A Swing for a Conference Championship
Jacob Turner-
With the conference tournament almost a month away the Appalachian State men's golf team have their eyes on the prize, their first Sun-Belt conference title.
After completing a successful fall campaign with a win and a couple top three finishes, coach Bo Redmen and the mountaineers golf team have high expectations heading into conference. “We have high hopes for the spring, Our first couple of tournaments this spring showed some of the rust we have as a result of not being able to practice as much as we would like because of the winter. We have already seen some bright spots though with our four freshmen starting to play well. Our goal is to have our games ready for the conference championship next month and play as well we can. That is all that we can really control” said Coach Redman.
The mountaineers have tee’d off only twice this spring finishing 6th out of 9 and 4th out of 14, although the team didn’t play as well as they wanted one Mountaineer stepped up and lead the team in individual scoring both tournaments and even finished runner up at the Cape Fear National. Sophomore Tripp Summerlin lead the team in individual scoring for both tournaments and was named Sun Belt golfer of the week following his second place finish at the Cape Fear National.
“I just felt really calm and relaxed, it felt really good getting back into the swing of competitive golf” said Summerlin when asked what sparked him to carrying the team. “I’m confident enough in my game that i believe i have a shot at putting myself in a position to win and help my team out any way possible.”
When asked about Tripp Summerlin and his performance, coach Redman quickly responded with “Tripp is a fantastic player. He seems to thrive on the big stage. We expect big things from him the remainder of this year and the next two years. I am very confident that when his career is over at App State he will be remembered as one of the greatest players to grace our campus.”
Conference will be held at Sandestin Florida April 22nd through the 25th and Junior Alex Burris has high hopes for his team “We are hoping to peak at conference next month. The team has not fared well at conference the last couple of years i’ve been here and I think this year will be different. The course actually suits us very well and we have been working hard on some of the things that hurt us last year. If we play our game we should be fine. We will have a great mix of veterans like me and fresh faces at the event.”
The biggest challenge ahead of the Mountaineers isn’t the course itself but finding out which top five golfers Redman is gonna play at Conference, “ Our main focus right now is getting the five guys that are playing the best at the moment into the lineup. With ten players on the team that can be a challenge. Any of the ten can play well at any given moment.”