UW men's golf coach Jim Schuman addressed the media at a news conference Monday and expressed his optimism about the men's team, which will compete in the Big Ten Championships at Ohio State this weekend.
Schuman pointed to the team's strong performance at Michigan State, where they finished fourth, as a sign that things were looking up.
""Any time that you can post two rounds under par and your worst round being even par as a team, you know, I think you're back on the right track, and that's where we feel we are going into Ohio State,"" Schuman said.
According to Schuman, the main theme for the men's golf program is steady improvement. ""Our motto is just to get better tomorrow than we were the day before,"" he said.
Schuman acknowledged that the spring season was probably the more challenging part of the year, with the team unable to play on grass very often due to snow.
Less time spent on the course, coupled with bad weather, were contributing factors to the team's poor showing at Purdue and Ohio State the past two weekends.
However, amidst the gloom ,junior Jeff Kaiser provided a bright spot for the Badgers as he finished second in the Purdue Boilermaker Invitational.
Schuman also took more positives from the Fossum/Spartan Invitational at Michigan State.
""Garrett Jones continues to play well for us and is on the pace to break the individual scoring record here. And Dan Woltman is hot on his heels, about a stroke behind,"" Schuman said. ""And then the team is doing well, ready to break the season stroke average again. So, you know, things are looking up, and we're just plugging away and having a good time doing it.""
Schuman then noted the changing role of senior Garrett Jones. ""When you look back at his career when he first got here, you know, he was a guy that had to shoulder most of the load just about week in and week out. And that's a tough position to put a kid in, freshman, sophomore, junior year.""
""And, you know, we had some good, young recruits come in to help him out in that role,"" Schuman said. The addition of players like Woltman who could shoot low scores has helped to relieve the burden of scoring from Jones' shoulders.
Schuman further highlighted the importance of having players step up and contribute to the team's success.
""For us to play well, we've got to get it from everybody. So I guess in saying what I said before, they all shoulder a burden of it,"" Schuman said.
Schuman also praised the contribution of volunteer assistant coach Jerry Kelly. ""He helps us out and helps our guys out a ton, he loves being around our guys, and he loves playing with them, and they get along great. And I think that relationship has been for both parties, for sure.""
