of the way he played, he played like a champion. Hopefully this is a sign of even better things to come."
Utley becomes the first Spider to earn medalist honors since Tyler Randol won the Hoya Invitational in 2003. Utley is the ninth player in the last 20 years to win a tournament for Richmond and this was the 16th individual tournament win since 1986 for the Spiders.
"Last year I was really close a few times, it's nice to finally come through and win," Utley said. "It feel good to pull it out. I knew I was there the entire round today and I was able to come through and finally get a victory."
After opening the tournament with a 4-under-par 66 in Monday morning's first round, Utley shot even-par 70 in the second round and sat in a two-way tie for second entering Tuesday's final round, just one shot off the lead.
Utley played alongside leader Blake Furgerson of Loyola on Tuesday and took the lead on the back nine playing by going 3-under-par. He had a two-shot lead heading into the 15th hole and would par 15, 16 and 17 before missing a long par putt on the 18th. Furgerson made par to finish at 4-under 206, giving Utley the one shot victory.
Utley had five top-5 finishes last season, including a runner-up at the Macdonald Cup, but he finally pulled out his first collegiate win. This was the seventh top-10 finish of his career.
"I had pushed the door open a couple of times last year, now I walked through," Utley said. "Hopefully this is the first of more wins to come."
The Spiders shot 11-over 291 on Tuesday after rounds of 290 and 286 on Monday.
"We had a goal to shoot under par today and we didn't quite meet that goal," Decker said. "We're a little disappointed with the fourth place finish, but it is definitely a step in the right direction. We just have to keep making progress."
Richmond senior John Pelet tied for 12th at 2-over-par 212, rebounding from a 4-over-par 74 in the first round to shoot 2-under 68 in the second round and even-par 70 on Tuesday.
"Pelet had a solid finish, he played well this tournament," Decker said.
Junior Billy Hanes tied for 36th at 12-over-par 222 (74-72-76) and freshman Hunter Townsend tied for 71st at 230 (78-75-77). Sophomore Grant Rafield tied for 78th at 234 (76-76-82).
Richmond returns to action on Oct. 14 and 15 when it looks to defend its team championship at the Big 5 Invitational at the Philadelphia Cricket Club.