The men’s golf team is back in action after a five-month hiatus and as the temperatures outside rise, so do the hopes of the Bisons who look to improve on a strong fall campaign.
Leading the way for the team is junior Alex Williamson, a 2014 2nd team All-Great American Conference (GAC) selection who also holds the Harding program record for individual winning percentage (.736) and ranks second in career stroke average (75.25).
“(Alex) is one of our biggest strengths right now,” head coach Dustin Howell said. “He’s playing the best golf of his life and is starting to peak at just the right time, so I’m very excited to see what he has in store for the rest of the season.”
Williamson, who recently shot a 7-under 64 to shatter the course record at the Searcy Country Club, said that his goals go far beyond individual accolades.
“My biggest goal is to make it to regionals as a team,” Williamson said. “If we can win one or two tournaments or the conference then we’ll have a good chance. That would be a big accomplishment because our conference is so good.”
The GAC is stacked in men’s golf this year. Five teams are either ranked or receiving votes to be ranked in the top 25 nationwide for NCAA DII. Playing against some of the nation’s top teams week in and week out is a challenge that Howell said he and his team welcome.
“There’s no better way to judge how good you really are than to go against the best,” Howell said. “It’s an excellent way for us to see where we stand, and given the opportunity, I would always choose to go against the best teams we can.”
The Bisons recently went up against some of those teams at the Broncho Invitational in Oklahoma City, Okla., where they finished 12th out of 16 teams in harsh playing conditions. Howell said that days like those help the team to focus on positives, but also things to work on.
“One of the big positives for us was the play of freshman Mason Banger,” Howell said. “That wind was terrible on the second day but Mason had a great tournament. I’ve really been preaching short game recently, as well as our putting and reading the greens. We had too many three-putts in that tournament so that’s something we’ll be working on.”
The Bisons are back in action on Monday, April 6 at the First Federal Bank Invitational hosted by Henderson State University in Mountain Home, Ark. at the Big Creek Country Club.
