ST. GEORGE, Utah – Tarleton Men's Golf has had an incredible start to their first NCAA Division I campaign, and it got even more special this weekend.
 
Jack Anderson shot -8 for the tournament to take second place overall, Tarleton's best individual finish in the program's D1 history. The Round Rock, Texas, native led the field of 68 through the first two rounds Friday-Saturday, and finished one stroke behind the winner on Sunday for the silver medal.
 
Anderson shot 65-74-69 for his -8 at the Pat Hicks Invitational at Sunbrook Golf Course in St. George, Utah. He finished only behind Utah Valley's Brady McKinlay, who turned in a 65 in the final round to win by a stroke.
 
As a team, Tarleton finished seventh at +16 (880). In all five tournaments this season, the Texans have finished in the top-seven.
 
"It was awesome to see Jack in contention this week and almost pull off a wire-to-wire win," head coach Chance Cain said. "He stumbled out of the gate this morning but did a great job keeping his composure and played really well the rest of the round. He actually had three really good looks coming in, especially on the last where he lipped out about a nine-foot eagle putt. We have a couple of weeks at home to clean up some thing until we head out to Wyoming's Event in Palm Desert, California."
 
Anderson was the leader after the first 18 holes on Friday with the lowest score to par (-5) and gross score (65) shot by a Texan this season. He made two eagles in the first round, the first Texan with multiple eagles in a round, including on his first hole, the Par 4, 281-yard 14th. He also eagled the 502-yard Par 5 seventh hole, and had two birdies over his final three holes of the day to complete his record round.
 
He shot even-par in the second round to finish Day 2 tied in first with Utah State's John Cook.
 
In Anderson's final round Sunday facing all of the pressure, he went -3 over his final eight holes to shoot 69, capping off his 54-hole tournament with a birdie.
 
Tarleton's other four participants finished within five strokes of each other. Freshman Cristobal Sepulveda shot +9 (76-77-72) to finish tied-38th. Bladen Samaniego went +11 (78-77-72) to place tied-43rd. Masen Ward shot +12 (74, 74, 80) to finish 45th. Max Bengtsson went +13 (72-79-78) for tied-46th.
 
Samaniego's third round of even-par 72 was his best score to par of the season and his tied-best gross score.
 
Tarleton will return to tournament play to begin March, playing at a Wyoming hosted tournament in Palm Desert California. That will be the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate at Classic Club March 1-3.