RamWire: Rams Driven by More Than One Shot

FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- Silence.

Just sitting in the air for the 76 mile drive up US-195 from Pullman, Wash., to Spokane. It lingered when they were in the air, flying back to Denver.

One stroke.

That's all it was, making it all too clear for the Colorado State men's golf team that when coach Christian Newton says every shot matters, it's not just coach speak. Cliché was replaced with reality on May 15, 2019 at Palouse Ridge Golf Club as the Rams missed out on the NCAA Championships by one stroke to South Carolina in a playoff. Each of them sitting in silence, running back in their mind to find their opportunity to erase it somehow from the memory of 55 holes in three days.

Maybe the first day, when the Rams sat in 11^th in a 13-team field. It's even possible it could be found in the middle round, where CSU a made a move to fifth, the final team qualifying spot. Most definitely the final round, when they sank back to sixth by losing in a one-hole team playoff.

"We were all disappointed after that. That really stunk," Newton said. "That drive back to the airport from Pullman to Spokane, I mean, there wasn't a word spoken in the car.

"They were disappointed, but I was really proud of them. They went toe to toe with a top-15 team in the country, so I think they're motivated. I don't think they want to feel that again. That's awesome."

Awesome, because the reaction tells Newton all he needs to know about his team heading into the 2019-20 campaign. The Rams lose Jake Staiano from last year's regional, but still have five players on hand with regional experience.

As a group, they weren't on radio silence all summer as they set out on their different paths. They talked, but they didn't bring up the bogey in the room, at least not specifically.

They all knew, however, it was the underlying topic.

"It doesn't have to be said," sophomore Davis Bryant said. "We haven't specifically talked about it, but you can tell that the preparation is just like how it was in early May. We're still doing the same stuff we were doing back then, we just picked right back up on it."

It was implied by their schedules. Each golfer has a different way to work on their game. Amounts of time spent with a swing coach can vary, so can spans on the golf course. While some need rounds to get their work in, others just simply need work around the green, on the tee box.

To each their own, and Newton loved the approach each of them took, knowing it was specifically designed to the way they are individually wired.

All in search of one stroke? Yes, and no.

Senior AJ Ott learned early in his collegiate career the importance of letting go. That's not to suggest an overly casual attitude about competition, rather the contrary. Once the swing is completed, the results come from the work prior, and a golfer has to trust the process which created the muscle memory.

But another shot awaits, and one bad one can't affect the next.

"You can see every single round there, you see sloppy mistakes, so I think just being a little more diligent in practice and stuff like that, and not taking a break over any shot, even if it's a two-footer or a tap in, something like that," Ott said. "Really trying to focus on each shot and pre-shot routine. Once you make the swing, you can't control the outcome from there, so just being a little more diligent in your mental process.

"It's a really fine line. I learned after my freshman and sophomore years that there's an element of just going out and not really caring about the outcome. I think that's developed through practice and competition and being under pressure, where you learn to get in a routine and you learn how to let shots go, because you have to focus so much on the next one. It's a super-fine line, and I think everybody on our team understands that, and that's a big piece to being successful, especially through a long season like we have."

For teammate Oscar Teiffel, it was going home and working on each and every shot, whereas both Ott and Bryant played rounds. Not as many as in the past, but they made sure to go after big fish. So did Parathakorn Suyasri in Thailand.

Newton just reeled off the results.

"For me, always putting a couple of guys in the US Amateur is always a nice barometer of where your program is," he started. "You have a player win the Southern Am, which is probably one of the best amateur tournaments in the country, probably the world. Then you have somebody defend the home turf and go and win the (Colorado) amateur tournament. I'm very pleased with the success.

"Poon played really good over in Thailand, played in several pro events over there and made the cut, and he won a couple of amateur events, as well. There was a lot of good stuff from them over the summer."

Ott was the low amateur at the Colorado Open, edging out Bryant, whose parents help run the tournament. It was his first time in the field, and losing out to a CSU teammate – and topping a host of other Rams current and past -- wasn't all that bad.

To a point.

"I did not want to lose. I am a competitor," he said, "I wanted to win."

Ott won that tournament, and also bagged the title at the Southern Amateur just prior. He was second at the Southwest Amateur in Phoenix, where Bryant placed 15^th.

All of it was in preparation for what Newton has in store for them this season, starting with the Carpet Capital Collegiate tournament at The Farm Golf Club in Rocky Face, Ga.

As Newton put it, he can build a schedule that tells his team he doesn't think they're any good right off the bat, or he can challenge them to show his faith. He went hard after the latter.

"The schedule is ambitious, to say the least, but that's what they want," he said. "They want to play against the best. They want to know you can believe you can go there and be competitive with those teams, so my opinion is you should play the best courses against the best teams."

Newton most definitely believes, and the players understood, the first challenging round of the season would come prior to the NCAA tracking progress. It happened when Newton held the qualifying round the week prior at the Fort Collins Country Club. The two low scores were on the plane, with the other three spots filled at Newton's discretion.

The competition among themselves is important, as is seeing varied courses and teams. They need it to finish where they want, and to put the drive on one simple shot is over simplifying things.

It's about finishing what's been started.

"A lot of guys have had a great summer, and conference we've taken second or third I think three or four years in a row. We're so close, and I think a big part of that is going out and trusting we've been in those positons and we know we haven't played our best. If we put our best together, we know we're going to be pretty good."

They've been three shots shy of conference titles, placing as the runner-up three years running in the Mountain West. They had previous near misses at NCAA Regionals in the past, too.

Newton feels they're ready to kick down the door, and this summer, each of them set out to do their part to produce the splinters. So do others, as the Rams are ranked No. 24 in the preseason by GolfChannel.com.

"When we saw some success in the late spring and even the last couple of years … The whole team and what is expected and the message coach is bringing, it's starting to mend together," Bryant said. "That's the expectation. That message is sent, and that's going to be a lot better."

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