University of North Texas Athletics
Green Gang: Golf Toughens Up Schedule
7/5/2011 12:00:00 AM | Return to Play
By Steven Bartolotta, July 5, 2011, 8:59 a.m.
On the heels of wildly successful seasons, both golf coaches, Brad Stracke and Jeff Mitchell, realized they can do more this upcoming year. One way to do that is to schedule up and they have both done so.
The men's and women's golf schedules are done for next season and they include some big-time tournaments for both teams.
The men finished the year ranked No. 44 in the nation and the girls at No. 52. Both teams went to the regionals, the girls for the first time ever, so why not beef things up. Neither of these programs needs to be wasting their time in the pitch-and-putt invitational's that litter the collegiate golf scene.
The men have four tournaments in the fall, highlighted by the Golfweek Conference Challenge in Iowa on Sept. 24-27. This is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the fall and its invitation only. Golfweek does the picking and it's a big honor for North Texas to be included.
The Mean Green open the year at the Gopher Invitational in Minneapolis, yet again another top-flight tournament with top-flight competition.
The spring sees the men play in the Morris Williams Intercollegiate in Austin, the Longhorns tournament that I know Coach Stracke has been dying to get into, which again will feature another stout field. They close the year out in San Diego and Houston before the SBC Championship.
For the women they no longer are hosting a tournament, but the replacement for that will do just fine. To start the year, Coach Mitchell has the girls going down to College Station to play in the "Mo"morial Invitational (do ask about the spelling, their Aggies).
After back-to-back trips to New Mexico, the women close the fall season out in Fort Myers defending their title at the FIU Pat Bradley Invitational.
In the spring, the girls go west early and often. Trips to Arizona and Nevada are preludes to a trip to Hawaii March 13-14 at the Dr. Donnis Thompson Invitational. Again, another salty invite for a program that has gained a lot of respect.
The girls close the regular season out at Baylor as the final tune-up before the SBC Championship, back in Muscle Shoals for both men and women this year.
Kudos to both coaches, who both know my philosophy on scheduling by now, for stepping up and taking some risks by upping the level competition.
