Men's golf team taste victory, defeat early
Ranked: Ponies move from 65th to 22nd after tournament in the national rankings

By katie Pruett

Over the past month, the SMU men's golf team has had a roller coaster ride of wins and losses.

To start off the month, the men traveled to Tennessee to compete in the East Tennessee State Invitational with the nation's top schools. As a team, the men finished 12th out of 15 teams. Although the team's performance was not as good as expected, junior Jerome Theunis came through with an 8th place finish.

"I played pretty well," Theunis said. "I was surprised at my performance because of my back injury."

Emergency surgery was performed last November and doctors questioned whether or not Theunis would ever play again.

After the marginal finish in Tennessee, the men took home course advantage winning the Stonebridge Classic in McKinney, Texas. Junior Franklin Hatchett won the tournament with a new school record score of 15 under par.

"I was on my game," Hatchett said. "This is how I want to play all season."

The team was enthusiastic about his performance, yet thought they could have done better as a whole.

"We won a tournament which is good," sophomore Brock Mulder said. "But I think we could do a lot better."

Sophomore Stephen Sparolini shared in the success with a 6th place finish.

This past weekend, the team competed in the Colorado State Invitational, finishing 7th out of 15 teams.

"We didn't get to play a practice round due to snow," Theunis said. "The local teams got the upper hand because they knew the course."

Hatchett continued his consistent play with a 6th place finish, moving his ranking up to 5th in the nation.

Not only is Hatchett nationally ranked, but the men's team went from 65th in the nation to 22nd after the Stonebridge Classic victory.

The team's next tournament is the Red River Classic Oct 9 and 10.