Vince Jarrett will get his first chance to see what kind of team he has today. Jarrett is in his first year as head coach of the UH golf team, which opens its season today at the Mean Green Classic in Flower Mound.
Arkansas State, Louisiana Tech, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisville, McNeese State, Middle Tennessee, Nebraska, Oral Roberts, Sam Houston State, Texas State-San Marcos, Stephen F. Austin, Washington State, Western Kentucky and North Texas, the host team, will also compete in the two-day tournament.
All teams will play 36 holes today and finish with 18 holes Tuesday morning.
Just because it's his first tournament as head coach doesn't mean Jarrett is going to have any lower expectations for his team.
“When I come to a tournament, I am coming to win a tournament. I'm not coming to just participate, and that's the way I look at every tournament,” Jarrett told UH Sports Information. “We're not going to play golf. We're going to win wherever we go, and that's what I try to instill in my team.”
Jarrett, who played at UH under former coach Dave Williams, coached at Abilene Christian the past 18 years before being tapped by Athletics Director Dave Maggard.
The Cougars will compete this week with three returning players and two freshmen. Sophomore Zach Mowbray is the top returning player, coming off a season where he was third on the team with a 74.7 scoring average. He played in eight tournaments last year.
Denton Walker is the only senior on the squad. Last season, he played in four tournaments and had a 75.4 scoring average. Junior Daniel Angenscheidt also played in four tournaments and had a 76.3 scoring average.
None of those three players finished better than 26th in any tournament last season.
The team will have to try to replace its best two players from last year's squad, John Wine and Brett Callas. Wine led the team with a 73.3 scoring average, closely followed by Callas' 73.4.
Junior transfer Jordan Hasbrouck (Sam Houston State) and freshmen Ricky Romano and Pablo Acuna will try to take the place of Wine and Callas. Acuna will play in the tournament as an individual, not as one of the five Cougar team players.
“This team has a lot of talent, but it's a very young team,” Jarrett told UH Sports Information. “We want to work with them and get them started.”
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