Jump to content

UNT: the "Notre Dame of men's golf"

NT80

By NT80
in Mean Green Athletics

 Share

Recommended Posts

NT80 Grand Master

NT80

Posted
Posted

Golf: Mean Green rolls into NCAA golf regional

UNT needs top-10 finish to advance to nationals

05/15/2003

By Tim MacMahon / Staff Writer

The North Texas men’s golf team is feeling pretty good about itself entering the NCAA Central Regional.

UNT enters the regional, which will be played Thursday through Saturday at the Colbert Hills Golf Course in Manhattan, Kan., having won two of its last three tournaments. The Mean Green earned its bid by winning the Sun Belt team title.

"We’re walking in here as confident as anybody," said senior Zach Atkinson, who has a team-best average of 72.1 strokes per round. "That’s a huge factor. We’re bringing in a lot of momentum."

The Mean Green’s goal is to earn a bid to the NCAA Championships, which will be held in Stillwater, Okla. May 27-30. To do so, 19th-seeded UNT must finish among the top 10 teams this weekend.

"We feel like this is the toughest region of the three," said coach Jim Bob Jackson, who is in his second season at UNT. "It’s going to take a lot of patience out there. We’re going to have to drive the ball well and make a lot of pars. There aren’t a lot of birdies on this course."

UNT feels that it proved it could perform in clutch situations with its victory at the Sun Belt Championships last month. The Mean Green, which knew it needed to win the tournament to advance to regionals, blew away the field to win by 10 strokes.

UNT had four of the top 15 finishers at the Sun Belt Championships. Senior Brad Besler was the individual medalist, Atkinson placed third, senior Freddy Espericueta 10th and junior Brad Gibson 15th.

"That says a lot about our team," Gibson said. "We can perform under pressure. I think a big part of our success is that we feed off of each other. It’s really exciting to see each other do well, and we get excited when that happens."

UNT is no stranger to postseason success in golf. The school was dubbed the "Notre Dame of men’s golf" by one golf magazine after winning seven national championships — four NCAA and three NAIA — from 1949-55. The Sun Belt title is the 27th conference championship in the program’s proud history.

Jackson said the school’s golf tradition was one of the main factors in his decision to leave Sam Houston State after 13 successful seasons as the coach at his alma mater. He added that the topic of tradition is broached on a frequent basis with the team, which has heard tales of glory from former North Texas and PGA great Don January.

"We all know about the tradition," Atkinson said. "All of us have it in our heart to add to it."

Link to comment
Share on other sites
EagleChick03 Newbie

EagleChick03

Posted
Posted

Wow...that's great they are in the top 10 right now.

I hope they can keep it up. It would be so exciting for them to get to the championship but even better for the school to have our name at the top.

Right now, UNT is ahead of UT...and thats the best part. biggrin.gif

NT80, I think its just you and me when it comes to fans of the golf team.... unsure.gifsmile.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites
NT80 Grand Master

NT80

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Take a look at todays rounds - lot of ++scores for opponents that where higher on the leaderboard yesterday.  If I'm reading it correctly, UNT has not teed off and is tied with one other team for 4th place.

NCAA Golf

It must be very windy today up there as all teams except Ok.St. have (+) scores.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing


  • Tell a friend

    Love GoMeanGreen.com? Tell a friend!

  • What's going on Mean Green?

    1. 14

      New commit Creighton transfer post Brock Vice

      This is an interesting pickup for us. This guy doesn’t conform to the typical transfer profile that we should be focusing on: highly productive player at a low-major/D2 or a formerly productive player at high-major/mid-major who needs a change of scenery. Brock Vice has played ZERO real college basketball. But finding a player who can be productive for us at the center position is going to take some creativity. Need to replace Tylor Perry or Jason Edwards? Not fun, but there are LOTS of fast young men 5’9 or taller who can dribble and shoot that the marketplace has undervalued. Ross Hodge can take his pick. There just aren’t very many 18-24 year-old humans who are 6’9 or taller. And the marketplace places a very high price on those who are that tall AND possess any degree of athleticism or basketball skill. Which brings us back to Brock Vice, who redshirted on a VERY good Creighton team that finished 25-10 last season (second-place in the Big East). The starting center on that team was Ryan Kalkbrenner, a 7’1 monster who averaged 17 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocked shots a game. His backup also put up good numbers in very limited minutes. So Vice hasn’t been a productive college player yet, but atleast he has a good excuse. With both players in front of him on the depth chart eligible to come back to Creighton next season, Vice needs a change of scenery to get his oversized sneakers on the court. He’s 6-10. Can rebound AND shoot. Was an outstanding high school and AAU basketball player. And has enough meat on his bones and athleticism to have been a standout high school football player. This is exactly the kind of kid that Ross should be landing. We did not have a player like this guy on our team last season and it hurt us all year. Welcome to Denton!
      MeanGreenZen in Mean Green Basketball
    2. 4

      Memphis NIL

      Why would a big brand like this invest so heavily in one school? College sports are so tribal and FedEx wants to serve everyone. Now I am LESS likely to use FedEx.
      MeanGreenZen in Mean Green Basketball
    3. 6

      Ladies land Tech transfer

      Breanna Davis not coming back. She has landed at Abilene Christian. As far as I know, Jaaucklyn Moore is coming back.
      • 1
      • Upvote
      Venson in Mean Green Basketball
    4. 14

      New commit Creighton transfer post Brock Vice

      One of the people who went on Twitter to congratulate Brock, and say we've got a good one here....none other than Darrel Ray Dickey
      • 1
      • Upvote
      SUMG in Mean Green Basketball
    5. 49

      The Athletic on DFW Football recruiting

      Oh boo hoo. Who cares?? 32 teams will become so beholden to sports money that they turn into crap institutions that turn out gobs of crap people. Oh wait that already happened. We will have sports teams. Support them in whatever way you can. North Texas saved my life. I'd sort of like for it to retain a soul.
      Aquila_Viridis in Mean Green Football

  • Popular Contributors

  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      15,382
    • Most Online
      1,865
    KeithSHU
    Newest Member
    KeithSHU
    Joined

WE BELIEVE IN THE MEAN GREEN!

News

Recruiting

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. Please review our full Privacy Policy before using our site.