No. 15 Men’s Golf set to defend title at annual Claud Jacobs Invitational

UHV's Josh Van Der Wath hits a shot during a tri-match with Prairie View A&M and Texas Southern at Victoria Country Club. (Sam Fowler/UHV Athletics)

February 22, 2024

There's no place like home, especially for the No. 15-ranked UHV men's golf team.

The Jaguars have won each of the last seven tournaments they've played at the Victoria Country Club dating back to the 2022 Red River Athletic Conference tournament, including last year's Claud Jacobs Invitational.

The team will look to make it an even eight straight wins at their home course when they kick off this year's Claud Jacobs on Monday, Feb. 26, at VCC.

"This tournament is always big for us for many reasons," said head coach Garrett Adair. "Obviously, it's our home tournament, so we want to play our best and contend. But this is also where our conference tournament is played and we're going to see a number of our competitors like Our Lady of the Lake, Texas A&M-San Antonio and Rocky Mountain. This tournament gives us a good benchmark of where we're at early in the spring."

The Jaguars are looking to bounce back after a rough outing at the Jack Brown Memorial Invite in Laredo Feb. 5-6 in which the team finished seventh.

UHV shot rounds of 326 and 308 in the two-round event to finish 58-over as a team.

But a bounce-back, 1-over final round by Hayden Hardwick served as a great sign as it helped the Portland, Texas, native finish T-16 in the first away tournament of his career.

He was joined in the top 20 by Josh Van Der Wath, who went 82-76—158 over two days at the Par 72 course.

"We didn't play like we're capable of in Laredo, even with the tough wind we battled on the first day," Adair said. "But Hayden certainly capitalized on his opportunity and proved he has the ability to contribute to the team. Now we just need to fix the mistakes we had and come out strong at home."

Van Der Wath has led the team most of the season, holding an adjusted scoring average of 72.9 according to Scoreboard powered by Clippd, formerly Spikemark. The South African also has two tournament wins to his credit this season, both at VCC.

"Josh understands the program and our standards as a junior and one of our veterans," Adair said. "He's stepped up to become a good leader for our younger guys. I couldn't be happier about his growth this year."

The tournament will kick off at 8 a.m. Monday at Victoria Country Club with 36 holes on the first day before concluding with 18 holes on Tuesday.