UTRGV Men’s Golf Team win tourney

The Vaqueros won the South Texas Match Play title Tuesday after a two-day tournament against Nicholls State University, East Texas A&M University and Abilene Christian University.

Head coach Houston Moore said the team played a hard-fought match.

“It was a dog fight from the first hole to the last hole,” Moore said. “[Abilene Christian] is a great team this year and our guys fought really hard and held it out.”

The Abilene Christian Wildcats had previously beaten the University of New Orleans and Southeastern Louisiana University before falling short to the Vaqueros, who clinched the title.

Junior Luis Limón said the initial expectation going into the tournament was to win, especially with it being a home match at the McAllen Country Club.

“That was a big advantage for us,” Limón said. “It was pretty cool playing in front of our people.”

He started the first day of the tournament with a 4&3 win against Nicholls freshman Kyle Traub.

“Playing match play is very important to have a good start,” Limón said. “That way you set up the tone for the match and again advantage and you put pressure on your opponent. I feel like that helped me win it a little earlier.”

On the second day of the tourney, he set the positive tone for the day with a 3&2 win against Abilene Christian junior Grégoire Hoyeau.

“It was a pretty important match because I got the first score on the board so I felt like it was important to gain some confidence [with] the other guys,” Limón said.

Sophomore and McAllen native Esteban Gonzalez started the tourney with a 4&3 win and another win of 5&3. 

“It was good, it was a grind,” Gonzalez said. “I didn’t make a lot of mistakes that day … I’ve never played match play before so I was just kinda figuring out what to do. I kept my head down and tried to make birdies.”

On the second day, Gonzalez battled out a tough match with Abilene Christian senior Jaime Lewis. Throughout the play, Gonzalez was able to score an eagle but was falling behind after a bogey. He then went on to drain a par putt, finishing out the suspenseful play.

“It was very exciting, you know, you are nervous the last four, five holes,” Gonzalez said. “Making that putt and coming back, because I was one down most of the match, and winning that match was very exciting. It was a sense of relief; I mean it was exciting for the team too. I think we all enjoyed it.”

Moore hopes to capitalize on this win for the next tournament.

“We go to All-American next week and it would be good to put a good showing over there,” he said.

The Vaqueros are set to play at the All-American Intercollegiate tournament today and Tuesday in Houston. As of press time Friday, the score was unavailable.