May 8, 2007
The University of Texas-Pan American men's and women's golf teams look to end the 2007 campaign on a high note as they are get set to defend their title at the 21st National Minority College Golf Championships in Port St. Lucie, FL, on Friday (May 11) at the PGA Golf Club on the Ryder Course.
For the Broncs, last year's tournament was a year of firsts for both Kyle Tudi (Phoenix, AZ/Chaparral H.S.) and head men's golf coach Andrew Tredway. Tudi captured his first individual championship by holding off Philip Watkins of Tennessee State with a three-round 2-under-par 70 en route to posting a score of 214 over 54 holes. Tredway picked up his first team title in the event when his squad of golfers outlasted Bethune-Cookman by a 10-stroke margin.
"I think it is more pressure to play well. We've got more talent than we had last year, but we just haven't put it together at the right times. We're just trying to get our confidence back by playing different courses around here and trying to shoot some low numbers. I feel the pressure of underachieving more," said Tredway.
Senior Colin Norris (Calgary, Alberta, Canada/Cochrane H.S.) has been the Broncs top performer during the 2007 spring campaign, and will look to make a run at his first collegiate title in what will be the last event of his UTPA career.
"It's Colin's last college tournament and he's been playing really well. He's been doing the right things all year long and hopefully he can finish it the right way."
With newcomers Armen Kirakossian (Portland, OR/Wilson H.S.) and High Wongchindawest (Bangkok, Thailand/Heritage Academy) added to the mix, UTPA will be sending its new-look squad to Florida this year in hopes of reclaiming the event championship.
"It's a really good tournament and it's really well run. It's always fun to be the guys with the target on your back so I think they're looking forward to that challenge. If we can go out and play well in the beginning of the tournament we can get our confidence going and really take it to some of these teams," added Tredway.
The Lady Broncs' toughest competition will come from Bethune-Cookman College, the reigning women's championship team who finished 33 strokes ahead of UTPA.
"The ladies are going to have to step up and play good golf, and we can't afford to have a bad round. I think we can beat them if we play like we did this past weekend. Even though we lost, we still played well, and scoring wise we would have been right up there in the 300 mark which is where we need to be against Bethune-Cookman to beat them," said head women's golf coach Barb Odale.
The Lady Broncs are led by Elizabeth Rodriguez (Kingwood, TX/Kingwood H.S.) who has continued to show improvement as the season goes on. The UTPA junior has been the Lady Bronc's top performer during the 2007 spring season.
"I look for Elizabeth to lead the team. It's been almost two years since she's competed in this event, and she's been getting better each tournament in the spring as far as scoring and her thinking around the golf course. I look for her to get comfortable and make her mark up there," added Odale.
Newcomer Mariale Camey (Ciudad, Guatemala/Univ. of New Orleans) is no stranger to big tournaments. The UTPA sophomore represented on her way to capturing her second Central American Championship Crown in the last four years this past fall.
"Mariale is playing fantastic, and if we can get her putter working she has a chance to win it," said Odale, "I think where the tournament will be decided for our program is in the three, four and five spots in Jennifer, Brownyn and Rebecca. One of them can have an off day, we just can't have two of them have off days."
The Broncs and Lady Broncs get set for the three-day PGA National Minority Championships with tee-time slated for Friday (May 11) in Port St. Lucie, FL, at the PGA Golf Club on the Ryder Course.
UTPA Sports Information