The University of Memphis men's golf team has hovered near the top of nearly every tournament they have competed in this season, but they have only been able to seal the deal once until Tuesday when they took first place in the Memphis Intercollegiate at Colonial Country Club.
The Tigers finished the tournament at plus-10, running away from the competition by 15 strokes.
Memphis head coach Grant Robbins was thrilled to see his team pull out the win, but he said there is still room for improvement.
"Obviously, you're very happy anytime you can win a college tournament," Robbins said. "The course dried up a bit and played tougher today, but we were able to get the win."
Senior Will Pearson, sophomore Florian Loutre and junior Cory Gaylord led the way for the Blue and Gray. The trio of Tigers tied for third place with scores of plus-2.
Haraldur Magnus of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette won the individual side of the tournament, shooting a one over par. Marco Iten from Austin Peay State University shot one over par for a second-place finish.
Freshmen David Long and Lars Van Meijel posted low scores for Memphis as well. Long shot eight over par for the tournament, tying for 18th. Van Meijel shot seven over to place 16th.
A windy couple of days caused the scores to be higher than normal, but Mother Nature presented no problems for the experienced U of M squad.
The first-place finish could be a nice momentum builder for the Memphis squad, which is preparing for the American Athletic Conference tournament.
"This is the time you want to start to play better," Robbins said. "We have the conference tournament coming up, but our ultimate goal is to make the NCAA Championship."
The newly formed American conference was not only a step up in competition for the football and basketball squads. Robbins believes the AAC's golf lineup is one of the nation's best. He hopes five or six teams from the American could make the NCAA Tournament at the season's end.
Robbins feels like the Tigers would get in the tournament if the season ended today, but he said the Tigers still have more work to do.
"Most of it's mental," Robbins said. "Physically, we're in good shape, but we need to continue to get better mentally."
Memphis struggled on the back nine at Colonial on Tuesday, and Robbins wants to see his team finish strong. Their next chance to improve comes Monday in West Point, Miss., where the Tigers will play in the Old Waverly Intercollegiate.
Memphis only plays in two more tournaments before the critical conference tournament. Then, they plan to compete in the NCAA Regionals at the end of April.
