UTAH TECH UNIVERSITY'S STUDENT NEWS SOURCE | March 28, 2024

Golf teams poised, prepared

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The Dixie State University golf team members are the group that can swing with form and precision.

Both the men’s and the women’s golf teams played during fall semester in September and October, but the second half of the season begins Monday.

Men

The first tournament of the year will be hosted by Southern Utah University.

“I’m looking forward to really seeing how much the guys have improved over last year,” head coach Brad Sutterfield said. “We have really good chemistry. I’m looking forward to getting after it and seeing what happens.”

The men will play their lone tournament held in St. George at Sunbrook Golf Course.

“We only get one home event each year,” Sutterfield said. “It’s nice to stay home. (We) get our home course and surroundings.”

This tournament is also a chance for DSU to show the Division I programs where it stands.

“It’s a home course where we can really do well at,” said Skylar Schone, a sophomore accounting major from Washington. “It’s (also) a D-1 tournament.”

College golf is a team sport instead of an individual game.

To win, the teams will add the four lowest individual scores on the team to crown a winning team.

Sutterfield said he is hoping to see all the golfers step up but is excited to see how far sophomore Kenny You will go.

You was a freshman All-American last year and hopes to help his team make it to the national level.

“I’m looking forward to nationals the most and improving as a player,” said You, a communication major from Salt Lake City. “It’s fun to play good golf. Hopefully this year will be better.”

The team is hoping to do well in conference so it can attend regionals. If the team does well there by getting in the top five, it can move on to nationals in Atlanta.

The team will tee-off at 9 a.m. Feb. 10 at Sunbrook Golf Course.

Women

The Lady Red Storm will play in San Diego at Riverwalk Golf Club in a tournament hosted by Point Loma Nazarene University Feb. 10.

The women finished in fifth place in the Western Washington University-hosted tournament Oct. 7 and 8 in Bellingham, Wash., which is their best finish this golf season.

“We are focusing on our mental game and our confidence going into the season,” head coach Rachel Harmon said.

Dixie State is young with only one senior on the team.

“(We need to) better our team and program as a whole,” said Kellie Busse, a sophomore general education major from Las Vegas. “(We need to) better our game and work together as a group.”

The women are still trying to work together within a team sport.

“They need to kick it up a notch as a group and figure out how to play as a team,” Harmon said. “(We are still) getting them to grasp the concept of team golf, to root for each other, and fill in for one’s weaknesses.”

Both Harmon and Busse said they are looking forward to the conference championship tournament in Hawaii. They look forward to it, not only because of location, but also because it is where the biggest competition is.

The women are focusing on many things to do well in the conference tournament in Hawaii.

“We normally focus on the areas that we feel are the weakest areas as an individual,” Busse said. “On others days, we focus on chipping and putting.”

The 2014 season kicks off Feb. 10 in San Diego.