With a highly talented and experienced roster, the No. 21 Virginia men’s golf team enters this upcoming season with a lot of internal excitement.
After a successful past season, in which the Cavaliers made it to the national championships and finished the year ranked 22nd nationally, the team hopes to achieve even more this upcoming season.
“This is our year,” senior captain and returning all-ACC golfer Jimmy Stanger said. “The sense of urgency is palpable.”
Virginia returns its top five golfers from last season, headlined by senior co-captains Stanger and two time all-ACC golfer Derek Bard. Additionally, the Cavaliers welcome in three touted freshmen in Nathan Chuwait, Andrew Orischak and Luke Schaap.
“We have a lot of talent and added some strong first years into the mix,” head coach Bowen Sargent said. “The team is a lot deeper, and it all starts with the fourth-years. Our team definitely has more confidence than in years past.”
A lot of this confidence also stems from the hard work Virginia put in throughout the offseason, as the Cavaliers golfers competed in individual tournaments and improved on different aspects of their games.
“We have all had a good amount of success over the summer,” Stanger said. “[Junior] Danny [Walker] made some changes in his swing that are starting to pay off, [sophomore] Ashton [Poole] shot the lowest tournament round of his life, [sophomore] Thomas [Walsh] played excellently, Derek now has two major championships that he has played in and I was able to break through on a national level.”
For Sargent, this year’s squad reminds him of the 2014-15 Virginia team he coached. That team, led by former Cavalier all-American Dennis McCarthy, was one of the more successful Virginia teams in recent memory and finished that season ranked top 20 nationally.
“From a talent standpoint, this year’s team is similar to the team we had couple years ago, when we had Dennis McCarthy and Derek was a sophomore,” Sargent said.
While Virginia fields a talented team, they will be challenged right from the start, as the Cavaliers travel this weekend to open the season in the Carpet Capital Collegiate tournament in Dalton, Georgia. It will be the first time Virginia has played in this tournament.
Virginia will compete against 13 other teams in the Carpet Capital Collegiate. Of the 13 competitors, six are ranked nationally in the top 25. This includes ACC favorite No. 13 Clemson.
“It is a great tournament,” Sargent said. “I remember playing in the first one in 1989. There are a lot of good teams, and it will be excellent competition.”
In addition to the stiff competition, the course is also exceptionally challenging. Sargent stressed the importance for the Cavaliers to keep their composure as they play on the course for the first time.
“It is a very difficult golf course, with last year only one team beating 10 over par,” Sargent said. “It is going to take a lot of patience as we try to catch up to the teams that have competed annually at this tournament.”
The Cavaliers will look to start the season off strongly as they pursue ambitious goals for the upcoming year.
“I believe Cavalier fans are going to see a Virginia golf team that will improve as we grow together and absolutely be a challenger for the ACC and national title,” Stanger said.
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