Evan Rogers rolled in a birdie on the par-4 17th at Fox Den Country Club on Tuesday afternoon, and one hole later, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga golfer had his first individual trophy of the 2026-27 season.
So he’s 1-for-1 as a sophomore.
Rogers shot 67-67-66 on the par-70 course for a 10-under 200 to win the Visit Knoxville Collegiate by a stroke, with his career-low 54-hole total securing the second individual tournament championship of his collegiate career and helping the Mocs open a new season with a tie for third on the team leaderboard.
The former Hebron Christian standout from Duluth, Georgia, is the ninth Mocs medalist under fifth-year head coach Blaine Woodruff and the 12th player in program history with multiple individual titles.
Rogers did it against a field that looked more like May than August. Eight of the 17 teams in Knoxville played in the NCAA Division I championship tournament in June: host Tennessee, UTC, Georgia, Louisville, Memphis, Mississippi State, North Carolina and Vanderbilt.
Vanderbilt finished third nationally, while North Carolina was seventh.
“We beat some NCAA match play regulars, and having the lead after 36 holes is a good starting point,” Woodruff said in a UTC release. “But this was the first time this group had led such a stout field going into the final round. Just being in that position is going to make us better.”
(READ MORE: Mocs ready to compete in NCAA golf regionals this week)
The Mocs carried the team lead into Tuesday but closed with a 1-under 279 to finish at 831, tied for third with the North Carolina. Tennessee posted a 14-under 266, the round of the tournament, to win at 825 — four clear of Memphis and six ahead of UTC and the Tar Heels. Vanderbilt was fifth at 832.
Rogers’ eagle at the 12th had the Mocs at 2 under for the day, and birdies from him and Camden Braidech at the 14th got the team to 11 under for the event before the run stalled. Braidech tied for seventh at 206, a career low and his seventh top-10 finish. UTC’s Thad Whitfield tied for 38th, while Ward Harris tied for 46th and Ethan Whitaker shared 88th.
The opener continued the best stretch the UTC men’s golf program has enjoyed in more than a decade.
The Mocs won the Southern Conference tournament in April, leading every round and beating runner-up Furman by eight shots for their seventh league title and first since 2013. Seeded 11th at the NCAA’s Bryan Regional, they finished third to advance, then reached a tie for 14th after two rounds at the national championship tournament — their best position ever at that stage — before a closing 305 dropped them to a tie for 26th.
Rogers was named SoCon freshman of the year, Woodruff was the league’s coach of the year, and Braidech won the NCAA Elite Scholar-Athlete Award for men’s golf.
The honors continued Wednesday when the SoCon announced Rogers was the league’s first men’s golfer of the week winner for 2026-27.
UTC returns to action Sept. 14-15 at the Bearcat Invitational in Cincinnati, the second of five tournaments on a fall schedule that will take the Mocs into mid-October. The season will resume in late January after that.
Wrestling schedule tough by design
UTC’s wrestling schedule for 2026-27 includes four open tournaments and a nonconference dual slate built around ranked competition, with the Mocs coming off a season that ended a point and a half short of a SoCon tournament title in Asheville, North Carolina.
UTC shared the SoCon regular-season title with Appalachian State and The Citadel last winter, with all three finishing 7-1 in league duals and with matching head-to-head records. The Mocs clinched their piece with a 26-9 victory at Bellarmine in the finale, closing at 10-5 overall for a league-record 18th regular-season crown and their first since 2019.
UTC then finished second at the SoCon tourney with 93 points, 1.5 behind Appalachian State. Cooper Flynn (125 pounds) and Kade Rule (197) were the individual champions among seven Mocs who reached the podium, tied for the most medalists in the field.
UTC owns 29 conference tournament titles, more than any team in league history, but the most recent of those titles was won in 2015.
The Mocs open their new season Nov. 1 at the Southeast Open in Salem, Virginia, then travel to the Princeton Duals on Nov. 14 to face the host Tigers, Ohio and Duke. Little Rock visits Maclellan Gym on Nov. 22. December brings the Kent State Open and a trip to the Purdue Duals against the host Boilermakers and Central Michigan, with the Southern Scuffle on Jan. 2-3 at McKenzie Arena, followed by the Davidson Duals and Davidson Open on Jan. 16-17.
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In conference action, the Mocs host Gardner-Webb, Virginia Military Institute, Campbell and Bellarmine, and they’ll travel to The Citadel, Presbyterian, Davidson and Appalachian State. The SoCon tournament is March 5-6 in Asheville, with the NCAA tourney March 18-20 in St. Louis.
“We’re trying to see ranked opponents while giving ourselves the opportunity to get as many matches in as possible,” Kyle Ruschell, who is entering his ninth season as head coach of the Mocs, said in a UTC release Tuesday. “… We’re going to see a lot of ranked guys at a lot of different weights. That’s going to benefit our guys.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.