This weekend, the Colorado State men’s golf team will hit the links in tournament play for the first time since early November to kick off the second half of their 2019-20 season. The team will be heading to California to compete in the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate tournament at the Classic Club course in Palm Desert.
Hopes are high for the Rams golf squad, with everyone heading into the second leg of the season with optimism. The team is off to their best start in program history. Leading into the tournament this weekend, the Rams find themselves sitting in the fifth spot of Golfstat’s collegiate rankings. The ranking, however, has not gone to the team’s head.
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“It’s nice for the boys to have some payoff for all their hard work,” head coach Christian Newton said. “We really aren’t too concerned about it, though. We just want to stay within our group, stay away from it and play good golf.”
The team is looking to the future rather than dwelling on their past success. That future begins with the tournament this weekend, and that’s where their focus is now. Since the Rams have had little opportunity to play over the past few months, Newton has implemented a strategy, starting with early practices.
“The team has started inter-squad matches, so they can compete a bit and try to simulate what they’ll feel Friday morning,” Newton said.
The team took the opportunity to get their game sharper, junior Parathakorn Suyasri said.
“I’ve been working especially on the driver, accuracy and getting the ball on the fairway,” Suyasri said.
No matter the results of this weekend’s tournament, fans should expect to see an extremely talented golf tournament. The Rams are far from the only strong program competing and will be teeing off alongside Auburn (#19), Charlotte (#50) and Boise State (#80). The Rams should not be intimidated by this with their 4-2-2 head-to-head record against GolfStat Top 25 teams.
While fan expectations for this team might be high, their coaching staff knows what they would like to see from the team.
“I want the guys to feel like we were prepared (and) we were ready,” Coach Newton said in regards to this weekend. “We’ve got a long spring season ahead of us, and we just want to get off on the right foot here.”
The team’s priority is finding more success right now and when the postseason tournaments begin. Newton elaborated, saying none of the hoopla surrounding the program “means anything until May.”
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“I just want to play my best, and hopefully we can get into some matchplay later in the season,” Suyasri said, mirroring his coaches’ statements. “The NCAA championships, that’s the goal.”
The Rams were strong competition in last season’s Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate. Entering the tournament as the #52 ranked team in the country, the team upset the rankings, finishing in fifth, shooting 13 strokes above par. Sophomore Davis Bryant should be excited to get another crack at the course after posting the field’s lowest individual round last year, shooting a 66 (-6).
The Rams and Newton both know that the team must perform better this time around in order to place in an advantageous position.
“College golf is as good as it’s ever been,” Newton said. “If you don’t play well, you’re gonna get beat.”
The Rams will tee off early Friday morning at the Classic Club in Palm Desert, California. Groupings and tee times should be posted by Thursday evening. Live stats will be available via Golfstat.
Matt Davis can be reached at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @MattDavis27.
