Dates: April 27-29, 2026
Location: McKinney, TX | Stonebridge Ranch Country Club - The Dye Course
Par/Yardage: 72 | 7,359 yards
Participating Teams: Tarleton State, Southern Utah, UTA, Utah Tech, California Baptist, ACU, Utah Valley
Tarleton State Players Competing: Alvaro Pastor, Juan Ballester, Luis Buech, Maximilan Bjornstrom, Kellen Young
MCKINNEY, Texas -- Tarleton State Men's Golf is headed to the Western Athletic Conference Championship on Monday at the Clubs of Stonebridge Ranch - The Dye Course.
The Texans enter the conference tournament with three weeks off from competition after their sixth-place finish at the Tiger Invitational. The Texans compiled a team score of 856.
Each day will be an 18-hole round, with the final round scheduled for Wednesday morning.
Redshirt freshman Alvaro Pastor finished as the runner-up at Tiger Invitational, shooting a 54-hole score of 206. His performance in Missouri landed him his third WAC Player of the Week title. Pastor tallied 11 birdies, his seventh tournament with an under par performance.
After redshirting last season, Pastor has been one of the top performers for the Texans in 2025-26. In addition to his two titles in 2026, Pastor has recorded five top 10 finishes and cracked the top 20 seven times this season.
Pastor won the individual crown at both the Golden Nugget Invitational and the All-American Intercollegiate. He is the only player in program history to win multiple titles in a single season and the first to capture championships in back-to-back events.
Junior Juan Ballester finished tied for 35th with a 54-hole score of 216 at the Tiger Invitational. Sophomore
Luis Buech and freshman
Maximilian Bjornstrom each tied for 46th with a 54-hole score of 217. Both players collected a 1-under-par round, with Bjornstrom shooting a 1-under-par in the first round. Buech collected his in the second round.
Buech and Bjornstrom have also been key for the Texans in 2026, with both golfers earning WAC Golfer of the Week honors earlier this year. Buech collected the program's first-ever hole-in-one in competition during the Oregon State Invitational, with the historic shot coming in the third round on a Par 3 that ranged 148 yards. The sophomore transfer from the University of New Mexico also led the Texans to its first-ever team title at the FAU Invitational to wrap up the fall season.
The Texans placed fourth in the 2025 WAC Championship, their best performance of that year. The Texans compiled a 54- hole of 889 and two Texans placed in the top 10, with Carson Gallaher tying for fourth place and Drew Ironside tying for 10th. Ironside recorded a 2-under-par second round en route to a 222 54-hole score, his best finish of his freshman campaign. Ironside became the first freshman in program history to collect a top 10 finish at the conference championship.
Tarleton State placed fourth the year prior with a 54-hole score of 880, including three in the top 10 in 2024. The Texans seek their first conference tournament title in program history. The winning team of the 2026 WAC Men's Golf Championship will represent the conference at the NCAA Regional Championships.
Tee times for the opening round will begin Monday morning, with live scoring available throughout the tournament online using Scoreboard by Clippd.
