mattlutz.athleticsTitle: Men’s golf: Matt Lutz headed for NCAA Championships

By: Jon Hammond, SSW

The NCAA Men’s Golf Regional Tournament wrapped up on Wednesday, May 18 with UCR finishing sixth out of a field of 14. The Highlanders finished seven-under-par, which was only three shots too few to force a five-team playoff for the fifth spot in the tournament. This was also a historic finish for the program since its Big West tenure began, with the previous best finish being 14th place.

On top of the team’s impressive performance, sophomore Matt Lutz accomplished a feat no UCR golfer ever had: Finish third in regionals and advance to the NCAA Championships. Lutz shot a personal four-under-par 68 in the tournament, placing him eight strokes behind Stanford’s Franklin Huang and six strokes behind Maverick McNealy.

Entering the championships, Lutz is maintaining the team’s attitude of having nothing to lose and he has no intention of changing that attitude saying, “All you can do is your best, and commit to every shot. Some days you’ll shoot a 66 and some days you’ll shot a 79.”

Lutz will travel to Eugene, Oregon for the championships starting Friday, May 27 and extending through Wednesday, June 1.

He has a chance to set even more records and have a strong showing in a tournament that Head Coach Rick Todd professes the Highlanders “shouldn’t even be in” but he wants Lutz to go out and have fun and play his best golf in Oregon.