The UMass club golf team went against a Division 1 field at the Laker Fall Invitational and came away with a historic victory at Lake View Country Club on Sept. 21 in North East, Pa.
Mercyhurst University hosted the event. UMass finished at 7-over-par across 54 holes and defeated the host Lakers by five shots. The field also included varsity programs from Wagner, Saint Francis, Coppin State, and Malone. Malone University finished in third place overall (19-over)
Phillip LeGassick and Markus Pierre finished tied for third (1-under) for the Minutemen. Mike Guerrera placed tied for ninth (3-over). Jake Morgan also made the top 20, finishing tied for 12th (5-over).
The Minutemen’s win was possibly the first time a collegiate club program won a varsity tournament hosted by an NCAA Div. 1 institution. The UMass club golf team is entirely student-run and does not have varsity status. The student-athletes control every aspect of the program. This includes scheduling, fundraising and tournament operations.
While most of the team has the ability to play varsity, the players prefer to golf at their own pace. But while it is somewhat more relaxed, the team still wants to compete at a high level.
“The team culture we have here is a whole lot different than any other school we compete against,” UMass team member Max Gould said. “Or any other Division 1 program in the country. There are kids that have to get up at 5 a.m. some days and go work out with their team. There’s many kids that I’ve talked to who in these tournaments that really don’t like what they are doing and didn’t expect what Division 1 golf was like.”
Club golf at UMass went from a large roster not really looking to compete to a smaller roster vying for placements at Div. 1 tournaments. Gould is in his second year on the team.
“Out of nowhere it turned into a brotherhood,” Gould said. “We all take our game seriously…we are a bunch of friends going out and playing golf. Competing against each other. I wouldn’t say laid back, we all care about how good our team is. We all try to get better every day and have fun at the same time.”
The players began disliking club events in the last few years. That’s when the team started cold-emailing coaches who host tournaments. Golf programs are now emailing them first to see if UMass can participate in tournaments.
“From there it just took off,” Gould said. “We were at a tournament recently and these coaches see that we are just a bunch of students, they were pretty impressed with what we are doing. They have reached out to us personally to see if we can play in their event because they haven’t seen anything like this before.
UMass has a club sport program that provides funding for the team. The money from the school is not quite enough. There is a network of alumni who provide donations and there are fundraisers that the team organizes.
UMass next plays at the Columbia Autumn Invitation at the Lake Placid Club in New York on Oct. 3.
