The SMU golf program has not won a conference championship since 2006, but according to GolfWeek, SMU could be looking at having two conferences championships in the same year.
Both the men and women’s golf team are projected to win C-USA according to GolfWeek.
The women’s team is lead by freshman Alexandra Rossi and senior Melanie White. Rossi grabbed center stage when she took medalist honors in her first career event at the Chip-N Club title in Lincoln, Neb., a meet the Mustangs also won by 15 shots.
Head Coach Jeanne Sutherland is honored by all the preseason hype the team is receiving but still understands the task at hand for a team that has never won a C-USA title.
“It’s nice to be recognized,” Sutherland said to smumustangs.com.” We’ve got a lot of work to do. There will be some good competition, but we’re going with the intention of winning the conference.”
The women’s team will look to continue their steady climb up the rankings through the spring. In the fall, the Mustangs started the season outside the top 100 in the rankings but by the end of the year they had climbed all the way up to 35.
Equally hopeful is the men’s team, who hasn’t won a C-USA title since 2006, will look to head off to the Big East on a positive note.
The Mustangs have received a massive boost from freshman Bryson Dechambeau. Dechambeau finished 2nd on the team in scoring average.
The Mustangs will also turn to Maxime Blandin who lead the team in the fall in scoring average. Blandin also had a 63 in his first collegiate round in the fall.
Despite not having any star players, Head Coach Josh Gregory feels completely comfortable with no weak links on this team and even an extra level of depth.
“In order to win a national title, you either need those one or two star players, or you need five solid players,” Gregory said to smumustangs.com,”We don’t have that one guy that really stands out right now, but there are no weak links.”
Despite the lack of success in past years, there are high hopes surrounding this golf program. The hype surrounding both of these teams has not been this existent for many years.
SMU women will return to action for the Puerto Rico Classic on February10 and the men February 18.
