John Fields isn’t thrilled about the slow
start by his golf team this fall. But he’s been around long enough to
understand why it’s happening.
In two tournaments, the Longhorns have
finished eighth and fourth. This from a squad that started the
year ranked No. 2 nationally.
“There’s not one guy on my team, from a
team perspective, that’s happy with the way we’ve played the last two
tournaments,” Fields said.
Yet no one is panicking. Here’s why:
- Beau Hossler, Texas’ top player, missed the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational last month because he was representing the U.S. in the Walker Cup. How valuable is Hossler? This week he made his season debut and fired a career-low 64 in the final round to win the Nike Collegiate Invitational in Portland. He finished 18-under par, topping Duke’s Adam Wood by six strokes.
“When you leave a player like Beau Hossler off of your roster, it can cost you up to 25 strokes,” Fields said.
Fields likened it to 2012, when Texas won
the national title but finished eighth and third in tournaments when
Jordan Spieth was off playing on his own.
- For the first time, Fields has three players in his five-person lineup navigating the McCombs School of Business. “That’s a pretty big grind,” he said.
- The Horns are having a difficult time replacing Kramer Hickok, the lone senior and the No. 5 contributor on last year’s team that won the Big 12 and six other tournaments. Taylor Funk, Tayler Termeer and Kalena Preus are vying for the spot, and Preus, a former Hawaii state champion, appears to have taken the lead with his final round 71 in Portland.
Preus, a redshirt sophomore, was playing in his first event as a Longhorn.
“He’s been through some hard times as a
Texas golfer, as a Texas student,” Fields said. “With the guy coming
from Hawaii, it’s certainly out of culture for him. It’s taken him a
significant amount of time to get back to where he’s credible as a
golfer. That 71 gets everyone’s attention. That means he showed up to
play.”
Fields said the abundance of golf his team played in the summer has taken a toll, as have some minor nicks and bumps.
Optimism remains strong heading into the
U.S. Collegiate, Oct. 16-18 in Atlanta. Along with Hossler, the lineup
is loaded with reigning Big 12 champion Scottie Scheffler, Big 12
runner-up Gavin Hall, and Doug Ghim, who tied for eighth at the NCAA
championships.
“We’ll win tournaments this year,” Fields said. “It’s only a matter of time before we get into a rhythm.”
Read more: http://www.hookem.com/story/notebook-texas-golf-is-struggling-but-coach-still-optimistic/
Related article: No. 2 Texas men’s golf team in 11th place at Olympia Fields
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