Gamecocks look for strong performance from senior Bryan
The 2012 SEC Championships open today for the South Carolina men’s golf team, whose players are confident they can compete for a conference title.
The team will tee off this morning in St. Simons Island, Ga., on the par-70 Seaside Course at Sea Island Golf Club.
After the first two tournaments of the season, the Gamecocks have consistently competed near the top of the leader board — a pattern that head coach Bill McDonald hopes to see continue this weekend.
“If you look at our season overall, from where we started out with two 11th-place finishes and then as solid as we’ve played after that, I think we’ve been in contention a lot,” McDonald said. “We’ve had a very young team. We’ve been playing two, sometimes three, freshmen (per game) this year, and sometimes that experience factor takes over. We’ve gained a lot of that experience for our young guys, and I think it’s been a very productive season so far.”
One of the young players McDonald admires is freshman Caleb Sturgeon, who has consistently been one of the team’s best performers and has also been high on the individual leader boards in multiple tournaments. Junior Dykes Harbin has also performed well multiple times this year.
The leader of the team, however, is senior Wesley Bryan. Consistently the top player on the team, this will be Bryan’s fourth time competing in the conference championship. McDonald hopes the team will feed off his experience.
“Wesley Bryan played well there last year and had a chance to win,” McDonald said. “He’s had a very solid spring for us; he won in our first event of the spring in Wilmington (N.C.). I really look for Wesley to want to go out on a high note as a senior.”
USC will have to face stiff competition, as eight of the 12 SEC teams are currently ranked in the Golfweek national top 50, with South Carolina sneaking in at No. 49. Auburn and Alabama have been at the top of the rankings for almost the entire season, and they will be the ones to beat on the Georgia coast.
McDonald noted that, as a voter for one of the collegiate polls, he has had Alabama and Auburn in the top three all year long, with Arkansas not far behind them. He knows what his players face this weekend, but insists on aiming high.
“You have several goals every year. One is to play well in your conference, obviously,” McDonald said. “Every year, top to bottom, we have one of the best conferences in the country. I think you look forward to matching yourself up against that kind of competition. On the other hand, you have regionals starting up in a couple weeks and ... making it to the national championship is one of your primary goals, too.”
Weather has been wreaking havoc on much of the Gamecocks’ action this spring, and this weekend may continue to make things difficult for them. A 50-percent chance of thunderstorms each day threaten the life of the tournament, so it will be in McDonald’s best interest to see his team attack the course and play well early, as it has done numerous times this season.
The season has prepared the Gamecocks well for the conference championships, according to McDonald, and he hopes to see his players put themselves in a good position as the tournament winds down on Sunday afternoon.
“I think the goal for every event is to have a chance to win with nine holes to play on the last day,” McDonald said. “We’ve done a good job of that this year, putting ourselves in position. I’d say let the chips fall where they may after that — just get into contention with nine holes to go, and hopefully these guys can pull through.”