TCU Golf Prepares for NCAA Championships
5/27/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
May 27, 2004
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The TCU Horned Frogs will begin play at the 2004 NCAA Championships on Tuesday, June 1. It is the 10th trip for the Horned Frogs under Bill Montigel. The 72-hole tournament will be played at The Homestead's Cascades Course (6,679 yards, par 70). TCU is paired with Florida and BYU in the first round, and will tee off beginning at 1:30 p.m. (ET)/12:30 p.m. (CT) on Tuesday. The Horned Frogs tied for 11th in their most recent NCAA appearance, which came in 2002.
We're Back
TCU has now advanced to the NCAA Championships 13 times in school history, with 10 of those trips coming in the past 14 years. The team's most recent visit came in 2002 when the Frogs tied for 11th place at Ohio State's Scarlet Course. Former TCU All-American Adam Rubinson placed second individually, matching the best individual finish by a TCU golfer ever.
Fresh Look
Three of TCU's five players (senior Stephen Polanski, junior David Schultz and sophomore Colby Beckstrom) will be making their first-ever NCAA Championships appearances. Junior J.J. Killeen is the only current team member who has appeared in the finals with the Frogs (2002). Senior Adam Meyer played for Baylor in the 2002 NCAAs, placing tied for 27th individually.
Not Just Won and Done
TCU claimed its fourth straight conference title in April, winning the Conference USA championship by 12 strokes. With the victory, the men's golf team tied an all-sport school record, joining the men's tennis team (1994-97) as the only sports in TCU history to win four straight league titles. Since joining Conference USA in the 2002 spring season, the Horned Frogs have won each of the three crowns.
How We Got Here
TCU tied for fifth place among 27 teams at the NCAA Central Regional in West Lafayette, Ind with a three-round score of 901 (+37). The Horned Frogs were in 13th place after the first day, but posted the third-best total over the final two days to qualify for nationals. TCU, who tied with Texas for fifth, is seeded sixth at the NCAA Championships.
This Feels Like Home-stead to Us
Each of TCU's five golfers played the Homestead's Cascades Course last summer, at the 2003 Southern Amateur. Senior Adam Meyer was the top TCU player in the field, as he snagged fifth place.
How Tough is Tough?
Purdue University's Kampen Course wreaked havoc on the field in the Central Regional. The brutal conditions forced the Horned Frogs into a 901 team score, which is 37-over-par. In TCU's 11 events of the year prior to the regional, the team combined to shoot just 39-over-par.
Rank and File
TCU has been ranked in the nation's top 10 in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings all season. Except for one poll in April, the Frogs have also been top 10 all year in the GCAA/Precept Coaches' Poll.
Line Us Up
TCU has had eight golfers play in tournaments this season, but has had the same five players (Adam Meyer, Stephen Polanski, J.J. Killeen, David Schultz and Colby Beckstrom) compose the lineup in each of the Horned Frogs' eight events this spring.
Meyered in Anything But a Slump
Senior Adam Meyer has enjoyed a standout season in 2003-04. He currently is ranked 24th in the nation according to the Golfweek/Sagarin ratings and carries a 71.81 average. Meyer was named the Conference USA Player of the Year and was the 2004 C-USA medalist. In addition, he was honored as the 2003-04 TCU Co-Male Athlete of the Year. Prior to taking 51st at the Central Regional, his previous six events included the following finishes: 1st, 6th, 9th, 9th, 11th and 15th.
J.J.'s Have Been More Than OK at TCU
TCU junior J.J. Killeen has played well throughout his three seasons in Fort Worth, but has really come on as of late. Killeen has been the Frogs' top finisher in two of the last three events, which included a 12th-place finish at regionals. In April, he matched his career-best finish by tying for sixth at the Boilermaker Invitational. Last summer he became just the third TCU golfer (joining current PGA Tour player J.J. Henry and current Tight Lies Tour player Adam Rubinson) to reach the round of 16 at the U.S. Amateur.
May the Schultz Be With You
A back injury forced TCU junior David Schultz to miss playing time in the fall, but he still managed to take third place at the All-America Classic in November. An honorable mention All-American last year, he has placed in the top 15 in two of his last three events, including a fourth-place finish at conference.
Don't I Know That Face?
TCU sophomore Colby Beckstrom appeared on The Golf Channel's "College Central" on Wednesday, May 12. Beckstrom gave The Golf Channel a tour of the TCU campus as well as Fort Worth's Colonial Country Club, the site of the PGA's Bank of America Colonial each year. Beckstrom finished the fall semester ranked sixth in the nation and earned his first collegiate tourney title in November, when he won The Prestige at PGA West.
What a Year For Po
TCU senior Stephen Polanski has enjoyed the best season of his career in 2003-04. The team's lone four-year letterwinner owns a pair of top-20 finishes, including a career-best 15th-place landing at the C-USA Championships. He also is engaged to be married in December.
