On March 25 and 26, the men’s golf team placed 12th in the Jim Bishop Toyota Classic hosted by the University of North Alabama out of 15 teams in the tournament.
The tournament consisted of 15 teams and 84 players and was held on the Shoals Fighting Joe Course. It is a par 72 course encompassing 7,126 yards. Freshman Alex Williamson said he felt very prepared coming into the tournament after working hard in practice.
“I played well last week and expected nothing different this week,” Williamson said. “Nothing in preparing for this tournament was really any different compared to other weeks. My main focus was just working on my short game.”
The men’s golf team was not lacking any motivation to do well going into the tournament. They have their goals set and are working hard each day to meet them.
“We have two goals: winning the conference and making it to the regional tournament,” Williamson said. “We want it so bad that coach (Dustin Howell) just has to mention it and it gets us fired up to work harder.”
Junior Lucas Collins said even though the outcome was not ideal, the team played very well due to the weather conditions.
“The outcome of the tournament was not exactly what we wanted,” Collins said. “We played very well the first day considering it was in the 30s for most of the day with 25 mph winds and light snow falling. But we had a poor showing the second day in similar weather conditions, which cost us a good finish.”
To help prepare for the tournament, the men’s golf team spent a lot of time practicing outside to get accustomed to playing in colder weather.
“For this tournament we spent a lot of time practicing outside in the cold weather,” Collins said. “We knew it was supposed to be cold, so we prepared according to the weather forecast of the tournament. Also, this course was longer than normal so we worked harder on our long irons.”
The men’s golf team will play April 2 and 3 at the Broncho Invitational at Gaillardia hosted by the University of Central Oklahoma. In order to prepare for this tournament, the team is focusing on smaller aspects of the whole game.
“We have a lot of work to do in preparing for our remaining tournaments,” Collins said. “As a team we will spend a lot of time working on our short game specifically trying to focus on enhancing our putting. We have a lot of confidence as a team.”
