Texan golfer swings All-WAC distinction

For the second time in as many seasons, Tarleton State Men’s Golf has had an individual earn a conference postseason honor.

The Western Athletic Conference announced Tuesday, April 30 that Texan sophomore Max Bengtsson has been named to the All-WAC Second Team.

Bengtsson led the Texans this season in wins (one), top-10 finishes (tied at three), top-20 finishes (six), and scoring average (72.7). The sophomore earns the postseason honor after Texan senior Jack Anderson was named All-WAC Second Team a year ago.

“It’s great to have players finish back to back years with All-Conference honors in just our first two years back,” head coach Chance Cain said. “Max was a solid player for us all season. You could tell he worked his tail off over the summer to attack his weak area with wedges the year before. I know he’ll do the same again over this summer break and I’m excited to watch his growth over his last two years as a Texan.”

Bengtsson shined throughout the season, including a fourtournament stretch in which he was either the medalist or the runner-up three times. He took medalist honors at the Monterrey International Invitational on Oct. 27-28, shooting -15 overall (70-66-65), going -13 over his final two rounds in Mexico. In his final round between nine holes, Nos. 6-14, he turned in eight birdies to tie the lowest round in Texan Men’s Golf history at 65 (-7). He became the second medalist in Tarleton’s short revived history. He added runnerup finishes in two of his next three tournaments, shooting -5 (72-67 69) for second at the Bentwater Intercollegiate Feb. 12-13, then turning in at -12 (67-70-67) at the Collin Montgomerie Invitational on March 4-5. Bengtsson earned two in-season WAC awards, named the WAC Men’s Golfer of the Month in October and the WAC Men’s Golfer of the Week on Feb. 15. Altogether, the Halmstad, Sweden, native, played in 10 of Tarleton’s 11 tournaments. He was in the top-20 in six of those events, taking tied-18th at the Ram Masters Invitational Sept. 6-7, tied-18th at the North Texas Intercollegiate April 15-16, and tied-20th at The Big Texan March 25-26.

Player awards and the All-WAC teams were tabulated using a formula that included prechampionship Clippd national player rankings as the leading metric, with equal parts adjusted regular season player scoring average and the final individual leaderboard at the 2024 WAC Men’s Golf Championship at Chaparral Pines in Payson, Arizona, also being factored in. Five players comprised the All-Conference First Team and five players made up the Second Team.

Tarleton sophomore golfer Max Bengtsson was named to the All-Western Athletic Conference Second Team.