With the golf season well under way in early October, the women’s and men’s teams’ success so far and the upcoming obstacles are becoming apparent. After a fifth place finish at the John Bohmann Memorial Invitational two weeks ago, the Trinity men’s golf team is settling into what could be a marquee year. The women’s golf team has been hot to start the season as well, with two top-five finishes in their first two tournaments to start September.

 As summer turns to fall, both teams have battled through the scorching summer heat, enjoyed the cooler fall temperatures, and ultimately, played well up to this point in the season.  The men’s team is looking to build on their success from last spring, when they barely missed out on a SCAC championship, finishing as the runner up in the conference tournament. Selected as the captain of the men’s golf team, Redmond Lyons played a key role in last year’s run and aims to be a main contributor this year as well.

 “We didn’t really have the showing we wanted at TLU’s event a couple weeks ago and are going to have play better going forward,” Lyons said. “Our first goal as individuals and our main goal as a team going into every event is to put a win on the board. Obviously that won’t happen every week but we want to show how strong we are as a team. And nothing says that better than winning”

 The women’s team has started this fall off with ferocity, finishing second in their first tournament of September, the TLU Lady Bulldog Classic. After ending the first day of tourney play in third place, the Lady Tigers

forced their way into second place to finish the weekend. After losing some integral

senior leadership, they have definitely made a statement this year with two top-five finishes, and senior Shelby Devore is glad that the team is living up the expectations that they set.

 “Our expectations were to work as hard as we could and do our very best. We finished strong last year and we wanted to continue playing well coming into this year. I think we have reached those expectations. As a team, we have really come together and put a lot of time into practicing. We have beat some of the best teams in the country,” Devore said. “We just need to keep practicing and working hard. We only have one more tournament for the fall so for the next couple of weeks, we just need to put everything we have in it so we can finish the season strong.”

 Sharing Devore’s optimism is senior Hannah Niner, who was vital to the team’s SCAC championship run last year, garnering All-SCAC second-team honors. Niner’s fantastic individual play last year is carrying over into this year. Despite the success the team has had so far, Niner knows her team will be facing some tough competition to finish out this year.

 “We have one more tournament left, so we expect to work hard in the next couple weeks and make a strong appearance since it will be on our home course (the Quarry). Coming into the season, our mentality was on improving our overall ranking nationally because we know that is the only chance we would have to make nationals,” Niner said.        Both teams are looking forward to their next tournament. The men travel to Florida to compete in the Golfweek Division III Invitational beginning on October 8, and the women will be staying home to compete in the Trinity University Alamo classic at the Quarry Golf Club beginning on Oct. 17.