WAC title defense begins in 1st spring event

With three months between the fall and spring seasons, the Grand Canyon men's golf team is ready to embark on the 2024 spring slate and defend its WAC Championship title.

GCU's first spring competition, the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate, will send the Lopes four hours west of its home course in Phoenix to the Classic Club Golf Course in Palm Desert, California. The three-day tournament begins Tuesday with a 9 a.m. shotgun start, with 18 holes each day and concluding Thursday afternoon.

The NCAA announced a new College Ranking System via Spikemark prior to the fall season, and the Lopes enter the spring season at No. 104 nationally, the best WAC ranking among 306 Division I teams.

The field consists of 17 teams, with GCU ranked third highest behind No. 48 Charlotte and No. 88 Cal State Fullerton. WAC programs Tarleton State, Southern Utah, Utah Tech, California Baptist and Seattle U are also competing, with host Wyoming, CSU Northridge, UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine, Old Dominion, Drake, Sacramento State and Oral Roberts rounding out the field.

GCU will field a starting five of seniors Nicky Kling, Matthew Pennington and Tommaso Zorzetto, junior Sam Murphy and freshman Gavin O'Neill. The Lopes registered a 39-23-2 record in the fall with two top-three finishes and a first-place outing at the Visit Stockton Invitational on Oct. 18. Kling captured the first-place Wildcat Invitational medal in the season-opening tournament and was named WAC Golfer of the Month for September.

Back in action for the first time this season is Murphy, who missed the fall due to an offseason injury. Murphy was a catalyst down the stretch for the Lopes last season, aiding GCU to its first-ever WAC Championship title by playing into the final pairing of the tournament and sinking a trophy-clinching putt on the 18th green.

Part of the Lopes' big week includes their volunteer coach, Jesse Mueller, playing in this week's WM Phoenix Open for his 14th PGA Tour career appearance.

Live results from this week's tournament in Palm Desert can be found here.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Nicky Kling

Sam Murphy

Gavin O'Neill

Matthew Pennington

Tommaso Zorzetto

Grand Canyon University Athletics