University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Hit the Road to Face Houston
2/22/2018 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
The Minnesota men's golf team continues its spring season this weekend with a head-to-head matchup against the University of Houston Saturday at the Augusta Pines Golf Club in Spring, Texas.
This tournament presents a unique situation as it serves as the only outing this year where the Gophers face just one team. Coach John Carlson sees this weekend as preparation for what's to come.
"It's preparations for our big events coming up in March," he said. "Next weekend, we go to Auburn for the Tiger Invitational. Auburn will be our first full-team stroke play event of the spring, so this gives us a chance to get to conditions that are very similar to what we'll face in the Southeast. Houston has those."
Saturday's format will consist of one round of 18 holes. It will be played in a six-count-five format, with six players squaring off against the other team and the highest score getting dropped. Two golfers will also compete as individuals. The teams will tee off at 1 p.m. CST on Saturday.
"At this tournament, we're trying to figure out the top five that we have to go to the tournament in Auburn next weekend," Coach Carlson said. "The other goal is to go down there and get off the turf, away from the conditions inside here in Minnesota, and have an enjoyable weekend."
The field: The Gophers will only face one team--the University of Houston. The Gophers previously faced Houston this fall at the Royal Oaks Intercollegiate. In that tournament, the Gophers had their best finish of the season by taking third, while Houston finished 13th out of 13 teams.
Houston is coming off a fifth place finish at the All-American Intercollegiate on Feb. 18., a tournament with 15 competing schools. The Cougars had two top-20 individual finishes, with golfers finishing in a tie for 14th and a tie for 17th.
The course: The Augusta Pines Golf Club plays at par 72 and is 7,041 yards. Coach Carlson spoke on the course as preparation for what is to come.
"It's a really solid course, and one of the better ones in Houston and the state of Texas," he said. "The biggest thing we consider when we pick golf courses is good conditions, but we also want conditions similar to the events that we're going to play. This will really help us set up for Auburn."
The travel squad: Seniors Rúnar Arnorsson , Charlie Duensing, Riley Johnson and Alex Uloth, junior Peter Jones, sophomore Thomas Longbella and freshmen Angus Flanagan and Evan Long will all make the trip to Texas for the tournament.
###
Players Mentioned
