Yesterday, the first shots of the Virginia golf season were made. And, if success is achieved as the Cavaliers intend, the season could continue through early June.
With a regular season lasting nearly six months, both the men's and women's squads could ease into peak form by competing up until the ACC Championships in April. For many, this attitude seems perfectly reasonable, but it is not the one shared by Virginia as the men compete in the Tournament of Champions in Knoxville, Tenn. and the women compete in the Cougar Fall Classic in Charleston, S.C. this week.
"Everything starts now," Virginia men's second-year coach Bowen Sargent said. "Everything starts counting towards the NCAA's. Every tournament is important."
Virginia women's coach Jan Mann echoed Sargent's sentiment.
"Our tournaments in the fall count as much as the tournaments in the spring," Mann said.
Despite the loss of All-ACC player Kevin O'Connell, the men's team is looking to improve off of last year's seventh place finish in 12 competitions, including postseason play.
"I think this is a building process," Sargent said. "Last year, we got the program off to a good start, and I think that we should be a better team this year. Despite losing O'Connell, I think this team is a little deeper."
With two freshmen currently competing in Tennessee, Virginia hopes to build a promising future with a mix of more experienced talent.
"We are very excited to have the season start," Sargent said. "We have got an All-Conference player returning in [senior] Brad Tilley and [senior] Carter Henderson, who both had an outstanding summer" in U.S. Amateur play.
This season marked the third ever season of the women's program at the University. The squad finished on average in eighth place as a team in its 11 competitions last season, including postseason play. With a third-place team finish at the ACC Championships, fifth place team finish at the NCAA East Regionals and 13th place team finish at the NCAA Championships, the team proved that it can succeed despite being such a young program.
"I think that we want to build upon our successes from last year," Mann said. "But at the same time, like I told the team, we did succeed last year but we are starting over. We have to work that much harder to get to the next step. Our next step is absolutely to win everything that we go after."
Virginia qualified five golfers for the NCAA Championships last year, with current junior Leah Wigger finishing second individually. Regardless, in order to achieve even further achievements -- individually and collectively -- Wigger has identified a frame of mind to do well.
"I think that we all need to be patient," Wigger said. "We do not need to push ourselves too hard and expect too much, but to go out there and to take one shot at a time. We shouldn't get too far ahead of ourselves and get worried about the outcome. Eventually, we will win."
By adopting a winning mentality and detail-centered approach, both Virginia programs hope to improve and swing their way towards an ACC title.
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