The Cougars’ fall season got off to a rocky start with a 12th-place finish at the Gopher Invitational at Spring Hill Golf Club in Wayzata, MN.
UH finished 31 strokes behind leader Arkansas with a total score of 911.
“It was a struggle from the get-go,” head coach Jonathan Dismuke said. “We didn’t acclimate to our surroundings very well.”
Coming into the tournament, Dismuke knew that the course played a certain way, but the Cougars did not adjust.
“The green’s speeds were a lot quicker than we’re used to,” he said.
The Cougars also struggled with shots inside of 30 yards to the hole.
“It’s hard to beat people when you hit it as many times around the green as we did,” Dismuke said. “We missed a lot of greens. We didn’t shoot the ball very close and we didn’t make many putts.
“We really shouldn’t take more than two shots inside of 30 yards per hole.”
One of the brighter spots for the Cougars was the play of freshman Roman Robledo, who finished tied for 14th with a score of 222.
“I thought he did a good job, especially for not playing outside of Texas before,” Dismuke said. “He did a nice job of acclimating and adjusting.”
Sophomore Jesse Droemer finished tied for 38th and junior James Ross tied for 45th place.
Sophomores Curtis Reed and Wesley McClain finished outside of the top 50, with Reed ending up tied for 52nd and McClain placing 60th for the weekend.
“I think you should always learn a lot more from weeks like this,” Dismuke said.
“We have to do a better job of preparing. Whether it’s technique or understanding what we need to do to hit the shot properly.”
