No. 24 BYU clinging to fifth place at NCAA regionals, while No. 35 Utah fades to 13th

BYU freshman phenom Kihei Akina hits a shot during photo day Sept. 2, 2025. | Olivia Taylor, BYU Photo Utah’s men’s golf team has a lot of ground to make up to advance to the NCAA Men’s Golf Championships next week at La Costa Golf Resort in Carlsbad, California.

Meanwhile, BYU’s team is in a dogfight to return to the national finals as well, but is in significantly better position to do that than the Utes. The final round is Wednesday. The top five teams at each of six regionals will advance to the 30-team finals at La Costa.

At the Athens (Georgia) Regional on Tuesday, BYU shot a 5-under 279 and is now at 11-under through 36 holes of the 54-hole tournament, and alone in fifth place. Vanderbilt leads at -22, followed by Louisville at -19 and No. 1-ranked Auburn at -14.

Homestanding Georgia (-12) is in fourth, a stroke ahead of BYU, while playing on a course in which the Bulldogs are familiar, the University of Georgia Golf Course. “The team started off really hot today with six birdies in our first three holes, but we went flat for a 10-hole stretch,” BYU director of golf Todd Miller said in a released statement. “We were able to get back inside the top-five because we made five birdies on the par-5 seventh and a couple on eight.