Spring is the best time of the year for college golf. Not only do you get to miss 87 days of school, but, it’s time for post-season play! Your Houston Cougars finally return to the AAC Championships, after having not competed in them the last 2 years ('20 Covid, '21 Covid Protocol) at Southern Hills Plantation in Brooskville, FL (north of Tampa).
This years iteration will have 5 teams ranked inside the top 25 (per Golfweek). Clear favorite is USF, followed by SMU, then your Houston Cougars. Speaking of the Coogs, this spring has been up and down. The Coogs managed to win an event in February, and followed with some decent finishes in some top events (Cabo & Valpsar). The team is starting to peak, as evident with 2 top 10 finishes at the Aggie Invite last week.
The Coogs success will be dependent on a few things. We’ve got to have 2 guys in the top 10 to win. Frances has played great all year, and Wochner has shown he can go well. Watkins is a mudder, so if conditions get dicey, look for him to sneak up there. The biggest Achilles heel for the Coogs is going to be the 4th score taken. In order to win, we’ve got to avoid taking a big number - think 75 or higher.
The best news is that regardless of the outcome, your Houston Cougars should receive a bid to regionals! Let’s Go, Coogs!
A breakdown of the team rankings and highest ranked player per team is as follows:
| Team |
Rank |
Rating |
Events |
Sked (Rank) |
Player |
Rank |
| USF |
28 |
70.61 |
10 |
71.17 (32) |
Albin Bergstrom |
17 |
| SMU |
42 |
70.73 |
9 |
71.02 (25) |
Noah Godwin |
41 |
| Houston |
58 |
71.04 |
10 |
71.14 (28) |
Alex Frances |
124 |
| Cincinnati |
68 |
71.24 |
11 |
72.06 (87) |
Sam Jean |
184 |
| UCF |
71 |
71.38 |
9 |
72.22 (101) |
Johnny Tavale |
169 |
| Memphis |
88 |
71.81 |
8 |
71.94 (79) |
Tyran Sanders |
131 |
| ECU |
126 |
72.70 |
10 |
72.27 (103) |
Stephen Carroll |
447 |
| Wichita St. |
147 |
73.05 |
9 |
73.36 (157) |
Dawson Lewis |
497 |
| Navy |
251 |
75.59 |
7 |
73.94 (187) |
Chad Deegan |
905 |
8 Likes
Dude! I was just about to ask you to post that. Thanks!
I can’t maneuver inside golfstat’s dbase.
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Just keep it under par for the first round. Are we paired with USF? That might be helpful.
-1
Tied for 3rd
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Coogs go to -9
Go get em, boys!!
Three guys in top six after nine holes. LFg!!!
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Came to play today! Looks like Frances had an eagle on 4.
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Nothing gets your aggression on like hitting it in from 150 yards
-10
End the day -10 with four vying for overall leader.
Not bad, chaps. Now lets hope we have the same weather and wind for the rest of the tourney.
Can’t wait to hear 3Amgo’s analysis.
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Me too, feel like this was one of our best rounds all season. Even our dropped score was a +1 (and 1 under on the back 9), USF had a +7
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This is what I’ve been saying for months, Funk. When you’ve got everyone playing well and you’re throwing out a +1 (73), you’re gonna be in contention. Obviously it’s only the first round, and there’s a lot of golf left.
Love that Reily was able to bounce back. A 69 is gonna give him confidence. He’s struggled all spring. Frances and Wochner played well, and Borow. Can’t be upset at all.
Right now, it’s a 3 team race. UH, SMU, and USF. A little shocked USF didn’t play better, but I ain’t mad about it.
We’ve got great momentum heading into tomorrow. Let’s go!
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-8 after five
Tied with SMU for the lead. It seems we’re killing the par 5’s. Even on the par 4’s and struggling on the par 3’s.
Just stabilize the par 3’s and keep going for the stick on the 4’s and 5’s.
A good run of long holes coming up.
Fight on!!
2 Likes
OMG!!!
How do I even update this?!
3Amigos will give the details but the Coogs fell off the lead to SMU by (I think) 8 strokes in today’s second round. It looked bleak heading into the back nine but the guys rallied and mounted the charge of the light brigade.
We ended the day -16 on the tourney and one stroke down to the ponies with the final round tomorrow.
Can’t wait to watch on ESPN+
this is more stressful than watching basketball.
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Wow, great finish by the guys on 14-18. 10 birdies, an eagle, and only two bogeys. Wochner 1 stroke off the individual lead, Reily right behind in 3rd two strokes back.
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Outclassed today. SMU dominant when it counted. USF storming.
Same last day results as the Women. SMU (14) and USF (17) shots better than us today alone at this time.
Apparently that was a conference championship record score by SMU. Wochner tied for 2nd, Reily 5th.
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I thought our guys did well overall. To be in contention two of the three days was a shot in the arm. 3amigos will give his thoughts but what can we do when the other teams play so damn well. Just tip your hat I guess.
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Funk is correct, here.
The team played great for 3 rounds, and while they couldn’t close in the final round, they put themselves in a position to win. I don’t agree with “handling the pressure” comments. The Coogs just got flat beat, by both SMU and USF.
Looking at USF (2nd place and highest ranked team in the field), they played marginal in rounds 1 and 2, and in round 3, showed up. They dropped a 70! Guy shoots -2 and the team doesn’t even take his score. That is impressive. SMU (Champs and a top 40 team) improved every single day and threw out a -1 in the last round. When you have teams kicking out under par rounds, you’re going to play well. On a day when low scores were plentiful, Coogs had to count 2 73s.
The Coogs got off to a great start, shooting -10 in round 1 and -6 in round 2. They just got stuck in neutral in the final round (not ideal). Before the event started I had us finishing 3rd behind SMU and USF.
Overall, this team has continued to improve this Spring in each and every event. Wochner and Reily (both top 5 finishers) really showed up this week. While the team is likely reeling from losing this event, they put themselves in a position to win. If the Coogs can continue the momentum, this team could sneak in a top 5 at Regionals and qualify for NCAAs.
2 Likes
I hope so. Would like to see the season extended and see our best golfers take their swing at the individual board.
How many more events do we have to qualify?