Golfers to shake off winter rust Sunday at Puerto Rico Classic

By ANTHONY MILLER
Collegian Staff Writer

As spring approaches, many avid golfers are waiting for the day when they can dust off their clubs and hit the links again.

For the Penn State men's golf team, that day has already arrived.

The spring season tees off this weekend as the top five Nittany Lions take to the fairways and greens Sunday through Tuesday in the Puerto Rico Classic at the River and Ocean courses in San Juan.

The Lions were a late addition to the 54-hole tournament, which annually features one of the nation's top fields. This year's group of teams includes No. 1 Clemson, No. 2 Georgia, No. 7 Matt Kuchar-led Georgia Tech and No. 6 Texas, which dons the best recruiting class in the nation.

Those teams, along with the other Southern teams in the tournament, have been able to practice their games on golf courses most of the winter while Northern teams have been forced to work indoors and at driving ranges. For that reason, most of the top teams are a step ahead of the Lions, said Penn State coach Greg Nye at Tuesday's spring sports media day.

"There's a difference between practicing the game and practicing playing the game," he said. "We've done almost everything except play holes."

Penn State will have to face many of the same Southern teams in the NCAA East Regional Tournament at the end of the season. This will give the Lions a chance to play against them and see what training needs done to be able to compete on the same level.

"It's a great environment for our players to be used to players of that caliber and begin to realize that there's not a great deal of difference between those teams and what we do," Nye said. "It indicates to them some things they need to do to get better. So it's the type of tournament that can really kick you in the right direction for spring."

Despite the strength of the field, Nye said realistically there are four or five teams the Lions can defeat if they play well.

Redshirt sophomore Matt Abbott, a native of Endwell, N.Y., will lead the young team consisting of two sophomores and three freshmen.

"I definitely see myself as a leader since I'm the only guy back from last year," Abbott said. "I want it to be that way. Whether it's talking to them before the tournament about what to expect or them looking at me and following my example."

Despite being a true freshman, Josh Dawes, owner of the Penn State Blue Course record (64), has a chance to be a top finisher for Penn State as well. The Jacksonville, Fla., native was able to practice at home during the semester break and returned there this past weekend to play 72 more holes. Therefore, he will not be quite so rusty, Nye said.

After returning from Puerto Rico, the Lions will spend spring break in Florida where they will prepare for the Golden Ocala Intercollegiate March 11-13 at the Golden Ocala Golf Club in Ocala, Fla. Nye said Penn State has a realistic shot at winning that tournament.