Golf rebuilds, but remains confident with depth
On Feb. 14, the Georgia College golf team will have its first match of the new season.
Until that time, the Bobcats are adapting to some new changes in the roster.
The Bobcats lost two of their players this past year due to graduation. Francisco Bide and Niclass Johansson were both four year starters for the golf team.
Johansson was also the first four-time All American that Georgia College has ever had.
The loss of two four-year starters has caused changes in the team line-up.
“This is the first time in three years that we don’t have our top four players solidified,” Head Coach Jimmy Wilson said. “The last three years we were pretty much set in our top four. We’re just going to try to figure out who our five are going to be and see what we can do.”
Even with the loss of two starting players, Wilson is confident in the Bobcats’ team strength going into the upcoming season.
“I think our greatest strength will be competition for the spots. We’re deeper than we’ve been in the past, meaning that we can play more people than we were able to in the past,” Wilson said. “Hopefully this will make everybody stay sharper. They’ll be no room for complacency, that’s for sure.”
Georgia College is looking to overcome their challenges that the team has been facing in preparing for the upcoming season, including the weather.
“We haven’t had the best weather to practice or play in. But the guys have fought through it,” Wilson said. “In terms of other challenges, I don’t see any real weaknesses. They’re working hard and everybody’s got there shortcomings but I think we’ll fight through those.”
In order to prepare for the upcoming season, the Bobcats were on the road this weekend to Valdosta St. to get some practice in.
The play between the two was noncompetitive and was just to get some experience.
Coach Wilson explained that playing some noncompetitive golf was also beneficial because it allowed Georgia College to get some experience playing on a Bermuda grass course, which is similar to multiple courses that the team will play on in this upcoming season.
The Bobcats are preparing to face some tough competition coming up this season. Currently No. 2 in the region, Georgia College will be facing teams such as the No. 1 team in the region, Columbus St. and North Alabama, which is ranked No. 1 nationally.
“Our section of the country is probably the strongest section in the country,” Wilson said. “Just getting out of our regional tournament is a feat in itself.”
The Bobcats will be on the road Feb. 14 and Feb. 15 to play in the Matlock Invitational in Lakeland Fla, which will be will be hosted by Florida Southern.
“Everybody seems to be buying in. There all on board so to speak. I don’t have any predictions this year,” Wilson said. “I expect us to go out and compete every round. Some days are going to be good, some days not so good. That’s what happens when you have a relatively young squad. If we can get everybody playing well at the same time we’ll be okay. We’re just going to take it one day at a time and see what happens.”
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