Men’s Golf Opens 2021 Campaign This Weekend

Sunday, September 12

Choudrant, La.

All Day

Troy University

Jim Rivers Intercollegiate

Men’s Golf Opens 2021 Campaign This Weekend

9/11/2021 11:51:00 AM | Golf (M)

Live Scoring

By: Troy Athletics Communications

A new era of Troy men's golf opens this weekend when first-year head coach Forrest Schultz leads the Trojans into action at the Jim Rivers Intercollegiate hosted by Louisiana Tech at the Squire Creek Country Club.

Not only will the Trojans feature a new head coach, but also the Troy lineup will have a new look with a pair of newcomers to the team getting the opening day nod, plus a fourth-year sophomore getting his first real taste of action at Troy.

"I'm excited about where we are at as a team," Schultz said about his team's offseason preparations. "We've been putting in a lot of hard work, work that is different than what they are used to doing, but we are at a really good place as a team. We've qualified five times on championship golf course and are prepared as well as we can be heading into our first tournament."

Schultz has the added benefit of a fourth-year junior Will McFadden returning to lead the squad on and off the golf course. He enters the 2021-22 season with a 74.84 career stroke average and was second on Troy's squad last year with eight rounds under par after posting seven rounds in the red as a sophomore in 2019-20.

"Will is the leader on this team," Schultz said. "He leads by example and puts 100 percent into everything he does. When he's not in class, he's at the facility working on his game. I don't think I've seen him take a day off or a moment off during practice or workouts. He leads vocally, and the other guys on the team look up to him, and he's got the game to back it up. Will has outworked everyone this offseason and is a great guy for us to lean on."

As for the philosophy for the new-look Trojans, Schultz wants his squad to be uncomfortable on the golf course, but in a good way.

"We have to be comfortable being uncomfortable," he said. "What I mean by that is, we need to be comfortable when we're under par and realize that they don't have to do anything special to stay there. They must be comfortable being over par and figure out how to work back down to par or better. We must become more mentally tough on the course, and the quicker we do that the quicker we'll be playing better team golf.

"This group has the ability to shoot under par," Schultz said. "We have to figure out how not to let our emotions take over and even when we do have a bad day, how to stay around even par."

Joining McFadden in the season opener will be Nick Borrmann, a staple in the Troy lineup, freshmen Brantley Scott and Jake Springer, and sophomore Kyle Cornelius, who will enters the year with just five rounds under his collegiate belt.