SANDESTIN, Fla. – With postseason action about to start, University of South Alabama head men's golf coach Alex Hamilton is hoping the team's most recent performance is an indicator of things to come when play begins Sunday at the Sun Belt Conference Championship.
"We are starting to trend in the right direction," he said. "We had a low point a few weeks ago, but then we started playing better golf; obviously coming off a win is a good thing. I believe the guys are playing with a little more confidence and intensity, the win boosted their spirits a little bit. Hopefully we can do our jobs and play well down there and give ourselves an opportunity to win."
The Jaguars concluded the regular season with a pair of victories to claim the Southern Collegiate Match Play on April 15, their first event win of the season. The same five individuals who competed in the tournament — Drew Cooke, Jason Mendel, Brooks Rabren, Peter Staalbo and Rasmus Karlsson — will comprise the Jags' lineup when the action gets underway at the par-71, 6,860-yard Sandestin Golf Resort Raven Course. Teams will tee off from the first and 10th holes starting at 7:30 a.m. (CDT), with the opening day including two rounds, with the final 18 holes of stroke play set to begin at the same time on Monday. The top four teams will advance to match play on Tuesday — the semifinals are set for a 7:30 a.m. start from split tees — with the winner of the finals earning an automatic berth to an NCAA Regional.
South is paired with Arkansas State and Louisiana-Monroe and will open from No. 1 on Sunday. Live updates will be available throughout the event at www.golfstat.com.
Seven of the 12 teams in the league are ranked between 59th and 98th in this week's GolfStat ratings, led by Georgia Southern, with the field also including Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia State, Little Rock, Louisiana-Lafayette, Texas-Arlington, Texas State and Troy.
"I think it is going to be a dogfight this year," Hamilton said. "We have a newcomer in Coastal Carolina who is definitely looking forward to making their mark on the conference, Georgia Southern has been playing some absolutely great golf recently, Troy and Georgia State have played solid golf all year and ULM has won four times. There are some teams out there that have done some real strong things this year, we're going to have to be on top of our game to make match play; once you make match play it's anyone's game."
Troy is the defending champion after defeating GSU in the finals, with USA and Arkansas State also moving on to match play last April.
Staalbo was one of two Jaguars to finish in the top 20 in the individual standings at the SBC Championship a year ago, using even-par 71s in each of the last two rounds to post a 217 total. Rabren was among the top 25 two strokes behind him following a team-best 3-under-par 68 over the final 18 holes, Mendel recorded a 222 three-day total and Cooke finished at 224 after a final round 69.
Mendel also had a 224 54-hole score as a redshirt freshman at the 2015 tournament, which included a 1-under-par 70 in the opening round.
Karlsson's 73.26 stroke average leads USA coming into the event, as he has finished in the top 20 on five occasions his first season at the collegiate level. He is the lone Jag to rank among the top 20 in the league in scoring average and score against par, and was also one of two individuals to go 2-0 in the regular-season finale.
Staalbo and Mendel have both recorded four top-20 results this year and are entering play with 74.00 and 74.50 scoring averages, respectively. Mendel was also 2-0 at the match-play tournament — including clinching the Jaguars' semifinal victory over ULL — and has a team-best 10 scores of par or better on the season, while Staalbo sealed the 3-2 championship match defeat of Louisiana Tech and has shot par or lower eight times.
Rabren has participated in five events, placing among the top 20 at two of those while shooting at or below par in six of 14 rounds; his stroke average is 74.21 entering the postseason. Cooke has a 75.09 figure and three top-20 performances, and in his final season at the collegiate level he has recorded seven rounds of par or better.
While Hamilton will be making his postseason debut as a head coach, he was an assistant at South Carolina the last three years as the Gamecocks moved on to the NCAA Championship each spring including advancing to match play last spring.
"The most important thing that we learned — and we had a good run making it to the NCAA Championship three years in a row — is that our guys were able to relax and trust their games and allow other people to make mistakes that come with putting more pressure in yourself at this critical juncture of the year," said Hamilton. "If we can trust ourselves and our games and try to have a little bit of fun and enjoy the process I think we will have a good chance."
The Jaguars are in search of their first Sun Belt Conference title since 2010, while a win would be the 11th in the program's history. In addition to advancing to the match play semifinals at last year's tournament with a fourth-place finish in stroke play, South has placed in the top half of the final team standings in each of the last nine seasons.
Six Jags have claimed medalist honors at the event, with Lane Hulse the last to do so in 2013 after winning on the first hole of a playoff.
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
Join the Birdie Club — the men's golf specific support club of the Jaguar Athletic Fund. All donations to the Birdie Club go directly to support the South Alabama men's golf program. For more information on how you can join visit: jaguarathleticfund.com/birdieclub.
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