Completed Event: Men's Golf at N.I.T. on January 26, 2026 , , 11th of 13
M Golf
at N.I.T.
11th of 13
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Photo by: Kelly Ross/WAC
Late surge sets up WAC title chase
4/26/2019 11:03:00β―AM | Men's Golf, Paul Coro
Lopes head to Washington for conference tourney
In 2017, the Grand Canyon men's golf team played well enough to win a WAC Tournament title with four players in the championship's top eight but the Lopes were not eligible for a team title yet.
When GCU became eligible for the first time last year and was favored, the Lopes fell four strokes short with their games chilled by the tournament's weather conditions in Kansas.
This weekend, the only people expecting the Lopes to win the WAC Tournament will be donning GCU gear on Oakbrook Golf Club in Lakewood, Wash. The pre-tournaey coaches poll declared the Lopes to be the top challengerΒ to defending champion Kansas City, who claimed all but one first-place vote in a poll that does not allow a coach to vote for his team.
But the stats and GCU's mindset foretell a much closer story for the Saturday-Monday, three-round tourney that qualifies its winner for the NCAA tournament. The Lopes' 288.8 scoring average is just one stroke behind Kansas City and GCU feels like it has played its best team golf in recent weeks.
"We just have to go and embrace the opportunity and go play the best golf we can possibly play and give ourselves a chance at the end," Lopes head coach Mark Mueller said. "Everybody on the team feels good about where we're at. Everybody on the top five wants to get this thing going. We've shown some improvement the last couple weeks and attitudes are really good. Everybody wants to get it going and see what happens."
GCU's regular five-man lineup has shown the ability to shoot low scores across the board.
Senior Filip Lundell has the fifth-best scoring average in the WAC at 72.1 and usually gets better deeper into tournaments. Junior Trevor Lampson has improved his stroke average by three strokes from last season and has shot as low as 66 this season. Junior Jake Chanen rounds out the returnees in the lineup with a career-low 72.5 scoring average and a recent third-place finish at the Wyoming Cowboy Classic.
"I think everybody will be calmed down a little bit and they can tell these new guys what to expect," Mueller said. "You can't make the moment too big."
The newcomers, freshman Matthew Braley and junior college transfer Michael Salazar, are not Division I rookies any longer after a full year of competition for GCU. Braley posted two top-five individual finishes and Salazar finished 14thΒ in a loaded El Macero Classic field this month.
"They feel comfortable with what is going on and they'll be ready to go once Saturday gets here," Mueller said. "I'm not worried about that in the least bit. Mike's had a good semester, especially of late. Matt has had a good year and, with it being his first time going to conference, wants to play to a high standard."
Like when the women also played their conference tourney at OakbrookΒ last week, the men likely will navigateΒ wet conditions for the first round at the least. GCU will not be the only challenger to Kansas City with UT Rio Grande Valley only 0.6 off the Lopes' team stroke average.
"This group just needs to be relaxed," Mueller said. "They can't worry about expectations. I think the thing that me and Coach B (assistant Brett Swedberg) are looking for is for them to individually play their style of golf to the best of their abilities. If we get five guys who do that, I think we'll have a chance to be there at the end.
"We're anxious for the opportunity. I think it's going to be a lot of fun."
Players Mentioned
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Monday, June 15
Friday, June 12
Thursday, June 11
Thursday, June 11