University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Travel to Husky Invitational
9/19/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Husky Invitational: Live Scoring | Round 1 Tees
Husky Individual: Live Scoring | Round 1 Tees
After opening its season hosting the Gopher Invitational, the University of Minnesota men's golf team will travel to Washington's Husky Invitational Sept. 21-22.
"I'm certainly glad we can get on the road right away again, kind of forget about the finish that we had. It is a tough start. When you play at home you certainly expect to beat some of the teams that you invite, and we didn't do that this year. We're disappointed as a coaching staff in the way that we finished, but we're optimistic in what we got on both the first and second teams last week. We had a lot of guys really compete hard out there. Washington's going to be a new opportunity for us to go out there and show everyone what this team is going to be made of this year."
The travel squad: Most of the Gophers' roster will make the trip to Suncadia, Washington. Riley Johnson, Tom Vining, Justin Doeden, Grady Meyer and Jose Mendez will play in the team tournament, while Rúnar Arnorsson, Peter Jones, Matt Rachey and Charlie Duensing will compete in the individual tournament.
Johnson was the "A" team's top finisher at the Gopher Invitational, tying for 17th. Vining led the team with a fifth-place showing, playing for the "B" team. No Gophers' freshman since at least 1990-91 has had a better finish in his collegiate debut.
"I'm not surprised by the level of play that he had on the golf course," Carlson said. "He had a great summer, and really didn't miss a beat. I was surprised that he wasn't as nervous as I maybe thought he would be. Maybe he got the nerves out in qualifying. But he's outstanding. He's mature for a freshman, and I expect big things from him. His expectation level is high. His work ethic is high. He's going to be a big fixture in the lineup this year."
The field: Boise State, BYU, Gonzaga, Idaho, Oregon, Oregon State, Sacramento State, Seattle U, UC Davis, USC , Utah and Washington State will join the Gophers and host Huskies.
The course: Suncadia Resort's Tumble Creek Golf Course will play host to the main team event, while the individuals will play the resort's Prospector Golf Course. Tumble Creek plays as a par 71 at 6,887 yards. Prospector plays at 7,112 yards and a par 72.
"It's a tough golf course," Carlson said. "It's a demanding golf course off the tee. It's tree-lined and goes through the hills. They hosted a U.S. Open sectional qualifying this year. The scores weren't very low at that, which leads me to believe that's going to be a tough test for the collegians. I expect our guys to out there and play well, though. A lot like Windsong. Pretty unplayable if you're missing the fairway off the tee. We have to go out there and we have to control our ball off the tee. We have to make smarter decisions into the greens from the fairway. We actually putted pretty well as a team last week, so we'll look to continue that trend."
The last word: Finish aside, the 11th annual Gopher Invitational, and third at Windsong Farm Golf Club, was another success.
"Certainly from an event standpoint, the event has grown into one of the top national collegiate events," Carlson said. "I'm really proud of that, but it's not necessarily for the work that I've done and my staff has done. We've got a great group of volunteers. Keith Rachey has taken over as tournament coordinator, and the staff at Windsong Farm really makes all the teams that come into town feel like it's their home away from home for the week. And the competition is great. We had nine of the top 35 teams in the preseason rankings competing. That field is just getting stronger."
Players Mentioned
