Sept. 12, 2014
Tournament Notes 
| Live Scores/Tee Times
ABOUT THE TOURNAMENT SMU will participate in the GolfWeek Conference Challenge in Burlington, Iowa, to start the season. The 12-team, three-day event will begin Sunday and conclude Tuesday.
THE FIELD
The tournament field features 12 teams, with ninth-ranked LSU as the highest-ranked squad in the event. Both host Iowa and SMU are receiving votes in the initial GolfWorld/Nike Coaches Poll. LSU has two players ranked in the top 50 of the GolfWeek/Sagarin individual rankings - Stewart Jolly (29th) and Curtis Thompson (40th).
Bryson Dechambeau SET FOR WORLD AMATEUR TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS
JUNIOR TO MISS SMU'S SEASON OPENING TOURNAMENT
SMU junior Bryson Dechambeau is across the Pacific Ocean, looking to help USA's three-man squad win its second-consecutive World Amateur Team Championship beginning Wednesday in Karuizawa, Japan.
Dechambeau, a Second Team All-American after last season, will join Texas' Beau Hossler and Virginia's Denny McCarthy on the USA squad at the prestigious international event. Play began Wednesday and the four-day event will end with the medalists crowned on Saturday.
A total of 69 teams are entered into the 29th World Amateur Team Championship, tying for the third-largest field to compete for the Eisenhower Trophy since the inception of the tournament in 1958.
Hossler (11th), McCarthy (14th) and Dechambeau (29th) are all highly-ranked in the latest World Amateur Golf Ranking. Overall, there are 13 golfers ranked in the top 25 of the WAGR competing in Japan this week, as well as four Division I All-Americans and five players who also played in the Palmer Cup in June. Dechambeau is the only USA player from the Palmer Cup squad also competing at the WATC.
SMU head coach Jason Enloe competed in the 1996 edition of the event, and is fully aware of the significance of playing in it.
"Playing for your country is the coolest thing you can do as a golfer," Enloe said. "He's so humbled and so thankful for this opportunity to play for the United States. It will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for him to go to Japan and compete for his country.
Enloe also added that he believes this is just the beginning of many chances Dechambeau will have to represent the USA on a golf course.
"He's already represented the United States at the Palmer Cup this summer, and I think he'll make a Walker Cup," Enloe said. "I think Bryson is going to be good enough that he'll make a Ryder Cup team someday. I can't wait to watch him."
Notable former players to compete at the WATC include Tiger Woods (1994), Rory McIlroy (2006), Rickie Fowler (2008), Hunter Mahan (2002), Vijay Singh (1980), Phil Mickelson (1990) and Jack Nicklaus (1960). SMU alum Hank Kuehne represented the USA in 1998, with the team finishing seventh.
DECHAMBEAU GOES GLOBAL
Junior Bryson Dechambeau is currently representing the USA in the World Amateur Team Championships (ends Saturday), marking the second time this summer that the Californian has played for his country. Dechabeau also played in the Palmer Cup in June, making him the only collegiate golfer to represent the USA at both events.
SMOTHERMAN ADVANCED THROUGH AT TANGLE RIDGE
Junior Austin Smotherman needed a strong finish at the U.S. Amateur Qualifying Event at Tangle Ridge Golf Course in Grand Prairie in July to advance to the U.S. Amateur Championships, and he got that and then some. Smotherman finished at 11-under par after the two-round event to win the tournament and advance to the U.S. Amateur. Smotherman collected five straight birdies during his first round to propel him to victory, making him the third Mustang (Bryson Dechambeau, Ben Baxter) to compete in the U.S. Amateur.
COACH QUOTABLES
On the team's momentum coming off of an NCAA Quarterfinal appearance last season... "The team's trajectory is still quite high. We're expecting to improve on last year's finish. We're not satisfied. We had a great run, and our goal is to get ourselves back into position into match play at the NCAAs and competing for a national championship. We've got basically the same core group of guys. We're going to miss Harry Higgs, but we've got some guys that will step up quite nicely."
On who may be a stand out player this season... "So far I've been really impressed by (freshman) Ben Baxter. We had him pegged as a sleeper that we were very lucky to get. We really expect great things from Ben. He's a great kid. I expect Gray Townsend and Ryan Gronlund to contribute this year. We only have nine kids on the team. We're small and we're close and they will be pushing for playing time."
On Baxter playing in the U.S. Amateur and what it means for his confidence entering his freshman season... "I think Ben struggled with believing that he belonged with the top players. But after seeing him play this summer, he may not have been ranked as a top recruit coming into this class but I can't see many kids better than him that are coming in as freshmen this year. His experience in the bigger tournaments should help him acclimate to college golf pretty well."
On the expectations for his players heading into the season opener without Bryson Dechambeau in the lineup... "It's going to be tough playing without Bryson, but it does give us an extra tournament to get one of those freshman or maybe some sophomores that didn't play a lot last year a chance to get some experience."
