Men's Golf is 'focusing on the present' as the new season starts

BY JAXON HANSARD / Multimedia Journalist

Among other traditional sports starting in the fall semester at Tarleton State University, the one with the longest season starts soon with Men’s golf as they come off their top 4 placement in the WAC Championship tournament in April. 

Tarleton placed in the top ten at 8 of their 11 invitationals last year with four of those coming in at the top four. A great performance at the WAC Championship has been pushing this team all offseason to do it again and hopefully even further. 

Senior Carson Gallaher has been motivated all offseason by what most would consider a good ending to a season with a 4th place finish in the conference championship but it wasn’t first place so why settle? 

“My summer was amazing, it was the best summer of golf that I have ever had,” Gallaher said. “A lot of that had to do with the work that was put in after the frustrating finish at conference last year. This summer I won my first tournament in almost 4 years, and it reminded me that I have what it takes to compete with the best.”

This will be the Texan’s first year to be completely playoff eligible and the schedule reflects it with invitationals to schools like the University of Colorado for the Mark Simpson Invitational, a trip to College Station for the Aggie Invitational against the big brother school, and before the WAC Championship, the Texans will go to Ohio State for the Robert Kepler Invitational. 

“I know for everyone conference is circled, although it is circled our team motto for this year is “focus on the present” Sometimes we have a tendency to look too far ahead and it gets us out of sync. If we want to perform our best at conference we as a team have realized that we need to focus now and put in the work so when we get to that circled tournament we are ready and better than ever” Gallaher said. 

While Tarleton placed high last year, this is going to be a different team with 6 new players being added to this edition of the men’s golf team. Head Coach Chance Cain is going to be managing all of the new faces and blending them with the veterans of past teams. 

“It’s really exciting to see us keep trending in the right direction, both with talent and bringing in the right personalities that fit our culture” Cain said. “We’ve added depth this year as well, so we will probably see the lineup move around more than it ever has and that will keep the competition at a high level throughout the year.” 

Last season’s culture was based on process, work ethic and competing. These key habits were crucial and want to be retained as the keys for this season to recreate the success of the 23-24 season. 

“With this big of a turnover, I’m just getting to know the guys, their tendencies on the course, golf swing, and what they need to work on individually,” Cain said.

The men’s season will start September 21 in Colorado Springs for the Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational then another Colorado-based meet with the Buffalos for the Mark Simpson Invitational while Oregon State and the Monterrey Collegiate Classic round out the first half of the season before the winter break. 

The season will resume on Feb 10 for the Bentwater Intercollegiate in Montgomery Texas. A quick east side surf along California and Oregon for the Desert Intercollegiate and Bandon Dunes Invitational. After those seaside shoot offs the Texans will return for the Aggie Invitational and  Robert Kepler Invitational before heading to the WAC Championship with hopes to win it all. 

“I think everyone on the team has the same goal for the season which is to make the postseason,” Gallaher said. “Although we couldn’t go to the postseason last year, we made a very good run at conference that had us come up just short. It stung a lot but it gave us a lot of confidence, even with the new guys this year I am seeing that same fight in them that we had at conference last year.”