Golf team hosts first exhibition contest of season

The nationally-ranked Dixie State College golf team started spring play Tuesday by hosting BYU in a non-scoring exhibition contest.

The outcome of the play did not count as an event for the Red Storm golfers, but the opportunity to play against Division I competition is valuable for honing their game before scoring play begins next week in their spring opener in Florida.

A strong finish in the fall segment of DSC's golf season has set the team up to start the spring schedule from a high-ranking position in multiple polls. The 2010 NCAA Division II Regional rankings have the Red Storm placed at No. 9. The Golf World/NIKE Division II Coaches' Poll ranks DSC No. 18, and Golfstat.com lists them at No. 13 in its head-to-head standings of Division II programs.

The high regard is a nice compliment, but DSC head coach Reed McArthur said more important than national respect is that the DSC players know they can win against top competition.

McArthur said he and assistant coach Doug Roberts have talked about what the keys are to becoming a good program, and those keys are competing with top teams.

"If you're going to get better, then you've got to play the best," McArthur said. "We got some real notoriety after our finish at Sonoma State [in October]; we perked some people's attention."

Senior Cameron Crawford, an accounting major from Sandy, said the rankings are nice but the team has to improve on playing consistently. "It's a good ranking but I feel like we can get better," Cameron said. "We got off to slow starts in the early rounds of tournaments. We had to fight back and we've done a good job of fighting back, but it would be nice to get off to good starts."

The team will start their official season at the Golfweek Invitational in Orlando, Fla. on Sunday. It will play on the Independence Course, which is a Tom Watson designed course that resembles British golf course characteristics. Many of the nation's top Division II golf teams will be playing there, including No. 4 ranked Cal State Chico whom the Red Storm have topped in one tournament last fall. There will be 18 teams competing in the 54-hole event.

"What a nice feather in our cap if we go down there and play well, not only for this year, but for years to come," McArthur said.

Junior Conner Jones, an integrated studies major from South Jordan, said this is the most talented team in his three years at DSC. "This by far is the best team DSC has had, and I think we'll make nationals," Jones said.

Crawford said the obvious goal of the team is to win the PacWest championship, finish high at the regionals and qualify to play in nationals. "We have a talented enough team to make it to nationals," Crawford said.