-
1 of 10
-
2 of 10
-
3 of 10
-
4 of 10
-
5 of 10
-
6 of 10
-
7 of 10
-
8 of 10
-
9 of 10
-
10 of 10
Tournament win lifts Men’s Golf program
Archive
Comments
Story
Senior Nick Travers entered a Division-one golf tournament on Sept. 25 for the first time in nearly a year. The tournament was the Vandal Fall Classic in Moscow, Idaho. And surprisingly enough, he won.
“This is his first tournament back from being off for a year, and he wins” men’s golf coach Kevin Burton said. “And not only does he win, he wins by four shots. So I think he continues down this road he’s going to get more comfortable and I think he’s just going to end up being up there knocking on the door every week.” With a team full of new players, Coach Burton expects the results of improvement to come in steady waves, but not necessarily so soon.
“We’ve got a whole new team, we’ve only got two players that return, so we have ten new players” Burton said. “So we started off maybe a little slower than we’d like, but we’re constantly every week getting better and better and I think that’s what I projected, I think when we get another tournament or two under our belt we’re going to be right where we want to.” To go along with Travers, the team only has three other members who aren’t freshman. Junior’s Matt Hastings, Scott Loewen and Troy Merritt round up the remaining upperclassmen on this years’ team.
“Troy Merritt has got nine wins at the division two level,” Burton said. ” Don’t think he even played as well as he wanted, but he’s got two top 15 finishes already. So I think he’s only got room for improvement.” With so few returning players, the Bronco’s may find their bumps in the road along the way. However, coach Burton still plans on being in the thick of things in the Western Athletic Conference.
The end result of last season may have left a bitter taste in coach Burton’s mouth, as he felt last years’ squad had the talent to be the first Boise State team to qualify for the NCAA’s but we’re unable to get the job done. “We had a lot of seniors on the team that granted, it was more important for them to graduate,” Burton said. “So we weren’t able to probably do as well as we wanted, but we definitely had the talent to make it last year. As soon as we do it’ll be the first time, and I think that will be this year.” With Travers playing the way he has been, it may lead many to believe that with a bona-fide number one on the team, the rest may follow in his footsteps.
Exactly how important was Travers early success? According to Coach Burton, it may be the key to his team’s success throughout the year.
“They know they’ve got a horse out front that can cover them and it’s creating a really good team atmosphere. They know they’ve got some strong players and it’s going to take the pressure off of them."
KYE JOHNSON
Assistant Sports Editor