Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Men's golf kicks off spring season at Arizona Intercollegiate
01/27/2016 | 12:00:00 | Men's Golf
What? Arizona Intercollegiate
Where? Sewailo Golf Club in Tucson, Ariz.
When? Jan. 29 and 30
Course yardage: 7,400 yards
Teams competing (16): Arizona, BYU, California, Cal State Fullerton, Denver, Iowa State, New Mexico State, Santa Clara, South Dakota State, Southern Illinois, Texas, Utah, UTEP, Washington, Washington State
Tony McDaniel
SIUSalukis.com
TUCSON, Ariz.-- The SIU men's golf team's winter break will come to an end on Friday when the team travels to Tucson, Ariz. for the Arizona Intercollegiate and the Arizona Medalist on Friday and Saturday.
The team swings in the spring season with the goal of winning SIU's first Missouri Valley Conference Championship.
"One of our goals is to be the best team in Saluki golf history," Head coach Justin Fetcho said. "We've never won a conference championship. If we continue to progress throughout the spring, I think we can make our mark on the record book."
The Salukis have spent much of the weeks leading up to their first tournament of the season practicing on the fundamentals indoors, because of the cold and snowy weather in southern Illinois. Unfortunately for SIU, the majority of teams at this weekend's tournament are from warm-weather states and have had plenty of chances to play outside.
Fetcho selected his five-man travel team based off performances from the fall instead of the usual qualifying process the team uses. Brandon Carlson, Peyton Wilhoit, Drew Novara, Matt Greenfield and Charles Hawn are the five players Fetcho picked to travel to the Arizona Intercollegiate. Carlson played at Sewailo Golf Club, the host course for the Arizona Intercollegiate, during winter break. Luke Gannon will also travel with the Salukis to play in a nearby individual tournament, the Arizona Medalist at Starr Pass Golf Club.
Play for the Arizona Intercollegiate starts with two rounds on Friday and the third and final round on Saturday.
Southern will face stiff competition in Tucson. Of the 16 teams at this weekend's tournament, five are from the Pac 12 Conference and two are from the Big 12 Conference. Texas and California are both ranked in the NCAA top-25 and Washington is receiving votes.
The Arizona Intercollegiate's host course, the Sewailo Golf Club, sits in the Sonoran Desert and provides a challenge to players by bringing lakes and streams into play. The course does not have a lot of bunkers, but the few it has are strategically placed to challenge players around the greens.
"It looks like it's going to be one of those golf courses where there will be some trouble," Fetcho said. "It's going to be about placing it well off the tee and not necessarily trying to be more aggressive and biting off more than you can chew. If we can keep the ball in front of us and play from the fairway I think that's going to help us."
Arizona State, the defending champions of the Arizona Intercollegiate will not be at the 2016 edition of the tournament, but UTEP, who was the only other team to finish below par last year, will be back at the tournament. California's senior Ban Shotaro is the only player who finished in the top-five in 2015 that is back at this year's Arizona Intercollegiate.
"If we can build off the things that we did in the fall and use them this spring we're going to see some good stuff," Fetcho said. "You can never predict what the results are going to be, but I guarantee if we continue to get better and better everyday, that goal of winning the Missouri Valley Conference Championships will be right at our fingertips. It will just be up to us to decide what happens."
Players Mentioned
