The University of Tampa Men’s Golf Team kicked off its season this weekend at the Webber Invitational Golf Tournament at Lake Wales Country Club.
Only the B team made the trip to Lake Wales. Quin Trigg had a low total for the Spartans at 229, 16 shots behind the leader.
The team should also benefit from the experience some of its younger players received this weekend.
Due to an NCAA rule that prevents players from playing a certain number of matches during a 40 day period, the golf program’s first team was not able to compete. This meant that the second team would be representing the Spartans at Lake Wales.
With Jutigny and Shane back in Tampa, junior Quin Trigg led the way, finishing in a six-way tie for 20th. After shooting 80 on day one, Trigg rebounded with a 72 on day two, but finished with a 77 that barely kept him out of the top 15.
Parker Wingfield finished 28th, Josh Detmer finished 36th and Charlie Green ended up 41st.
Last year the Spartans had their highs and lows. The team fared well at the Flagler, Barry and Saint Leo Invitationals. UT’s third place finish in the Saint Leo Invitiational was due largely to then-junior Nicolas Jutigny’s first place individual finish.
His win marked the first time a Spartan had topped the leader board since 2002. However, the team finished seventh out of nine teams at the SSC Tournament last year, and failed to finish in the top half in seven out of twelve tournaments.
After the team’s inconsistent 2009-2010 season, Jutigny, now a senior, has high hopes as well as high expectations for the 2010-2011 team.
“I really think this year is going to be our top year,” Jutigny said. “We have a good team; we have good freshman. Our number four player was a freshman last year; he has a little more experience, as well, so it should be our number one year.”
The Spartans will have to rely heavily on their senior leaders, though, if they want to compete in the stacked Sunshine State Conference. In the preseason rankings, SSC teams held four of the top five spots in the nation, with Florida Southern perched at number one.
Having a senior who seems primed to have a breakout year greatly helps the team’s chances. Jutigny says that Chris Shane could be that player for the Spartans.
“He [Shane] had an unbelievable summer. He was nearly there at the U.S. Open,” Jutigny said of Shane. “I expect him to potentially be the number one player [along] with me.
He was always a very steady player, but now he believes in himself and that he has the capabilities to play low under par.”
On paper, the 2010 team seems up to the task of meeting expectations of Coach Rick Christie and their leader, Jutigny.
“If we don’t make it to regionals it would be a great disappointment,” Jutigny said. “Then, if we could send one guy to nationals, at least one guy, if not the whole team, that would be great.”
After the team was close to making it to regionals last spring, Jutigny believes that there is no reason the team should not make it to regionals.
Jutigny said that Coach Christie is also excited about the season and hopes that this will bring back the exposure the program once had.
With four seniors leaving, Jutigny feels that Coach Christie knows that this is the end of a cycle for his team and believes that this is his chance to propel the program to the next level. With strong senior leadership, improving youngsters and a talented roster, he may have good reason to be energized about this team.
The next order of business for Jutigny and company is the Jay Jennison Memorial Tournament at Flagler College on Sept. 27 and 28, one of the team’s toughest tournaments.
They hope to improve on their fifth place finish at the same tournament from last year.
Davis Fox can be reached at davison.fox@spartans.ut.edu.