Fields on national title for UT men's golf: 'There are so many mountains we've had to climb'

Sports
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The University of Texas Longhorns men's golf team pose with the national championship trophy. | Twitter/TexasMGolf

The University of Texas Longhorns men's golf team won the program's fourth overall national championship earlier this month, according to a report from Austin ABC affiliate KVUE.

KVUE reported that the 2022 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) title came a decade after a young Jordan Spieth helped guide UT to the 2012 crown. 

The station reported that the Longhorns squeezed out a 3-2 victory last Thursday (June 2) over the team from Arizona State University at the Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.

According to a report posted on the program's website, junior Travis Vick hit a birdie putt that went within a foot to halve the hole to deliver the championship to the Longhorns.

The long, arduous road to that moment wasn't lost on Vick.

"It's hard to put into words what this feels like," he said in the report. "It's been such a long road, going through a lot of adversity as a team. We had a target on our back, so to be able to get it done is truly special."

For head coach John Fields, it's moments like this and UT's lengthy history of athletic success that he and his players strive for.

"There are so many mountains we've had to climb," Fields said, according to the website. "The University of Texas provides us with such incredible opportunities, but it also puts a tremendous amount of pressure on you because winning a national championship at the University of Texas is very special. These guys knew it. That's why they came to Texas. If you ask anyone why they came to Texas, they'd give you this answer. I'm really proud of them."

KVUE reported that the championship served as a send-off for senior twin brothers Parker Coody and Pierceson Coody, who coincidentally posted identical results in two of UT's three wins.

As is tradition, university president Dr. Jay Hartzell directed the UT Tower to be bathed in orange in recognition of the school's latest sports accomplishment.

Counting the men's golf team, the UT Tower has been lit up in the university's primary color a total of four times this year: The first in honor of the men's track and field team's national championship, the second a nod to the rowing team's seventh straight Big 12 title and the third saluting the women's tennis team's back-to-back national crowns, KVUE reported.

The baseball and softball teams are presently playing for national titles of their own.