SMU Men's Golf Wins J.B. Intercollegiate in Hawaii

[buckwheat]

Big win for SMU and the program! Congratulations to the guys.
Here is the email from Coach Jay Loar about the win.
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Dear Friends,

The SMU men golfers won the 2006 University of Hawaii John Burns Intercollegiate, Feb. 23-25 at the Leilehua Golf Club on the island of Oahu. This is the second WIN this 2005-06 season and in doing so they eclipsed the school scoring record shooting 41 under par for 54 holes and beating many of the top ranked teams in the country. The Ponies dispatched #4 UNLV, #5 BYU, #9 Arizona, #10 Auburn, and #16 Texas A&M. You might correlate this win to the football team traveling to Austin and “whoopin-up” on the Longhorns. SMU started the final round 3 strokes back of “red-hot” BYU, winner of its past two tournaments and first round leader Auburn. Led by Brandon DeStefano’s final round 66 and Will Dodson’s 67 the Mustangs shot 15 under the final round to beat BYU by one shot. This is probably the biggest win for the Mustangs since the 2002-03 team of Ryan Abbate, Nicholas Loar, Brock Mulder, Stephen Sparolini, Scott Abbott & Will Dodson beat the teams from Wake Forest, Duke, North Carolina and N.C. State in their own back yard at Raleigh C.C. in the spring of ’03.

Speaking of winning it doesn’t get much better than winning the way junior Brandon DeStefano won this week shooting 68, 68, 66. Brandon found himself in a sudden death play-off with Jay Mosley from Auburn. Both birdied the first hole with Brandon covering Jay Mosley’s putt with his own 15 footer. Both missed the green on the par 3 second with Brandon getting up-and-down from the right bunker for the win. Brandon joins teammates Colt Knost, Will Dodson and Scott Sikes as winners at the collegiate level.

From a coaching standpoint it was gratifying watching these young men progress, improve and get together as a team. And this was definitely a team effort! “DeStef’s” 68 and Colt’s 69 led the team the first round. Colt’s 66 and Wes Homan’s 66 were big the second round. “DeStef’s” 66, Dodson’s 67 and Scott Sikes 69 sealed the deal the final round. These guys have learned to BELIEVE! Paired with Auburn, Arizona and BYU the final round, the Ponies were not intimidated and welcomed the challenge, as did Coach Tom Harris who did a great job encouraging and affirming the team on the course this week.

While talking to Brandon after the tournament about his first win and the big win for the team, it was pointed out that he and the team had prepared extremely well, were prepared mentally, had good leadership from their captain, Dodson and inspiration from Knost and that thy are proving to be WINNERS just like the teams preceding them. Brandon pointed out “and we had a lot of fun too!” Discipline, Preparation and Fun-----a pretty good recipe for winning!

With the unparralled success of both the men’s and the women’s programs it couldn’t be a better time to start talking about raising the money for the SMU Teaching Center and short game practice area to be located at the far end of the driving range at the Dallas Athletic Club. With “state of the art” golf instructional video equipment, men’s and women’s locker rooms, conference rooms, recruiting offices and study facilities. The learning center will not only keep SMU abreast with other top university facilities but put us at the head of the class. With the formal agreement with DAC soon to be signed and the architectural renderings due to be finished in a couple of weeks along with cost estimates for completion, we can start raising the 3 to 4 million necessary to keep SMU Golf a perennial top 25 program in the country.

As always the team is grateful to you our loyal and enthusiastic supporters for the opportunity you provide through your contributions for the team to go to venues like Hawaii and represent SMU. This trip builds team morale, helps in recruiting and makes the team better as they compete for a place on the travel team. Just a final note, our next event is the Louisiana Classic in Lafayette where we are the 4 time defending champion, followed by the Pinehurst Intercollegiate where we are the defending champion. As the kids say “good stuff!” Oh and by the way, open the attachment---it’s a photo of the score sheet in Hawaii.

Straight Down the Middle,

Coach Jay Loar

http://graphics.fansonly.com/photos/sch ... sFinal.pdf

[PonyPride]

Thanks for posting that -- and congratulations to Coach Loar and the team!

[AusTxPony]

Another congrats to the Men's Golf Team. Where do you find the National Polls? Golfstat?

[ponyplayer]

Another congrats to the Men's Golf Team. Where do you find the National Polls? Golfstat?

Golfweek, go to college index then rankings...............this win should change their ranking a lot when they come out next week...............

[SMU Football Blog]

We are sending our golfers to Hawaii? Must be a hard life for the student athlete.

[PK]

Someone has to gut it up and take those gosh darn long trips. I would volunteer, but can't play golf worth a damn.

[ponyplayer]

We are sending our golfers to Hawaii? Must be a hard life for the student athlete.

actually it can be.....................

[Corso]

If they ever need a caddy to travel to Hawaii with them, I volunteer.

[MrMustang1965]

I'll volunteer to be the beer b*tch.

Congrats to the golf team! I met the coaches one day at Baker Bros. at Old Town. Class acts. I wish them continued success.

[abezontar]

I'm surprised the cheerleaders didn't go with them, even though they always had a hard time going to any other away game, they always found a way to make it to Hawaii.

[SMUltimedia]

golfweek reports that the men are currently ranked 40

the women even better: 26

[BennettBacker]

I'm surprised the cheerleaders didn't go with them, even though they always had a hard time going to any other away game, they always found a way to make it to Hawaii.

Cheerleaders at a golf tournament?
I have to admit, that would be pretty funny.

[MrMustang1965]

I'm surprised the cheerleaders didn't go with them, even though they always had a hard time going to any other away game, they always found a way to make it to Hawaii.

Cheerleaders at a golf tournament?
I have to admit, that would be pretty funny.

SMU's are so quiet it would be perfect.