Season Preview: 2016 CMS Men’s Golf
CLAREMONT, Calif. – Last season, the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's golf team placed 13th at the NCAA Division III Championships and each of the five golfers – four freshmen and one junior – who made the trip for CMS to nationals in 2015, are back again this season. The nationally-ranked, No. 6 Stags have a young core of golfers once again, but young does not mean inexperienced in this case, and the outlook is as bright as ever for the team heading into the season, which tees off on Feb. 6.
"We have two really good seniors on the team that have helped us along the way," sophomore Johnny Brandt (CMC) said. "All the sophomores were freshmen on the team last year so we got a lot of experience last year playing in tournaments, which is a big help heading into this season."
Senior All-American Kethan Reddy (CMC) and senior Ahmed El Tamami (CMC) are the only two upperclassmen and Reddy is one of the returning Stags who competed at the 2015 NCAA Championships (tied for 26th to pace CMS). The other nine golfers are either freshmen (3) or sophomores (6). Honorable mention All-American Jonathan Shaw (CMC), Matt Shuman (CMC), Brandt and Jackson Zepf (CMC) joined Reddy at nationals for CMS in 2015. Other returners include sophomores Tim de Silva (CMC) and Joe LaHorgue (CMC). New members of the team are freshmen Sidney Cozier (HMC), Will Richardson (CMC) and Alex Wrenn (CMC). Wrenn played well for the Stags during the fall season.
"We have more depth than we've ever had, really a lot of very, very fine players," head coach Bim Jollymour said. The strength of this team is they think their way around a golf course, they don't just go out there and beat the golf ball. They really think and it shows. They don't make a lot of stupid mistakes and that's why I am confident that we are going to have a good year."
Before the team can even think about a fifth-straight NCAA bid, the Stags have to make their way through seven rounds of play in the always-tough Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) against the likes of Redlands, Cal Lutheran, La Verne, Pomona-Pitzer, Chapman and others. CMS finished third in SCIAC in 2015 after winning the conference in 2014.
"There's no doubt that this is the strongest Division III conference, top to bottom, in the country," Jollymour said. There are some other really great teams out there [nationally], but there is no conference as strong as this one."
On some occasions, CMS has opened the season with non-SCIAC tournaments, but this season CMS' first tournament of the spring season also happens to be the first SCIAC tournament of the year. CMS opens on Feb. 6-7 at Tukwet Canyon Golf Course. Each of the scores from the seven SCIAC tournament rounds over the course of the season goes toward the final total team score which is how the conference champion is decided. The team with the lowest total score after the SCIAC Championships takes home the conference championship, so it is important for CMS to begin the season strong.
"Definitely getting off to a good start is extremely important and I think we are ready and excited to play," Brandt said.
In the brief fall season, CMS played in two tournaments and won the Cal State Intercollegiate Event and finished in second by one stroke at the Embry-Riddle Invitational, so CMS seems poised to play well this season from the outset.
The SCIAC's top team gets an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships, always the first goal for the Stags. CMS also has the opportunity to showcase itself nationally and face top competition at the Collegiate Invitational, March 17-20 in Jekyll Island, Ga. In years prior, CMS has received an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships based on its play at the Collegiate Invite.
"We'll go back to Jekyll Island again this year and play in a tournament that's the highest quality tournament in Division III outside of the national championships," Jollymour said. "All of the really good schools will be there."
An excellent fall season, experienced returners, talented newcomers and a challenging schedule have Coach Jollymour and the Stags excited about the possibilities of the new season.
"I just have a really good feeling about this year," Jollymour said.
To see the complete schedule for the 2016 season, please click here.
By Chris Watts
Director of Athletics Communication
Claremont McKenna College
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