CEDAR CITY, Utah - The Southern Utah University men's golf team will begin their 2022-23 season this Friday, as they travel to Colorado Springs, Colorado to compete in the Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational hosted by Air Force at the Eisenhower Golf Course.
Head Coach Richard Church has added some strong new talent to surround a solid core of returning players from last season. Southern Utah returns seven golfers from last season's team, and Church has brought in one transfer player in addition to two freshmen newcomers.
A difficult schedule that includes tournaments hosted by Colorado, Wyoming, UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego, and CSUN awaits the Thunderbirds, as they prepare to compete for a conference championship in their inaugural season as a member of the Western Athletic Conference.
Below is a short breakdown of each player by class:
Juniors:
Mitchell Abbott
Abbott joins the Southern Utah men's golf program after competing for Nevada for the past four years. During his sophomore year, Abbott played in three of the Wolf Pack's seven events in the COVID-shortened 2019-20 season. Abbott made his collegiate debut at the 2019 Wolf Pack Shootout, taking 15th place in the tournament after shooting 154 (+10) over two rounds. On the season, Abbott recorded 12 birdies, one eagle, and 62 pars. He shot a season-low round of 71 at the Alister Mackenzie Invitational.
This past season, Abbott competed in two tournaments for Nevada, finishing the year with an average score of 77. Abbott shot a season-low round of 72 at the Wolf Pack Classic, finishing in a tie for 62nd place by shooting 231 (+15) over three rounds of action. Abbott will look to have his best collegiate season yet in an expanded role with SUU this year.
Jaxon Long
The 2022-23 season will represent Long's fourth year competing with the SUU golf program, but he has two years of eligibility remaining due to COVID. Long is coming off of a 2021-22 season where he competed in 12 rounds, amassing the best average score (76.16) for a single-season of his career thus far. Long had one of the best performances of his career at the 2021 Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational, shooting a combined 220 (+4) over three rounds of action to finish in a tie for eighth place on the final leaderboard.
Throughout the 2020-21 season, Long competed in 17 events, recording a career-low round of 69 at the Jackrabbit Invitational. At the same tournament, Long tallied a season-low finish, taking 17th place for the event after shooting 219 (+3) over three rounds of action. In the Covid-shortened 2019-20 season, Long played in 14 rounds, shooting a season-low score of 73 in back-to-back rounds at the Pizza Hut Pat Hicks Invitational, where he tied for seventeenth place.
Atthasit (Anfield) Srichun
Srichun returns to SUU following two strong seasons to begin his collegiate career, as he will look to take a lead roal for the Thunderbirds and put together his best season yet. Last season, Srichuun competed in all but one tournament throughout the regular-season, turning in an average score of 77.27 across 18 rounds of play. Srichun recorded a season-low round of 70 at the Mark Simpson Colrado Invitational, taking 60th place for the event after shooting a 218 (+2) for the event. Srichun had a season-best finish at the Herb Wimberly Intercollegiate, taking 30th place after shooting 11-over-par for the tournament. Srichun also had an exceptional outing at the Big Sky Conference Tournament, leading Southern Utah with a score of 219, and finishing in a tie for fourth place overall.
In his freshman season, Srichun competed in seven events, finishing the year with an average score of 74.90. He had a career-low round of 69 at two different events (Pizza Hut Pat Hicks Invitational & Wyoming Cowboy Classic). Srichun had his best finish of the season at the UC San Diego Invite, where he recorded an eighth place finish at the conclusion of the tournament.
Sophomores:
Leo Torres
Torres returns to Southern Utah following an impressive freshman season, in which he competed in all seven regular-season tournaments for the Thunderbirds, as well as the Big Sky Conference Tournament. Torres amassed an average score of 75.85 throughout the regular season. He had his best tournament of the year at the Jackrabbit Invitational, where he shot a two-over-par across three rounds of competition to secure the first top-10 finish of his career. Torres also shot a career-low score of 70 in the second round of the tournament. Torres will look to potentially move into a lead role for SUU in his second season with the program.
Napat (Pun) Vorrasanpisut
Vorrasanpisut enters his sophomore year after competing in 12 rounds throughout his freshman season. In his four tournaments last year, Vorrasanpisut compiled an average score of 79.66, while turning in a season-low round of 73 at the Pizza Hut Pat Hicks Thunderbird Invitational. Vorrasanpisut had his best showing of the season in his collegiate debut at the 2021 Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational, where he took 37th place on the final leaderboard after shooting a 235 (+19) for the tournament. Vorrasanpisut will seek to be a consistent presence in the SUU lineup and continue to improve his scores from 2021-22.
Rashon Williams
Williams will look to build upon a very impressive freshman season, during which he competed in 18 rounds throughout the regular season in addition to the Big Sky Conference Tournament. Williams finished the season with an average score of 77.27; and he continued to improve throughout the season, turning in his top three tournament scores in his final three events. He had a season-low round of 71 on the final day of the Pizza Hut Pat Hicks Thunderbird Invite. Williams had the best performance of his career at the Big Sky Conference Tournament, where he shot a 219 over three rounds, recording the second-best score for Southern Utah, finishing in a tie for 13th place overall. Williams hopes to pick up where he left off last season by continuing to improve his scores and move into a bigger role for the Thunderbirds this year.
Seth Winterton
Winterton played in 15 rounds throughout his freshman season, finishing the year with an average score of 80.13. Winterton had the second-best round on the entire team in the 2021-22 season, recording an exceptional score of 68 on the opening day of the 2022 Jackrabbit Invitational. The tournament also marked Winterton's best finish of the season, as he finished in a tie for 55th on the final leaderboard.
Donovan Barnes
Barnes did not compete in any events for the Thunderbirds last season; but, he will seek to make an impact on the team this year and build upon a strong offseason leading up to the 2022-23 season. Barnes had an impressive resume coming out of high school, with an 18-hole average score of 74 throughout his senior year.
Freshmen:
Colton Cherry
Cherry makes his way to Cedar City by way of Las Vegas, Nevada, where he played high school golf for Faith Lutheran High School. Cherry had a strong youth career, competing in two American Junior Golf Association Invitationals and posting four AJGA top-five finishes. Cherry also finished in a tie for third place at the Toyota Tour Cup Championship in 2020. Cherry has the potential to make an immediate impact on the SUU golf program this year as a freshman.
Jarom Jorgensen
A 2019 high school graduate, Jorgensen joins the Southern Utah golf program after serving an LDS mission. Jorgensen played in three qualified events in 2019, making the cut in all three tournaments while compiling an average score of 76.2. Jorgensen recorded a top-11 finish in all three events, while tallying 11 birdies across 72 holes.
With 10 players who all have the potential to contribute, the Southern Utah men's golf team will not be short on depth heading into the 2022-23 season. Competing in a new conference loaded with talent, claiming a WAC Championship in their first season as a member of the conference will be a difficult task; but, Church and the Thunderbirds will seek to improve throughout the season in preparation for the conference tournament scheduled for April 28-30 at Boulder Creek Golf Club in Boulder City, Nevada.
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