This weekend, the men’s golf team is heading to Columbus, Ohio, to play in the Buckeye Classic. With the Western Athletic Conference Championship coming up at the end of April, this tournament could help the team build some momentum—or get more reps in before the big one.

So far this season, the team has seen some success. In six out of their nine tournaments, they’ve finished in fourth place or better. Head Coach Tom Shaw says one of the team’s strengths is how deep their roster is.

“We’ve got a pretty deep team, and we can plug players in,” Shaw said.

Only five players get to travel for each tournament. Every week, the players have to compete in practice rounds to see who earns a spot.

“We have to qualify during the week and figure out who our top five guys are that are going to go, so it’s a pretty competitive group,” Shaw said. “There’s not a lot of difference between one through ten on our team.”

Throughout the season, the team has played at a variety of locations and in different weather conditions. The Wildcats have gone as far north as Washington for the Redhawk Invitational hosted by Seattle University and as far south as Cancun, Mexico, for the Los Vaqueros Intercollegiate hosted by the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley.

“Getting the experience to travel across the country and see new parts of the world, I think it develops them as people and helps their game adapt to different playing conditions,” Shaw said.

The Wildcats will begin playing in the Buckeye Classic at 7 a.m. Friday with Trenton Johnson, senior from Brentwood, Tennessee, in the first group.

The team is hoping for another solid showing in Columbus as it gets closer to the WAC Championship. The Wildcats are looking to keep their current momentum and improve their overall skills before traveling to Payson for the WAC Tournament.