Tucked away in the trophy section of Bob Martinez Sports Center are two National Championship trophies won by the University of Tampa men’s golf program.
Unfortunately, they can be hard to spot, mostly because they are placed behind a National Championship volleyball trophy.
With the regular season officially over, the men continue to press forward as they search for that third national title; UT claimed the prize in consecutive years in 1987 and 1988.
The 2010 golf season was composed of four tournaments. To begin the year, the Spartans placed ninth out of 14 teams at the Flagler Invitational.
They followed that performance with a team victory at the Spartan Invitational.
The Saint Leo Invitational and Rollins Invitational resulted in fourth and seventh place finishes, respectively, for UT.
Senior golfer Nicolas Jutigny said that the positives the Spartans showed this year was due to strong individual performances along the way.
“Success this year came down to us always having someone in contention to win a tournament that we were involved in,” Jutigny said.
Jutigny knows that first hand, as he tied for first place at the Saint Leo Invitational at two under par.
At the Spartan Invitational, he finished seventh, while teammate Taylor Noel tied for third at two over.
With senior players such as Jutigny, Brixton Albert, Charlie Green, Kyle Roy and Kris Shane, who all will be leaving at the end of this year, the Spartan golf team now looks to the young talent that has made a difference this season to hold up the team for the next season.
“Players like Jared Pane and Taylor Noel will be the ones that will step up and help lead the team to more opportunities,” Jutigny said.
The season included a massive home tournament win, which hasn’t been done since 2001.
They defeated multiple colleges, including Saint Leo University, Webber University and Brevard College.
The men also recorded a big win after defeating last year’s national champions Florida Southern.
As the Spartan golf team continues to grow and improve, the players look forward to making it a point for the school to know who they are on and off the course.
“We want to put the men’s golf program on the map, both in the golfing world and at UT,” said sophomore Taylor Noel.
Jutigny expressed confidence in the direction the team is heading.
“We are consistently getting better, players are starting to realize how good our team is, and that we are good enough to take on anyone,” Jutigny said. “We want to be recognized for it.”
Russell Gaither can be reached at rgaither@spartans.ut.edu.