After finishing 16th last weekend at the Augusta State Invitational, the Cougars left historic Augusta, Ga. for another road tournament in Columbus, Ohio.
“We just didn’t quite get the job done. I don’t really think we’ve played poorer than we have been. Right now we’re just not as competitive as we need to be. We have to make some pretty serious improvements,” Head Coach Jonathan Dismuke said.
Houston tees it off this weekend in the Robert Kepler Invitational, the last event on the schedule before the Cougars play in the Conference USA tournament. The event will be held at the Scarlet Course, which was renovated in 2006 by renowned golfer Jack Nicklaus.
Dismuke said playing at Augusta and the Scarlet Course in back-to-back weeks will make for a valuable experience for his team.
“They’re two totally different environments. It’s really opposite ends of the spectrum as far as golf courses are concerned,” Dismuke said. “The neat thing about both of them is that they have a tremendous amount of history.”
Redshirt freshman Joseph Reynolds had a solid final round of 74 in Augusta to lead the Cougars with a 55th-place finish. The Cougars had five players in the top 80, including senior Jackie Lindsey and junior Justin Kaplan, who tied for 65th place.
“It’s not any secret. We know what we have to do. It’s just a matter of getting better at it before we compete at the Kepler and at the C-USA (Tournament),” Dismuke said.
Both Clark Mitzner and Matt Eschenburg, who had been consistent for UH, struggled and finished in 72nd and tied for 80th place, respectively.
“Obviously, they didn’t have their best event. They’re kind of our leaders, along with Jackie Lindsey, and if we’re going to be competitive at any event they’re going to have to play better than what they have been playing,” Dismuke said. “We got to have guys finishing in the top 10 or top 15. Multiple guys for us have to be competitive in a golf tournament, we just haven’t had a lot of that.”
After the Robert Kepler Invitational this weekend, UH will prepare for the C-USA Championships which begins April 25 and goes through April 27 in Orlando, Florida.
