Gustavo Morantes Named Razorback MGolf Associate Head Coach

FAYETTEVILLE – Gustavo Morantes (pronounced Goose-Tah-Vo More-Ahn-Tess) was named Arkansas men’s golf associate head coach, Razorback head coach Brad McMakin announced.

Morantes spent this past season with the Houston Cougars prior to working three seasons at his alma mater, New Mexico, as an assistant coach (2019-22). In his four seasons as a collegiate coach, his teams made three NCAA postseason appearances. He had an award-winning playing career with the Lobos and still represents his native Venezuela in international amateur competitions.

“I’m very excited to have Gustavo join the Razorback program as associate head coach,” McMakin said. “He has worked for two very successful programs and will be a great fit here. His broad international connections will be beneficial in recruiting. He will also be a tremendous asset in the development of our players due to his own playing ability. I look forward to Gustavo helping us continue our success at the highest level.”

In his lone season coaching at Houston, the Cougars won the American Athletic Conference Championship and qualified for the NCAA Auburn Regional. Santiago de La Fuente was named All-America honorable mention, the Cougars’ first since 2016, as well as being the All-Region, AAC Player of the Year and AAC individual champion. He posted a 70.71 scoring average which ranks second on the program’s single-season list behind Rex Baxter’s 69.57 from the 1955-56 season.

While coaching at New Mexico, Morantes helped lead the Lobos to two NCAA Regional appearances in 2022 and 2021, four team tournament titles, including the 2021 Mountain West Conference championship, and four individual tournament championships. He helped Sam Choi earn All-MWC in 2020 and ’21 and Albert Boneta to All-MWC honors in 2021 while Bastien Amat was the 2021 MWC Freshman of the Year and 2022 All-MWC. In addition to his on-course contributions, Morantes was heavily involved in fundraising activities for the program and helped lead the team to grade-point average records every season.

Before entering the coaching ranks, Morantes spent one season (2018-19) playing in several pro events highlighted by qualifying for two Korn Ferry Tour stops (Evans Scholar Invitational and Ellie Mae Classic).

Morantes played four seasons at New Mexico (2014-18). He competed on three teams that captured regular-season tournament championships, earned medalist honors at Arizona’s annual National Invitational Tournament in 2016 and was named All-Mountain West Conference in 2016. The Lobos qualified for three NCAA Regionals (2015, ’16 and ’17) and advanced to the NCAA Championship in 2017. Overall, he played in 42 collegiate events and posted 18 eagles to rank among the program’s all-time top five. He posted a career stroke average of 73.96 with back-to-back averages of 72.71 during his freshman and sophomore campaigns. In 2014, he was runner-up at the Venezuela Open, a pro event on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica.

He has been a member of the Venezuelan national team since his junior golf days. In fact, he faced former Razorbacks and Argentina’s Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira and Segundo Oliva Pinto in the Copa Los Andes played in November 2022. He was a two-time Venezuela National Amateur Champion (2012 and 2014). He also led Venezuela to the 2013 Junior Golf World Cup team championship.

Morantes is originally from Caracas, Venezuela, and graduated from the University of New Mexico in 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts.

For more information on Arkansas Men’s Golf, follow @RazorbackMGolf on Twitter.