North Texas Daily

Time after time this spring season, the North Texas men’s golf team has shown a certain resilience which has caught the eye of teams around the nation.

Not only are they participating in competitions with stacked fields that often have upwards of five or six nationally ranked teams, but the Mean Green have faired well several times.

For North Texas and head coach Brad Stracke, belief is the main motor behind their success.

“We need to believe that we are capable of doing great things — because we are,” junior Ian Snyman said.

There were six nationally ranked top-50 teams in the John Hayt Collegiate Invitational — their latest tournament — where North Texas struggled, but in the N.I.T. in Arizona, the Mean Green finished fourth ahead of two nationally ranked teams.

This is only a glimpse of what the team hopes of accomplishing this year.

“The future is unknown, but we will fight to make history this year,” Snyman said.

Snyman sat out the majority of last season with a sore muscle in the rib area, but he has returned this spring and leads the team, as many expected him to do. He won back to back Conference USA player of the Week awards this spring and has led the team with one of the best scores in nearly every tournament.

Snyman never misses the chance to exert confidence in his team and believes he can lead them to big things, which he has done so far this spring season. The junior also believes that he, as well as other leaders on the team like junior Thomas Rosenmueller and freshman Viktor Forslund, create a healthy competition on the team to one-up each other.

“We all enjoy competing and want the whole team to do well,” Snyman said. “We motivate each other, and this just makes an individual sport like golf more enjoyable.”

In the Bob Sutton Invitational, the entire Mean Green golf team shot near par which resulted in a team win after a surge on the final day. It was North Texas’ first tournament win since October 2015. Led by Synman shooting -1 under par, the team shot 13 over par, beating out second place Rice University.

“The win last week was very satisfying after waiting two years,” Rosenmueller said. “Our team this season has very good depth we have six guys that can play well in any round.”

Despite the success, Stracke knows the areas the team must improve in.

North Texas is ranked just outside the top 50 in the nation at 55, leaving them competing with high talented teams and nationally ranked squads. This influences a lot of players on the team’s confidence, which is something Stracke has been working on diligently on with the guys.

“The team needs to continue to work on their process and relax during tournament rounds,” Stracke said about the team’s mindset.

Another issue the Mean Green golf team has faced throughout the season is digging themselves into a hole in the first round of tournaments and picking up their games in the latter rounds in attempt to overcome that hole.

Last week in the John Hayt Collegiate Invitational, the team scored better consecutively through the rounds after a below average first round with a score of 298. They went on to score 293 and 292 in the second and third rounds. This is a focus for the team moving forward into the season.

“We have to get a lot better starting tournaments,” Rosenmueller said. “We put ourselves a lot of times in a bad spot, which we can’t always cover up for in our last round.”

As the season wears on, North Texas has the Aggie Invite remaining on their schedule as their last regular season tournament. The C-USA Championships will follow, and the NCAA regionals and championships will take place after.

“I’m excited for the postseason,” Rosenmueller said. “We have six guys who are ready to give everything they have to go all the way this postseason.”

As the Mean Green prepares for the competition ahead, the coaching staff and teammates have high hopes in their potential for the postseason.

“We are capable of beating any team in the nation, which is super exciting,” Snyman said.

Stracke showed no signs of intimidation for the competition ahead of them. In addition, the guys on the team are all thrilled to start the postseason as they look to take on anything that stands in their way.

“The postseason is always exciting,” Stracke said. “The hours of practice you put in throughout the year is preparing for the postseason.”

Featured image: Courtesy: North Texas Athletics. Dallas, Texas, March 12: University of North Texas Mean Green Men’s Golf at Four Seasons golf course during the Spring Break Challenge. 2018