Samantha Garza, a junior member of the UTRGV Women’s Golf Team, uses an alignment rod to clear the green during putting practice April 3 at the Los Lagos Golf Course in Edinburg. RAMIRO CASTRO/THE RIDER PHOTOS
The UTRGV Men’s and Women’s Golf teams are almost through their season and are about to enter the Western Athletic Conference Championship, which is scheduled later this month.
The Vaqueros recently came off a first-place finish at the Big Texan Tournament on March 27-28 in Kerrville and an eighth-place finish at the Huntsville Toyota Walden Invitational on April 3-4 in Montgomery.
Meanwhile, the Vaqueras finished second at their UTRGV Invitational on March 6-7 and 11th at the Houston Christian University Husky Invitational on March 13-14 in Sugar Land.
The Vaqueras are set to play at the Oral Roberts University Spring Invite on April 10-11 in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, followed by the WAC Championship April 23-25 in Blaine, Washington.
Women’s golf head coach Bryan Novoa said he is proud of the team and how far they have come.
“The girls [had] three top-three finishes,” Novoa said. “[They are] just performing at a really high level with their stroke average and their scoring. I couldn’t be more pleased.”
He said the upcoming ORU Spring Invite would be an interesting event since they will be playing in a different environment with different weather.
“But we’re very unfamiliar [with the course],” Novoa said. “We only get one practice round. So our preparation’s going to be a little tight, a little crunch. But as soon as we do it, we’re going to put a good game plan together, and go attack.”
He said motivation comes from within the team and it is not an issue for the Vaqueras, but managing fatigue is more of a challenge.
Novoa said the team chemistry has evolved during the season.
“We play our best golf when we’re laid back, having fun, smiling, laughing,” he said. “It’s funny, the girls at the beginning of the year, [in] the fall, came out a little too intense. A little tight. … There was a little frustration with injuries. We’re kind of past that now. And now we’re playing to our personality, you know. We’re having a good time.”
Novoa said he is proud of them “taking care of business on the course” and being great human beings off the course.
Men’s golf head coach Houston Moore said part of being a coach is always wanting more for the players.
Moore said his chemistry with the team has completely changed since the beginning of the year.
“My relationship with the guys is a lot stronger,” he said. “Coming in as a new coach, it’s something that had to be built. And I had to be patient and wait for that to happen.”
Moore said they would love to win and are going to play 54 holes at WAC and see what the results are at the end.
Junior Leonardo Novella said the main goal is to win the WAC Tournament and the team always tries to push themselves individually.
“So, we have two goals,” Novella said. “That is just winning, obviously, but at the same time, trying to improve every single part of our game in
order to be prepared and always knowing that we have a shot to win every single tournament that we’re gonna play.”
The men’s team is set to play in the WAC Championship on April 28-30 in Boulder City, Nevada.
