Lamar golf team honored after big win in Minnesota

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Lamar golf team honored after big win in Minnesota

This selection came on the heels of coach Brian White's Cardinals winning the University of Minnesota's Gopher Invitational in their first outing of the fall season. They did so by a whopping 22-stroke margin over a respectable field, and they shattered the previous tournament record by 14 strokes.

This was, indeed, eyebrow-raising material for a team that lost three of its top players after finishing in a third-place tie in the 2007 NCAA Championships. Not even the always-confident White expected such an impressive start.

"I was extremely surprised and pleased," said White. "I would've been happy to have come home with a fifth-place finish.

"Obviously, my expectations were tempered going into the tournament. Any time you lose three All-Americans (Dawie Van Der Walt, Dusty Smith and Oliver Bekker) from a five-man team, you figure it's going to be a little difficult the next season."

Receiving steady play from veteran Casey Clendenon, who tied for medalist honors, newcomer Hugues Joannes and Russell Helson, the Cardinals simply made things difficult on the rest of the field by matching par of 576 over Saturday's first two rounds and then methodically pulling away over Sunday's final 18 holes.

"Casey continued the great play we've seen from him over the past two years, and Hugues Joannes, who came to us from Abilene Christian College, showed he's ready for play at this level by finishing in a fourth-place tie," said White. "Russell Helson is a fifth-year senior, who hasn't gotten to play much the last couple of years because we've had so many good players ahead of him, but he has stayed the course and he played surprisingly well this weekend.

"We were so good last season that we could play average and still win a tournament. This season, we're going to have to get strong contributions from all five guys to stay in the hunt, and that's what happened. Now, I feel we're going to be a lot better than I felt we were going to be at this time last week."

The question today, of course, is whether White will feel that same way this time next week. That's because his Cardinals are facing a humongous challenge Saturday and Sunday when they'll play in the PING/Golfweek Preview hosted by Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.

It will bring together the top 15 finishers from the 2007 NCAA Championships, and it'll afford them the opportunity to play the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex that will host the 2008 Championships next spring. Reigning national champion Stanford will be there as will Alabama, Florida, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Nevada-Las Vegas, Southern California, Florida State and Arizona State - all among the nation's golfing elite.

"The course we played last week was unbelievably tough, but obviously, we played it well," said White. "The University of Purdue's course is 7,400 yards - extremely long - so everyone is going to be put to the test.

"Joannes and Helson, the guys who basically have replaced Dawie and Oliver in our lineup, are about 30 yards shorter than Dawie and Oliver off the tees, and their irons are shorter, too. They kept the ball in the fairways, though, and they consistently scored well. That's what counts.

"I can't stress enough that everyone is going to have to contribute. Last season, our fourth and fifth players were the best fourth and fifth players in the country. Depth is important, and maybe we're going to have more depth than even I thought would be possible this season."

[foooootz]

Awesome to hear good things going on for Lamar