TCU men’s golf will compete in the NCAA regionals for the 28th straight season.
“[The streak] is always on everyone’s mind,” sophomore Turner Maclean said. “You never want to be the team that snaps the streak, so our goal all year has been to continue the streak.”
Maclean, who grew up in Fort Worth, said he knew of Coach Montigel’s success before coming to TCU and, “to finally be a part of the program and continue the streak is really cool.”
Sophomore Triston Fisher said Montigel’s legacy is a, “huge accomplishment,” so far.
Montigel said he mentioned the streak too frequently throughout the season.
“[The streak] is huge,” Montigel said. “It’s a really big deal for everyone. This team deserves it, they worked hard and never quit.”
The Frogs earned the 10th seed, out of 13, and will compete at The Grove in College Grove, Tennessee from May 15-17.
“Given how we’ve played this season, the tenth seed is exactly where we should be,” Coach Montigel said.
This season will be head coach Bill Montigel’s 30th with the Frogs. He has coached the Frogs to postseason play every time since 1990.
“The fall season wasn’t very good,” Montigel said. “I think it was really good for us, though. It gave us a chance to play against really good teams, which are the kinds of teams you will see when you get to the regionals and the championship. They realized that if they play their game, they’ll be fine.”
“When you get a bid to a regional, every team is equal,” Maclean said. “We feel fortunate to have the opportunity to advance to a regional and are looking forward to playing well.”
“Being seeded tenth doesn’t mean much to us,” Fisher added.
TCU will send five players to regionals: Maclean, Fisher, sophomore Stefano Mazzoli, sophomore Pierre Mazier, and senior Chelso Barrett.
“This has been the lineup that we’ve had for the last several tournaments,” Montigel said. “This lineup has had some moments where they’ve played really well, so we just have to play like we are capable of.”
For all five Frogs playing in the tournament, both The Grove and the championship site in Sugar Grove, Illinois are new.
“We don’t really know the course, so we don’t know how to prepare,” Mazzoli said. “Just doing what we were doing before should be fine.”
Mazier looked at this issue with the course optimistically, adding that because most teams don’t know the course very well, it puts everyone on an equal playing field.
To prepare, Montigel said that the team will leave for the tournament early to practice at many different courses along the way, juggling both their finals schedule and golf practice.
The Frogs have advanced to the NCAA championship in six of the past eight seasons, including each of the last two seasons, but have not won a national championship.
