Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Middle Tennessee
ASU Red Wolf Classic
Men's golf begins stretch drive
4/11/2010 8:45:00 AM | Men's Golf
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Playing to overcome a frustrating outing recently at the Calloway Match Play tournament in Arizona, the No. 41 ranked Middle Tennessee men's golf team will return to action on Monday and Tuesday at the ASU Red Wolf Classic. It will be played at the Ridge Pointe Country Club in Jonesboro, Arkansas, with 36 holes on Monday and 18 on Tuesday.
The Red Wolf Classic will begin a three tournament stretch that concludes on April 26-27-28 with the Sun Belt Conference championship where the Blue Raiders are defending champions.
"This is our three-week stretch drive, to win the Sun Belt and get to the NCAA tournament," pointed out Turnbow. "We have set our schedule up like this because this tournament and the one next week at Crooked Stick (Carmel, Indiana), are both on courses very similar to the one at Muscle Shoals, where the Sun Belt Conference championship will be held.
"This is obviously when we want to peak."
While Turnbow was disappointed at his team's lack of success in the Calloway, he was realistic about how tough it was, and how close the match play format was with such an elite field.
"We won all the matches last year, and didn't win any this year, and that is frustrating," said Turnbow. "It was a tougher field this year, and also the matches were very close. We lost 3-2 in two of them, which means it came down to the last hole. A putt here, and a putt there, and we win those matches. We just didn't make a putt when we had to.
"Match play is a funny deal, but it will help us with experience if we get to the finals of the NCAA, because it turns to match play in the finals. It should pay off for us because we are one of the very few teams that will have match play experience."
Turnbow feels the Blue Raiders have perhaps hit a plateau, but he is taking steps to overcome it.
"We haven't played badly the last few weeks, but we haven't played as well as we can, either. We have made some changes in the practice schedule. We are practicing twice a day now. We go from 6:15-8:00 am, then go to class, and come back and practice again in the afternoon."
Senior Kent Bulle leads the team with a stroke average of 72.0 per round, followed by sophomore Hunter Green (72.5), junior Jason Millard (72.7), senior Craig Smith (73.2) and sophomore Brad Simons (73.8).
The Red Wolf Classic, which may be followed live on GolfStat.com, will host several teams from Sun Belt schools. Middle Tennessee has lost to only two conference schools this spring, New Orleans and North Texas. Middle Tennessee is 98-15-1 this spring in combined tournament play.
Players Mentioned
