The Tiger football squad is not the only team on campus experiencing record-setting success. The men's golf team is in the midst of making school history as they begin the spring season at the Rice Intercollegiate tournament on Monday.
The Tigers, currently ranked No. 29 by Golfweek, won three of the four tournaments they competed in during the fall. Prior to this season, The U of M had never won more than two tournaments in the fall and spring combined.
"Last semester was strange in that a couple of guys played exceptionally well," said Allan Thomas, a senior from Conway, Ark. "We need this to happen again."
Despite their great play early, the Tigers finished the fall on a sour note, placing 11th out of 12 schools at the Landfall Tradition back in October. According to second-year coach, Grant Robbins, the sub-par performance was not a total loss.
"It showed the team we still have work to do," Robbins said. With such a young team, Robbins said, it's tough to maintain a high level of success on a regular basis.
"We play three freshmen ... they will be inconsistent," he said.Senior Allan Thomas had a similar outlook on the Landfall Tradition."It wasn't necessarily a bad thing," Thomas said. "It made us realize we weren't as good as we thought we were. We have to get better and better."
The Tigers hit the greens for the first time this spring in Houston at the Rice Intercollegiate tournament, which will be held this Monday and Tuesday. They are eager to make up for the lackluster performance at the Landfall Tradition.
"We're going there to win," Robbins said.
The Tigers will be led by freshman standout Keven Fortin-Simard, who led the team with an average round of 71.67 in the fall. Fortin-Simard exploded on the scene back in September, winning individual medalist honors in his first collegiate tournament, the Michigan-Radrick Farms Intercollegiate. He was also the only Tiger to shoot under-par during all three rounds of the tournament.
The Rice Intercollegiate field will include 15 schools, including Army, the defending champions of the Patriot League. The Black Knights reached the NCAA East Regional last year and have had four top five finishes in fall tournaments.
According to Fortin-Simard, the Tigers would have overlooked such a team in the fall.
"We didn't prepare ourselves to play against top teams," he said. We weren't prepared to play our best golf against the best schools. We had to learn."
Although the Tigers will not be overlooking anyone this time around, the young bunch still has a swagger.
"Unless we finish first, it will be a disappointment," Thomas said.
