Golfweek

TUCSON, Ariz. – Veteran Arizona coach Rick LaRose knows how difficult it is to win at the college level, even when playing your home golf course.

After all, at the beginning of this season, the Wildcats had only two wins in the previous three years and both came in events without particularly strong competition.

And as far as playing at home, over the course of the first 31 Arizona Collegiate tournaments, the Wildcats won just five times. They last won it in 2004.

LaRose also knows what a win can do for a team, especially one that is young and still finding its way and its identity. While it may have produced a few gray hairs for LaRose and a few of stomach twists along the way, Arizona’s down-to-the-wire victory Jan. 31 in its own Arizona Intercollegiate was huge for both coach and team.

“Winning is tough, it’s never easy,” said LaRose, now in his 34th year at the Arizona helm. “Getting over that hump is huge for us. Playing at home helps because you should know the golf course. Still, it’s different in a tournament. When you’re out there playing everyone is watching you and expectations ...

The spring season gets under way next week with two events – one in Tucson, Ariz., and the other across the Pacific Ocean on the Big Island of Hawaii.

A dozen teams will converge at Arizona National Golf Club Jan. 30-31 for the long-running Arizona Collegiate.

While this year’s field isn’t quite as strong as those in the past, the event should still provide a good starting point for a number of teams.

California, No. 12 in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings, leads the way and is joined by top-100 squads New Mexico (24), Arizona (49) and Campbell (62). The host Wildcats always seem to play well on their home course and a victory or strong showing could bode well for coach Rick LaRose and his crew heading into the spring.

The same would hold true for Cal, New Mexico and certainly Campbell.

Rounding out the field are Cal-Irvine, Cal-Riverside, Central Arkansas, McNeese State, Pepperdine, Santa Clara, Texas-El Paso and Utah.

At the Amer Ari Invitational in Hawaii, 20 teams will square off Feb. 1-3 at Waikoloa Resort’s Kings’ Course in what should be a real shoot-out to kick off the spring.

The field features six top-10 teams ...

Brad Gregory has been named director of rules and course administration for the men’s NCAA Division I Championship, replacing Clyde Luther, who recently stepped down from that position after 10 years.

Gregory, 54, of Show Low, Ariz., has long been on rules committees with the PGA of America as well as at NCAA championships.

“Brad brings a great deal of experience and a lot of credibility to the table,” said Donnie Wagner, assistant director of championships for the NCAA. “He is a very well qualified and respected rules official. I’d say there are few better qualified as a rules official than Brad.”

Gregory is a PGA of America master professional and has served on that organization’s rules committee, which he now co-chairs, since 1998.

He has worked the rules at some 25 professional major championships, including the PGA Championship, Masters and British Open. He also has worked as a referee at three Ryder Cups and has worked alongside Luther at the NCAA Championship since 2002. At the past two NCAAs, Gregory served as referee in the championship match.

Also, Gregory has been a rules official at the PGA Senior Championship, U.S. Senior Open and Players Championship ...

In fall 2012, the Atlantic Sun Conference will add an 11th team to the conference.

Northern Kentucky is making the move from NCAA Division II to Division I in all sports to be a member of the A-Sun. The move may have an instant impact not just on the men's side of things, but the women's as well.

For 14 consecutive years, the Northern Kentucky men have advanced to NCAA Division II regionals. It's an accomplishment that coach Daryl Landrum feels will be difficult to repeat instantly at the Division I level.

"The A-Sun is a really good and tough conference, top to bottom," Landrum said. "The toughest part at first for us will be playing a lot more on courses in the South with Bermuda greens – something my guys aren't used to."

In the fall, the Norse started their season with three consecutive victories. The most impressive was at the Wasioto Winds Fall Kick-Off Invitational, hosted by Morehead State – a Division I school.

"It was a nice win, but we have had some wins in D-I fields before," Landrum said. "As a member of the A-Sun, I expect us to be in a lot more ...

In the past few years, some college golfers have been watched more closely than others. Sam Saunders, Arnold Palmer’s grandson, was one that always turned heads while at Clemson. Recent Oklahoma State graduate Kevin Tway was a star in Stillwater, Okla., because he followed his father Bob’s footsteps (who played professionally), and Cheyenne Woods draws attention because she calls Tiger Woods her uncle.

In Utah, however, there is another legacy in college golf who goes unnoticed largely because most people don’t even know he exists. Mason Casper is a member of the Utah Valley men’s golf team in the America Sky Conference. Casper, a junior, is the grandson of three-time major winner and 51-time PGA Tour winner Billy Casper.

From Springville, Utah, Mason Casper wasn’t heavily recruited out of high school. During his junior career he won a handful of high school tournaments and six junior events in Utah.

“I was never really recruited,” Casper said. “I remember one coach called me and another e-mailed me, but I never even took an official visit.”

Casper’s dream of playing college golf out of high school was short lived. Prior to graduating he found out that ...

After looking at the PGA Tour’s year-end money list, it seems baffling that college golf still can’t gain more fans. Millions of people love watching college football on Saturdays, then watch the pros on Sundays. Fans have a relationship with many of these players because of their alma maters. I don’t understand why that relationship doesn’t exist between college and professional golf.

Six of this year's top 10 money earners on the PGA Tour were either still in college or graduating in the year 2000. Rising Tour stars like Webb Simpson, Dustin Johnson, Bill Haas, and Keegan Bradley were all in college no more than a few years ago. However, college golf still seems to be a giant unknown to most of the world.

If people are willing to pay hundreds of dollars to catch a PGA Tour event on the weekend, then wouldn’t they be willing to spend a few bucks in gas to see the stars of tomorrow for free?

This year the men’s NCAA Division I Championship will be held at Riviera. The venue alone will garner attention, but so will potential tee times. Imagine going to the finals and ...

LAS VEGAS – The most-discussed item among NCAA Division I coaches at the Golf Coaches Association of America annual convention, which concluded Wednesday at the Tropicana Resort and Casino, barely was mentioned at any of the formal sessions. But it drew plenty of interest and talk at an informal D-I breakout portion and centered around the crowning of the individual NCAA champion.

For the past three years, the NCAA medalist has been determined after three rounds (54 holes) of stroke play, with the team champion then determined after the 30-team field had been cut to eight, which then participated in match play.

Just about all coaches present agreed the individual championship should consist of 72 holes, and discussion dealt with how that can be accomplished.

Again, coaches - and I definitely agree - thought that since the format for the finals went to stroke/match play, the individual winner seems to have gotten lost and not received the true recognition he deserves.

The past two national champions, Scott Langley of Illinois (2010) and John Peterson of LSU (2011), played in the morning of the third round as their teams were out of contention. By the time the afternoon wave was completed, and all ...

LAS VEGAS – It was speaker’s day at the Golf Coaches Association of America’s annual convention Monday at the Tropicana Resort and Casino -- and the GCAA had a pretty stellar lineup.

It started with Corey Ciocchetti, a motivational speaker and teacher at Denver University. It was his second consecutive year speaking at the convention and once again he gave some great insight on the do’s and don’t’s of motivating, in this case, their college players.

He was followed by Jim Holtgrieve, captain of the 2011 U.S. Walker Cup team who will be at the American helm again in 2013 when the Cup takes place at National Golf Links in New York. I think all the coaches appreciated his honesty and the chance to get to know his background. No, he wasn’t going to tip his hand about his plans over the next two years about what he will do, but he did say there would be some changes in his approach and preparation to these international matches with Great Britain and Ireland.

Following Holtgrieve, coaches were treated to messages from two of the games most respected instructors -- Jim McLean and Dave Stockton. Both not ...

Harold Varner, East Carolina’s uber-talented senior, already has kicked away two tournaments this nascent season. Just like last year, in Iowa and Virginia. And again this summer, at a U.S. Open qualifier. At some point, isn’t scar tissue a concern?

“No,” Pirates coach Press McPhaul said recently. “Harold has a wonderfully short memory.”

So short, in fact, that after blowing the lead last month at the Wolfpack Intercollegiate, Varner had moved on an hour after he piled into the team’s 15-seat passenger van.

Seated in the back row, Varner looked at his teammates and smiled. He said: “Well, I hear the greens at Berkeley Hills” -- site of the Pirates’ next event, the AutoTrader.com Collegiate Classic in Duluth, Ga. -- “are really nice. Let’s go get it.”

Sure enough, he shot 8-under 208 at the Oct. 17-18 event to win by one.

This is a player who swaggers onto the first tee and says, “This has tee markers and holes -- my kind of course.” A player who, en route to winning the North Carolina Amateur, went back onto the course to watch his ECU teammates finish. A player of whom UNC-Wilmington coach Matt Clark says, “If ...

Saying he felt “it was time for a younger man to come in to take the program to the next level,” Wyn Norwood announced he will be stepping down as director of golf and men’s head coach at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock at the end of the season.

Norwood, 66, has been at the school for 20 years, 18 of which he has served as coach of the Trojans. A five-time Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year, he has guided UALR to four conference championships and coached three SBC individual medalists.

“There are a number of reasons for stepping down at this time, but the bottom line is you have to draw the line sometime, somewhere,” Norwood said. “I felt this would be as good a time as any.

“I am grateful for the opportunity UALR has given me over the last 20 years to work with some of the finest young men and women to ever come through the athletic department,” Norwood said. “Stepping down was a very difficult decision.

“The one thing I promised myself is that when I left, I would not leave the cupboard bare. With one junior, three sophomores and five freshmen ...

When this season’s NCAA Men’s Division I Championship takes place May 29-June 3, it should be a special week for all involved - players and coaches, for sure, and officials and fans, as well.

The reason? It will take place at one of the country’s most storied venues.

Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif., will host the 2012 event, and when it comes to staging championships at the highest level, this venue ranks up there with the best of them.

The 1948 U.S. Open won by Ben Hogan took place at Riviera, as did the 1983 PGA, won by Hal Sutton, and the 1995 PGA, won by Steve Elkington in a playoff over Colin Montgomerie and Ernie Els. In 1998, Hale Irwin captured the U.S. Senior Open over this layout.

Riviera first hosted a PGA Tour event in 1929 and every year since 1973 has been home to the PGA Tour’s stop in L.A.

But, when the NCAA Championship takes place, it will be missing something - or more precisely, someone.

After 10 years as the head rules official at this season-ending championship, Clyde Luther is stepping down. Instead of cruising along the ...

What a grand and memorable night it will be for a half dozen men. I should know. It was only last year when I experienced it up close and personal.

What a night it was for me and what a night I’m sure it will be for the six individuals who will be inducted into the Golf Coaches Association of America Hall of Fame on Monday Dec. 5 at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas.

Of the group, five are either former or current coaches: Archie Boulet of Bryant University, Ken Hyland of Malone, Vince Jarrett of Abilene Christian/Houston, Jimmy Russell of Odessa College and Mike Wydra of UC-San Diego.

Boulet guided the Bryant program from 1964-2001. His teams won 11 regional titles, 20 conference crowns and produced 23 All-Americans. He was named New England and/or conference coach of the year 18 times.

Hyland currently is the coach at Malone, a position he’s held since 1972. His teams have won five national titles and 28 regional or conference crowns. Twice he was named NAIA national coach of the year and in 1997 was inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame.

Jarrett coached at Division II Abilene ...

1.) Ospreys flying high: When North Florida head coach Scott Schroeder learned his team was now ranked No. 5 in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings, his response was, “Wow!”

On the heels of a dominating performance at the Amelia Island Invitational this past weekend, the North Florida golf program will head into the winter break with its best ranking in program history.

“It shows we have a talented group of kids and they believe they can play with anybody and have worked hard to prove that,” Schroeder said. “Without a football team on campus, its always going to be a bit of a challenge, but we have had some Florida kids that wanted to be here and they have worked hard to show they can compete with anybody.”

The Ospreys played in four events this fall, winning twice and placing third in the other two. Victories at the AutoTrader.com Collegiate Championship and the Amelia Island Invitational might have garnered the most attention, but the event that may have made the biggest impact on Schroeder’s team climbing so high on the national level was a third-place showing at the Isleworth Collegiate Invitational, one of the top events in ...

1.) Attention, please: It has to be tough for a coach to watch a player win an event playing as an individual. Lamar coach Brian White witnessed exactly that this past week at the Royal Oaks Intercollegiate when senior M.J. Daffue not only won the individual title, but did so in record fashion. And what makes it tougher for White is it was his decision to play Daffue as an individual instead of in the Cardinals lineup.

“M.J. had not played to his potential this fall after coming off a great spring,” White said. “I felt like it was not physical. It was more mental.”

White felt that Daffue, last season’s Southland Conference Player of the Year, was not focused on the proper things with his golf game and was not disciplined with his strategy on the golf course.

“I want to motivate him and get his attention. I would say he got my attention too,” White said.

Daffue, who is from South Africa, posted rounds of 65-70-67 for an 11-under 202 total on the par-71, 7,068-yard Royal Oaks Country Club layout to set a new 54-hole Royal Oaks Intercollegiate tournament record. The victory is Daffue ...

The hardest part was answering all the questions from the members at Jacksonville Golf & Country Club, from people associated with the University of North Florida, from friends and family. Everyone, it seems, wanted to know: “Why aren’t you out there with the team?” For Sean Dale, that was a complicated answer.

“It hurt to explain,” he said this week, “but it was something that was the best thing for me and the team.”

First, there was the injury. Last fall, during a routine training run, Dale landed awkwardly on his right leg, hyperextended his knee and suffered a deep bone bruise. The pain was so severe, it forced him to miss two events. Then there was his academics. “Not that I was ineligible,” Dale explained, “but it was borderline. I wasn’t going to graduate in four years, anyway, but I wanted to get my grades back and be able to step onto the golf course and not have to worry about it.”

So he redshirted last season, a decision that initially galled the former second-team All-American but, eventually, turned out to be a blessing. Healthy, in good academic standing and playing some of the best golf of his ...