"IF YOU LIKE GOLF"
weekly online golf column
by
Chris Dortch

June 3, 2003

After a ninth-place finish in the 11-team Southern Conference Tournament in April, UTC golf coach Reed Sanderlin and assistant Mark Guhne took stock of their team. It didn’t take them long to decide that the program needed a complete overhaul.

No, the team hasn’t been completely torn apart and put back together—star player Matt Brock is still around, as are senior Andy Burris and sophomores Gary Ferguson and Tyson Elliot—but the coaches will have to keep a roster handy next season to sort through all the new names.

The addition of Guhne to the program has been a huge benefit—for the first time ever, UTC now has a full-time recruiter on the road. Sanderlin, a long-time English teacher, never had the luxury of going on lengthy recruiting trips.

Guhne’s efforts netted a six-man recruiting class this spring, and UTC might not be finished. It’s no secret Sanderlin and Guhne would like Cleveland State’s Ricky Honeycutt (see below), a NJCAA Division II All-American, to join the program.

Already, UTC has signed two successful junior college players. The first is Thomas Smith of Walters State in Morristown, Tenn. In the Senators’ nine tournaments this season (fall and spring), Smith won four times and finished in the top five four other times.

The other JC transfer is Stephen Fritsch, a Canadian who played for Wallace State (Ala.). Fritsch won twice last season and helped lead his team to an eighth-place finish in the NCJAA Division I championships. His brother played the Canadian Tour.

Another newcomer brings Division I experience. Zach Jaworski has transferred from Tennessee-Martin of the Ohio Valley Conference after finishing tied for 10^th in the OVC Tournament this spring.

UTC has also signed three freshmen: Bryce Ledford of McCallie, who helped lead his team to the TSSAA Division II state title last fall by finishing tied for fourth; Mitch Brock of Marshall Country High School in Lewisburg, Tenn., brother of Matt Brock; and Patrick Gibson, the high school player of the year in Tampa, Fla. Gibson is spending his spare time this summer trying to Monday qualify into Nationwide Tour events. The younger Brock finished eighth in the state Class A-AA Tournament and won two high school invitational tournaments in the fall.

"Those are the kind of guys we like," Guhne said. "We want guys who like to compete. We’re really happy with this recruiting class. We’ve got some guys who know how to win golf tournaments."

UTC is beginning to receive some much-needed financial support from the community, in large part because benefactors know that athletic director Steve Sloan, himself an avid golfer, has pledged his support to the program. Gone are the days when UTC players had to share golf shirts, depending on who qualified for trips, or take to the course without rain suits or umbrellas.

"It seems like every day someone is stepping up to help our program," Guhne said. "All our scholarships are endowed, so the support we get helps us recruit and get equipment. That’s a huge lift for us."

Guhne and Sanderlin have also instituted a golf specific weight training program and have sent their players to a sports psychologist and a putting guru.

"We want to win, and we want to have a first-class program," Guhne said. "There’s no reason we can’t have a great golf program at UTC. If East Tennessee State can do it, so can we."

• In case you missed it, Chattanooga’s May Wood was Vanderbilt’s low finisher at the NCAA Women’s Championships May 20-23 in West Lafayette, Ind. Wood shot rounds of 81-77-73-73 for a 304 total, good for a tie for 24^th place. It was the second-best finish ever for a Vanderbilt player as the Commodores tied for 14^th.

The finish capped a solid freshman year for Wood, consider by many as the top incoming freshman last fall. Wood’s other highlights in the spring season included winning SEC Player of the Week honors April 10 as she became just the second Vandy player ever to do so.

Wood won the Bryan National Collegiate, along with teammate Courtney Wood, when the final round was washed out. The pair both shot 2 under par. The same week, Wood finished eighth at the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic.

In fall golf, Wood finished fourth in the Mason Rudolph and had two top 13 finishes. Her scoring average was 75.66.

Vandy coach Martha Freitag has succeeded in transforming the Commodores into a national power. Vandy loses just one of its top five players from this season and adds freshmen Chris Brady, a top five recruit nationally, and Kristen Svicarovich, ranked among the top 15 juniors in the country.

Wood and Vandy teammate Sarah Jacobs, the defending champion, will both be at Black Creek next week for the Tennessee Women’s Amateur. With those two players in the field, the championship flight should be interesting.

• Like May Wood, another former Baylor golf, Ricky Honeycutt, had a strong finish to his spring season. Competing for Cleveland State in the NJCAA Division II championships at Palm Valley Golf Club in Phoenix, Ariz., Honeycutt finished fourth and earned All-American honors.

Honeycutt shot rounds of 76-68-70-71 for a 285 total that helped led the Cougars to a fourth-place finish. Josh Coley tied for sixth with rounds of 73-68-72-74-287 and also was chosen to the All-American team.

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