Paton notches first win as Jags complete three-peat
Will Paton knew a conservative approach was the best gameplan for the final round of the Red River Athletic Conference tournament on Tuesday at Victoria Country Club.
The senior shot a 1-over 73 to finish with a three-round total of 208 (66-69-73) and win the individual title by 11 strokes over Texas A&M-San Antonio's Jacob Pena.
It was his first career win.
"It feels amazing," Paton said. "I'm so happy that it's finally happened. For it to be here at the home course, I couldn't have asked for anything more."
Paton's breakthrough also helped UHV to its third consecutive team championship in the RRAC, winning by 23 strokes over Our Lady of the Lake University.
It's the Jaguars' fourth win of the season with three coming at VCC. With the win, UHV will compete in the NAIA National Championships at Las Sendas Golf Club in Mesa, Ariz., May 16-19.
"That's the expectation around here now," said head coach Garrett Adair. "Every year we need to be at nationals. We still had to come out here and get the job done. The guys continued to battled and bounce off each other. From top to bottom, I'm very pleased with how we played."
The Portsmouth, England, native only had two bogeys on his card and finished 1-under on the back nine with a birdie on the 380-yard, par 4 14th hole.
Paton led the field in birdies with 14 between the three rounds.
"I knew I didn't need to do anything special today," Paton said. "I knew I could just kind of play my way around the golf course, be smart and try to limit my errors. So I didn't want to do anything that would make situations any more stressful than they needed to be."
His 73 was the second-lowest score in the final round of the tournament.
"I think he did exactly what he needed to do," Adair said. "He had a pretty big lead and the course wasn't playing easy today. I don't know if 65, 66 or 67 was out there. So, he came out and fired at the middle of the greens, took the safe approaches off the tees and did exactly what he needed to win."
Jaxon Langford and Jacob Flores (74-71-80—225) earned All-Conference honors after finishing third and fifth, respectively.
Langford finished with a total of 222 (73-72-77) with four birdies in his final round. The junior from Fredericksburg was second in the tournament in birdies made with 11.
Carson Caylor (81-72-79—232) and Dawson Frye (83-78-76—237) each finished inside the top 15.
"It's a testament to each of our five guys being able to be a No. 1 in any given week," Adair said. "From top to bottom, anybody can lead the team. For us to be able to say that, I think it's amazing."