AUGUSTA, Ga. – For the final time in the fall, the Augusta University men’s golf team will tee it up, part of the Williams Cup, hosted by North Carolina, in Wilmington, North Carolina Oct. 20-22. In what is expected to be the best field of the fall, the Jaguars are hoping to see how far the team has come since they started tournament play back in September.
Coach Steven Paine said they’ve had one of their toughest overall schedules that has helped the team grow and get better. Some new faces this year has made that growth a work in progress at times and Paine is hoping they continue to learn how to play “Jaguar golf,” against a quality field.
“We have a lot of new faces in there and some of those guys have had to learn on the fly, now we hope to take those lessons and put them in place,” said Paine.
So far this fall the Jaguars have registered seventh, 11th and 12th place finishes. Stefan Jacobs and Bo Blanchard II have been the most consistent golfers. All but one of Jacobs rounds so far has been 74 or better and has made 26 birdies and an eagle through nine rounds. Blanchard has a round of 68 to his credit this fall and has posted 76 or better in all his other rounds. Pieter Rossouw Jr. has also shown flashes of his ability having posted four sub-rounds of 74.
Paine is looking for the entire team to play disciplined rounds of golf and minimize mistakes and keep the big numbers off the scorecard.
“Going into this final tournament of the semester, us coaches are wanting to see the guys buying into what we teach and be on an upward trend,” said Paine. “Just playing that high level, discipline golf. Guys have shown toughness and we want to go up there with a great attitude because we know if we take care of the things we can control, we’ll like where we stand at the end of the week.”