Heading into the spring opener, No. 6 Texas men’s golf head coach John Fields knew the expectations for his veteran-heavy roster. Despite the challenges of a split roster and a loaded field, Texas went into Tucson with a clear mindset.
“We’re going down there to have a little bit of fun, and to us, fun is winning,” Fields said.
The Longhorns did just that. Texas captured its first win of 2026, defeating the tournament hosts, Arizona, by one stroke at the Arizona National Invitational Tournament on Tuesday. This victory marked the Longhorns’ second team title of the season, previously claiming the championship at the Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational in September.
Trailing by one stroke entering the final hole of the tournament, senior Tommy Morrison knew exactly what needed to happen to secure a team title. After Arizona freshman William Wistrand made a bogey, the door was wide open for Morrison to step up to his shot. With a textbook chip shot placed to two feet, Morrison calmly drained the winning birdie putt.
The Longhorns posted an impressive three-day score of 41-under par 823 (275-270-278). Senior Luke Potter led the charge, recording a season best second place finish in the individual standings with a 54-hole score of 12-under 204 (66-68-70). Potter came up two strokes short of Wildcats’ senior Filip Jakubcik. Jakubcik is currently ranked No. 11 in the PGA Tour University rankings and was named to the Ben Hogan Award Watch List, an honor Morrison, senior Christiaan Maas and sophomore Daniel Bennett also received.
Morrison finished in fourth place after three consecutive rounds under par, carding a 10-under par 206 (70-66-70). Bennett caught fire in his final round to jump up the leaderboard. Bennett finished his round with seven birdies and one eagle to shoot 6-under 66 and finish at 8-under after two rounds of 1-under 71, awarding him with eighth place.
Texas outlasted Arizona by one stroke to place first out of 13 teams, as Iowa State trailed Texas by 12 strokes to finish in third place. St. Mary’s and BYU both finished at 20-under par to round out the top five.
Texas will return to the course next week in Waimea, Hawaii. The Longhorns will be competing in the Amer Ari Invitational on Feb. 5-7, a tournament they finished third in last year.
