The BYU men’s golf team will begin its season this week with two tournaments.
The team will compete in the Husky Invitational in Washington today and the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate in New Mexico on Friday.
The Husky Invitational will have two rounds today and one round on Tuesday. The Cougars will be competing against nationally ranked teams, including No. 6 Texas A&M, No. 11 USC, No. 14 San Diego State and No. 18 Washington.
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This year the team is a fairly youg team. There are four freshmen and three recently returned missionaries.
Men’s head coach Bruce Brockbank said he is looking forward to playing with this young team and seeing what they can accomplish.
“This is a great golf tournament and we have a young team and a great field,” Brockbank said. “It will be exciting to get there and compete and see what we are made of and shoot some good scores.”
Brockbank also commented on starting the season later this year.
“We waited three and a half weeks to compete this season and see if we could get in shape to play and fine tune our game,” Brockbank said.
The team will rely heavily on junior Zac Blair to lead them this season.
“Zac has really stepped up,” Brockbank said. “He can lead by example, hard work and good attitude. He will be our leader and a contender each week.”
Blair competed in 10 national tournaments this summer and won the Northwest Player Championship. He also qualified for the U.S. Amateur. This season Blair is also on the Walker Cup watch list.
Blair said he is ready to start the new season and believes in his team.
“I am looking forward to starting a new season and seeing how the team will do,” Blair said. “We are a good team.”
Blair said he thinks the biggest challenge this week will be the weather in Washington.
“The rain will be a challenge for each of us,” Blair said. “We are excited to see what people can deal with, though.”
With having a younger team, Brockbank said he believes the young players’ mentality will be the toughest challenge.
“The newness and expectation will be a challenge,” Brockbank said. “We need to get these kids to realize even though they are on a team, they play their own game.”
