The Gustavus men’s golf team has their sights set on the NCAA Tournament as they wrap up their 2013 spring season. The NCAA Tournament will be held from May 14-17. The Gusties are confident that they will make a great run in this year’s National Tournament.

It has been an interesting season for the Gusties as they have had some outstanding individual performances. However, there have been some unpredictable weather conditions that have caused problems for the team. The weather has forced the Gusties to make alternative arrangements in order to stay focused and prepared for the season. Thankfully, the weather conditions have begun to improve, which has allowed the team to finally spend some time practicing on the outdoor courses.

“Today [May 2] was our third practice at our home course.  It has been tough. Thankfully, we have a veteran team that knows what to expect as we get closer to Nationals.  I’m grateful that we have had the opportunity to spend Spring Break in Florida, and we also took a long weekend to Iowa to practice and compete.  Mentally, I know we will be ready, and hopefully we will get in a good week’s practice before we leave on May 11,” Head Coach Scott Moe said.

During the extended winter, the Gusties made trips to Florida, Iowa, Arizona, and Illinois, which gave them a chance to play in some quality weather conditions. Outside of tournament play, a lot of their time was spent indoors practicing with the golf simulator and on the indoor track.

“Having a simulator and indoor putting green on campus is a big bonus. It has allowed us to continue to hit balls and work on our strokes, no matter what the outside conditions are like.  We have a goal of winning the NCAA title, and you can’t accomplish that by sitting back and feeling sorry for yourself; you have to get after it, and I think we have been able to do so,” Moe said.

“While the weather conditions weren’t very ideal for golf, we stayed focused by practicing and competing with each other as much as we could indoors.  We hit golf balls off of mats in the blue and also worked in our golf simulator, which gives us a big advantage to work on our short game, putting, and hitting shots that need improvement,” Sophomore Samantha Falk said.

The Gustavus golf teams have had success this year and they hope to continue that success in the NCAA Tournament. This fall, the Gusties managed to win the MIAC Conference Championship. Although the team didn’t claim the MIAC Championship in the spring, they had some outstanding performances as a team and as individuals. Recently, Junior Andrew Oakes hit three holes-in-one in twelve rounds. Coach Moe also mentioned that Junior Tyler McMorrow and Senior Trevor Gervais on the men’s side are two players who have had a great spring season.

The Gustavus men, however, made the NCAA Tournament and will leave on Saturday, May 11 for Destin, Florida. The team is confident they will have a great outing at this year’s tournament.

“If we win Nationals, then we will accomplish the goals we set for this season. We won our conference this fall, so it felt good to accomplish that, but now we need to focus on winning the national championship,” Oakes said.

“Our team is ready for it, and we have high expectations.  It should be a great week,” Moe said.