Freshmen power Aggie golf team
Freshman Brendan Coburn led Utah State to a ninth-place finish Sept. 30 as the Aggies shot a 35-over-par 887 during the three-round Dash Thomas Memorial Tournament, hosted by Boise State last weekend. San Jose State took home the team title with a 25-under-par 827, and the individual title went to Jessie Heinly of Concordia University, who shot a 13-under-par 200 over the three rounds.
“Both days, all three rounds, the freshmen and sophomores played pretty well,” said head hoach Dean Johansen. “The team struggled overall, but we had two or three good scores.”
Coburn finished, tied for 27th, in the overall standings, while senior Chanse Godderidge finished, tied for 35th, with a 10-over-par 223.
Freshman Brendan Dennis and sophomore Tanner Higham recorded final totals of 10-over-par 223 and 13-over-par 226, respectively.
“We kind of started a bit flat,” Johansen said, who is in his 13th season as head coach. “The freshmen were able to right the ship and come back and shoot right around even par.”
Godderidge, one of two seniors on the Utah State team, shot one off his career best of 222, which he shot at the Wyoming Cowboy Classic, in 2010.
The Aggies are three tournaments into the season, and newcomer Coburn has been USU’s top finisher in each one. His most recent performance at Boise was a career best.
“They are getting more experience,” Johansen said of Coburn and the other freshmen on the team. “The more experience they get, the better they’re going to get, so I think expectations for these guys are going to just be getting better and better all the time.”
Johansen is planning on some big improvements over the next two weeks.
“We’re going to change the way we practice a little bit,” Johansen said. “There are some things that we need to work on. We need to get sharper on our skills, and we need to start doing more drills. Instead of just playing, we’re going to play less the next couple weeks and sharpen those skills up.”
Johansen said the team is still waiting for a leader or captain to emerge.
“This is a different setup than I’ve had in the past,” Johansen said. “Generally it’s the upperclassmen that go to all the events and you sprinkle the freshman in here and there. This year has been completely opposite of that.”
Johansen said it’s a good push on the upperclassmen for Coburn to be the top finisher in each tournament and have other underclassmen performing well.
“I think the freshman ought to be very proud of themselves,” Johansen said. “(The Seniors) are going to have to work a little harder to step it up and realize that they have a good and talented team this year. We’re all going to need to be in there together.”
Johansen said each man is trying to figure out his spot on the team.
“It’s a little bit of a scramble right now,” Johansen said. “Once all the dust settles and we find the five guys that are settled in, we’ll find a leader, and we’ll be just fine.”
The Aggies next travel to Valley View Golf Course in Layton, Utah, Oct. 10-11, for Weber State’s Wildcat Invitational.
– curtis.lundstrom@aggiemail.usu.edu