Oct. 5, 2010

Recap

On winning the event:
"Awesome. It validates what we have been doing. I'm excited about where the program is headed. We are seeing some success, and I hope it is one of many to come."

On the team effort it took to win:
"There are nine guys on this team, and they all have a role in what we do from qualifying to how we play in each tournament. Everyone is stepping up. It's been an awesome team effort. It's hard to manage but it's a lot of fun to see them grow and push each other."

On what he told them after second round:
"Go do what we do. We play golf. There is no extra pressure. Go do what you do and enjoy the process and have some fun. We knew going in we wanted to win. Everyone wanted to win. They are a prideful group that loves their school and they want to represent it."

On getting off to a slow start:
"It's a bad pattern that we have to get out of. I don't know if this week with the event being at home it threw us off our schedule. I'm going to go back and evaluate what we do that was different. However, it might have been a good thing because we won."

On Cody Santone shooting back-to-back 71s after an opening round 83:
"What an incredible mindset. He is a grinder. That is the best way to describe him. He totally left it behind him and went out and shot a 71 that afternoon. Today it came down to his next to last hole before he could get it under par. He struggled a little in the middle of the round but he continued to fight through it."

On true freshman Jack Lempke's birdie on his final hole:
"He openly admitted that he was more nervous than he had ever been standing on the final hole of his first home collegiate event. He was ripping a driver and then knocking a 4-iron on the surface on hole No. 2 and then he two putts for a birdie. That's strong."

On Jonathan Bale recording eagles on two of his final four holes:
"There are 800 and however many shots in a tournament. They all matter. Those are big ones though. He holed it out of the bunker on No. 17, which was an incredible shot. There was some luck involved there but there is a lot of skill involved too. Then he was able to pull out an eagle on his final hole; that is getting it done."

On Clinton Shepard opening the final round with a triple before shooting only one over par on the final 17 holes:
"There is no quit in him. I went up to him after the first hole when he made the eight and asked him if he needed my perseverance speech and he said no. He knows what he has to do. He is a senior and has been in that situation before. Unfortunately, he had trouble starting out but he persevered through it."

On misfortune of Sam Forgan signing an incorrect scorecard:
""It makes me sick to know he grinds the entire tournament and plays awesome golf and then signs the wrong card. He had a few things wrong on there and unfortunately when I checked the card I even missed it. I'm taking just as much blame for it. That's part of my duties; ultimately it's the player's responsibility. It's unfortunate but rules are rules. If you sign a wrong card, you sign a wrong card and its disqualification. Luckily for us Clinton Shepard was there with a 76, and we still took home a victory. What a sting that would have been had that happened, and we weren't able to win. It affects Sam and his world rankings and I hate that. He probably won't ever sign a wrong card again."

On the depth of the team:
"This team is a team. They are there pushing each other day after day after day. It's tough getting through qualifying to represent the team in tournaments. The guys are rolling and playing well. I'm excited looking forward to this spring. These are steps for where we are headed."

On finishing strong by shooting 3 under par on final four holes:
"Southeastern Louisiana has won this event before. All I know is when they come up here they win. For us to say that isn't happening this weekend and for us to take it from them is impressive. (Southeastern's coach) text me and said, `Congrats. Your third, fourth and fifth guys played awesome today.' That is what it is. It wasn't a one man victory. For us to take it from them, that was fun."

On rebounding from an opening round 83 to shoot back-to-back 71s:
"That was a tough one to get through. I made a couple of big numbers in that round. I knew if I could hold on I would get to start over after that one which was a good thing. I knew I could contribute in the second and third rounds. It was encouraging to know we have (so much depth) and my score could get thrown out without hurting us too bad."

On what it took to get over the hump:
"I think the biggest difference was we gave ourselves a shot from the beginning. Last year we had to move up a lot in the second day. Last year we would have a good final round to move up to fifth or fourth instead of being in the hunt from the beginning."

On what this will do for team's confidence:
"This was a big step forward for us because it has broken the seal. We have experienced it and done well in the heat of the battle. It's a big confidence boost in every situation we get in now. We know we can do it."

On his nerves on his final hole of the tournament:
"The last hole was a par 5. I hit a good drive and was talking to coach and he told me we were really close (to Southeastern). I obviously had no idea what anyone else was shooting, but I figured I needed to get something done as one stroke could make a difference. I hit a 4-iron from the fairway onto the green. Coach helped me read the putt; it was about a 40-footer. I lagged it up there to about six feet. It was a little right to left putt. It was the most nervous I've ever been as my whole team was watching. I made it and we won by one so it was a nice feeling to know we got it done."

On difference between this tournament and the first two of the fall:
"The last few tournaments we have been in position to win and played well but we didn't quite get it done. Knowing we have done it will help us for the rest of the year. In tournaments where we are close to lead, we will have the confidence knowing we can get it done. I think we are in for really big things in the future. We always knew we could get it done, but now we have and it's nice to have that experience behind us."

On the feeling of finally winning an event:
"It's been a long time, and it's been a long time coming. I feel like we have had a bunch of chances, but we've really never been able to come through. At the event at Southern Miss, we were really close and had a chance. It was a learning experience and we realized what we had to do to get over the top. We would get close after two rounds but couldn't quite get it done in the third rounds. We learned we just have to keep going lower and shooting under par which is what we did."

On what Coach Parks told the team heading into final round:
"Coach brought up the Southern Miss tournament last night and said we had been there before and it wasn't going to be any different playing in the last group today. He really didn't' have to say much. He knows we are a confident group."

On the team depth:
"It says a lot about the depth of the team. It's one of the things we have talked about before every tournament. We see the other teams on the scoreboard where they have to throw out a high round or two. I know in Hattiesburg, the highest round we had to throw out was a 75. It was pretty much like that at Waterchase too. I can't say enough about all nine guys on this team. Qualifying each week for us is just as stressful and any one of the nine guys could represent us and we would be fine."

On Cody Santone recovering from opening round 83 to shoot back-to-back 71s:
"That's the way the whole thing is. I am extremely proud of Cody. That pretty much describes him and his personality. He is a grinder. He wasn't going to shoot an 83 and give up and not care about his next rounds. He is too passionate about it. I wasn't worried about him at all."