The Wildcats debuted their 2021 fall season with a tournament at Louisiana Tech.

“It’s a course we are very familiar with as we have played there the past few years,” head coach Tom Shaw said. “We tried to come in with a good game plan. This issue was this field had way more teams than it usually has, and we were up against some stiff competition.”

The competition included teams like Louisiana State, UT San Antonio, Southern Mississippi, and Little Rock University. ACU ended up placing 14th out of 21 teams. Zane Heusel, a junior from Edmond, Oklahoma, led ACU tying for 17th place out of 118 for individual players. Heusel ended two under par, with the next ACU player being senior from Coppell, Texas, Brian Choe, coming in four over par. Unfortunately for ACU, Choe and Heusel’s performance just wasn’t enough as ACU fell to the bottom half of the rankings.

“We were ready for that level of competition,” said Heusel. “We were excited to get back into it for the year. If anything, this helps us prepare and lock in for the year.”

In last years Jim Rivers Intercollegiate ACU placed eighth, with Choe leading the Wildcats. He placed in the top ten last year with the same score as Heusel’s score this year. There were a total of twelve teams that competed last year, with highlights from Louisiana Tech and the University of Alabama.

“We have a deep team where you may seem a different lineup. So part of a solution would be having different players play. We could very well take the same lineup, or it could be completely different,” said Shaw.

The 2021 roster has a total of 11 players, of which two are freshmen. Five of the other players have been ACU since their freshman year, with four being transfers.

The next scheduled invitational for ACU Golf is the Badger Invitational hosted by Wisconsin University. The Badger Invitational will take place from Sunday, September 26, through Tuesday, September 28.