Connecticut guts out Golfweek/Stifel victory for huge 2027 opportunity

As soon as Brad Sawka holed his three-footer for par on the 18th hole to close the Golfweek/Stifel Spring Challenge, Connecticut head coach Dave Pezzino pulled out his cell phone to relay the significance to Sawka’s parents.

As it turns out, Connecticut’s cushion was larger than the one-stroke Pezzino believed. So with a shot to spare, the Huskies won the tournament while simultaneously playing their way out of it.

This is exactly what Pezzino hoped for when he entered his men in the event at True Blue in Pawley’s Island, South Carolina. The Golfweek/Stifel is effectively a play-in tournament for the following year’s Augusta Haskins Award Invitational, which is played each spring in the days leading up to the Masters. The Augusta tournament, played at Forest Hills Golf Club, traditionally features a deep field with top-ranked talent.

“My phone blew up – it was like when we won (the Big East Conference Championship) back in 2021. The alumni were so proud,” Pezzino said. “That tournament – the people who know college golf know what it means for our program to win a spot at the Haskins.”

The Golfweek/Stifel Spring Challenge.

Connecticut’s round of 7-under 281 was the lowest final-round score among the 16 teams in the Golfweek/Stifel field. It pulled them two spots up the leaderboard in the final round and at 15 under for 54 holes, Connecticut won by two shots.

Last year, the Golfweek/Stifel victory slipped through Connecticut’s fingers – the team made up huge ground in the second round only to finish five shots short of the title.

The program has grown since then, but Pezzino hadn’t forgotten the feeling.

“We were in second last year and that kind of sat not great with me,” he said. “We had a long talk as a team about some things we needed to do better and the guys responded well. We hung in there.”

Even in difficult final-round conditions this year, Connecticut gutted out the scoring necessary for the team title.

The Golfweek/Stifel Spring Challenge.

“I asked them to work on being committed – hitting a committed shot, making a decision – and then accepting the outcome, and they really did that,” Pezzino said. “We had great body language the whole way through – it’s kind of hard to do that when it’s blowing 20 mph in all four directions.”

Individually, three Huskies finished in the top 10 at True Blue: Kai Jun Huang (second), Sawka (fourth) and Connor Goode (T-10). This is the Huskies’ second team title of the season, following their win at their own UConn Invitational in September.

Alabama Birmingham, the team that Connecticut edged for first place, claimed the individual champion Alejandro Fierro, who was 9 under for the week.

Behind Connecticut and Alabama Birmingham, George Washington finished third at 8 under, the only other team to finish the tournament under par.

The myriad ways in which the Golfweek/Stifel victory will change the trajectory of the next few months for Connecticut cannot, in Pezzino’s opinion, be understated.

“It’s the most significant event to win in the regular season because it sets you up to play at the Haskins,” he said.

Three days after the victory, Pezzino joked, “my recruits are out of their mind right now.” The chance to qualify into the lineup for a trip to Augusta is big, but there’s another detail about the week that’s equally mind-blowing: All teams in the Haskins field traditionally receive tickets to attend the Monday practice round at the Masters.

“The ability to play the week before the Masters – in the college level – is massive,” he said. “ … The Haskins is what all of our guys try to win and be a part of.”

After the victory at True Blue, Brian Stubbs, executive director of the Haskins Foundation, handed each Connecticut player a Masters hat. Courtesy of Stubbs, the Haskins Award was on site at True Blue, as well.

“To have the trophy there is pretty sick,” Pezzino said. “I make sure the guys go over and look at the names. They see some names and they’re like, ‘That guy is on the Champions Tour.’”

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: UConn golf wins challenge, qualifies for Haskins