Three Mustang golfers spent a few days at the 2009 U.S. Amateur in Tulsa, Okla. before the start of the semester.

Sophomores Max Buckley, Marc Sambol and Aaron Stewart qualified for the event this summer, but as head coach Jay Loar pointed out, they couldn’t even cheer each other on in the process.

“After they had all gone home and done their own thing,” he said, “they all qualified in different parts of the country; one in New York, one in California and one in Texas.”

The trio does not have to look too far back in order to see the results SMU golfers can produce at the national level. In 2007, former Mustang All-American Colt Knost won the U.S. Amateur Championship in San Francisco.

As freshmen, Sambol and Stewart both qualified for the Collegiate Players Tour Championship at the Texas Star Golf Course in Euless, the latter taking third place at the event. Sambol went on to earn Conference USA Golfer of the Week honors in March.

Though none made the final cut for the field of 64 in Tulsa, Loar called it a great accomplishment just to qualify for the U.S. Amateur and said he is proud of his players for working hard to improve their own game.

“It shows they all learned a lot last year on the team and it paid off,” Loar said.

The team opens its 2009-10 season September 13 at the Gopher Invitational.