The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
UCLA (NCAA Match Play Quarterfinals)
No. 3 Men’s Golf falls to UCLA, 3-2, in NCAA Match Play Quarterfinals
06.02.2026 | Men's Golf
Seniors Tommy Morrison and Luke Potter earned individual match wins for the Longhorns on Tuesday.
CARLSBAD, CALIF. — The No. 3 Texas Men's Golf team dropped a 3-2 decision to UCLA on Tuesday morning in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Match Play Championship at Omni La Costa. Seniors Tommy Morrison and Luke Potter earned the two points for the Longhorns during Tuesday's match.
The No. 2 seed in the match-play portion of the tournament, Texas took the No. 7 seed Bruins down to the wire as one match went 20 holes and the final match advanced to the 18th hole before UCLA sealed its win. Morrison put the Longhorns on the board with a 3&2 victory over Josh Kim. Potter then extended the lead to 2-0 with his 4&3 win against Tyler Loree.
The Bruins rallied to even the match score at 2-2. Baylor Larrabee earned a 1-up win over senior Christiaan Maas, and Alex Papayoanou followed with a victory over sophomore Daniel Bennett in 20 holes. In the decisive individual match, graduate Matt Comegys was all-square through 15 holes against Kyle An. An went 1-up on hole 7 (16th hole of the match) and then closed out the 1-up victory by halving each of the final two holes.
"We're going to miss three of the best players who have ever played at Texas in Christiaan Maas, Tommy Morrison and Luke Potter," Texas head coach John Fields said. "They've meant so much to our program, and I look for them to have great success as professional golfers. It was a fun year and we won multiple times. They did a great job in the medal play here at Omni La Costa. I think they all enjoyed what we did this year. There's only going to be one national champion, and it's not us. We gave it a run and it didn't happen this year, but we're going to come back next year and do everything we can to be right back here in this position."
With their tie for fifth place in this year's national championship, the Longhorns recorded their 12th top-five finish at the NCAA Championship under the direction of 29th-year head coach John Fields. Texas claimed four team titles and 11 top-three finishes during its 14 stroke-play events of the 2025-26 season.
"I loved that Tommy Morrison took control of his match, and Luke Potter came back and won convincingly," Fields continued. "Christiaan Maas, unfortunately, it just didn't happen for him, and then we had a couple things go the wrong direction with both Daniel Bennett and Matt Comegys and they weren't successful in their matches. If you ask me today, can I accept what we did? I'm going to say absolutely. They have worked hard and did everything I asked them to do this year. Golf is tough."
UT has advanced to NCAA Match Play (final eight teams) in nine of the last 14 opportunities (2012-13-15-16-18-19-22-25-26), dating back to the 2012 NCAA Championship. Texas is the ONLY Division I men's program to reach Match Play in at least nine of the last 14 opportunities. The 2020 tourney was canceled due to COVID-19. In addition, Texas, Oklahoma State and Stanford were the only three schools to have their men's AND women's programs advance to the Match Play portion of the NCAA Championship this year.
"When I first got this job (on August 1, 1997), I was at Omni Barton Creek and [former Texas] Coach (George) Hannon was coming out of the men's grill when I was walking in. I shook his hand and he looked at me and said, 'I'm really happy you're here and I think you're going to win a national championship at Texas. But you're going to need one thing.' So I asked what is that, Coach? And he said, 'you're going to need some luck.' He won a couple national championships (1971 and 1972) and we have as well (2012 and 2022), and he's right. Today it just didn't go our way."
UCLA 3, Texas 2 (Quarterfinals)
- Senior Tommy Morrison earned a 3&2 victory over Josh Kim. Starting on hole 10, Morrison and Kim were all square through seven holes before Kim won holes 17 and 18 to build a 2-up lead at the turn. Morrison won holes 1 and 2 to even the match and then added wins on holes 4, 6 and 7 to close out his 3&2 victory.
- Senior Luke Potter recorded a 4&3 victory against Tyler Loree. Potter was 1-up through the first three holes, before Loree earned three-straight wins on holes 13, 14 and 15 to build a 2-up advantage. The lead remained at 2-up entering the 18th hole (9th hole of the match), when Potter hit his third shot at the par-five to within a foot and won the hole with a tap-in birdie. He carried the momentum to the front nine and won holes 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 to finish out his 4&3 victory.
- Senior Christiaan Maas dropped a 1-up decision to Baylor Larrabee. Maas won three of the first four holes (10, 12 and 13) to grab an early 2-up advantage. He held the 2-up margin through the first eight holes, before Larrabee earned a win at 18 to close to within 1-down at the turn. Larrabee then won holes 3, 4 and 6 to build a 2-up lead through 15 holes. Maas won hole 7 to get to within 1-down, but the two players halved both of the final two holes and Larrabee earned the 1-up victory.
- Sophomore Daniel Bennett fell in 20 holes to Alex Papayoanou. Bennett won each of the first three holes to take an early 3-up advantage and held a 3-up margin at the turn. He maintained the 3-up lead through the first 12 holes, before Papayoanou won holes 4 and 6 to close to within 1-down through 15 holes. Entering the 9th hole (18th hole of the match), Papayoanou faced a 1-down deficit but managed to win the hole and force extra holes. After both players made par at the par-five 10th hole, Papayoanou made an eagle on the par-five 6th hole (20th hole of the match) to win the hole and close out the victory as Bennett made a birdie.
- Graduate Matt Comegys dropped a 1-up decision to Kyle An. Comegys won the opening 10th hole and held that lead for the first three holes. An won holes 13, 15 and 17 to grab a 2-up lead through eight holes. Comegys responded with wins on holes 18, 1 and 3 to take a 1-up advantage, but An answered with a win on hole 4 to even the match. The match remained all-square through 15 holes, before An won hole 7 to grab a 1-up lead. The two players each made par on holes 8 and 9 to finish out the 1-up victory for An.
