A Welcome Extension for the Final Grade
A season with turmoil finds Rams right where they expected to be
Everything started just fine. As it was expected.
Then some unraveling took place in the early winter, and before the spring started, Christian Newton’s men’s golf program at Colorado State sat at 110 in the rankings.
Four months later, the Rams are poised to make some noise in the postseason. So how exactly did they go from A to B to NCAAs?
“To me, we kind of had it out at the end of the fall. We had a knock-down, drag-out meeting, and I closed with they had a chance to write their story and they could change it,” Newton said. “At the time, everybody said we were out, and we had so much drama we were going to be down. We had a chance to change the narrative and to rewrite it the way we wanted to, and what an incredible story it could be if we did it.
“And we did.”
The team won their first tournament of the season – the Rams Masters – then followed up by winning the Paintbrush Invitational to open October. A great start. But then the next five tournaments didn’t go the way any of them had envisioned. The roster was never fluid, and changes became necessary.
After the meeting with Newton, senior Davis Bryant pulled the team together and they hashed out some issues. This was a program which had qualified in 2019, and in 2020, they looked like a shoo-in before the pandemic hit.
This season started with a goal in mind of getting back, but that wasn’t happening the way things were trending. After they listed to their coach, they had their say to each other.
“I kind of got the team together and there were some issues we wanted to discuss. We got on the same page about why we’re here,” he said. “We got on the same page about why we’re here, why we have to trust each other and hold people accountable. We realized we had the opportunity to do something special.”
The final four tournaments of the year showed the turnaround taking place, leading up to a second-place finish in the Mountain West Championships, paced by Connor Jones’ individual title.
On May 2, the Rams were forced to sweat it out. Newton had crunched some numbers, and he had been told based on the final rankings his team would be the last in. Then a call came from a committee member.
“Full disclosure, I had heard we had moved up two spots in the rankings and that 69 was the number. That would put us last in, but then an hour later, I get a call from a committee member, almost wanting me to plead our case of why we should be in,” Newton said. “He was like, we’re not done yet, and I’m like, oh God. I thought it was done and all I could do was mess it up at that point, so I got nervous.
“I told them we had not had our whole roster available but one time. We lost two kids to back injuries, we had a concussion where somebody didn’t play and we had suspensions. We didn’t have a lot going on and we’re ranked as high as 110 at one time and brought it all the way to move it 41 spots in just the spring, which is almost unheard of. To me, that’s what the case was.”
I feel like we’ve overcome a lot to get to this point, but I still feel we have a lot to get through.Connor Jones
Still, it was an anxious time. The Rams had dug themselves a hole, true. They had done all they could to climb out of it, and deep down, they knew it would leave a gapping wound if their season didn’t get to continue.
So, they met at the Harmony Club at their practice facility and waited for the six regions to be announced. And the Rams had to wait until the very end.
“Our whole team, the last four tournaments, everybody has had a good round here and there. I’d say we’ve been playing up to our potential a little bit more often these past tournaments,” Jones said. “It would have been disappointing. Regionals is a lot of fun, and it would have definitely been disappointing to miss out on that.”
Colorado State leaves Friday for the Bryan Regional, to be played at the traditions Club in Bryan, Texas from May16-18 . The headliner is defending NCAA Champion Pepperdine, and the field is loaded with traditionally strong teams. Texas A&M is in the regional, as is Georgia, Tennessee, Kansas, Arizona and Michigan State. So too is conference foe Boise State.
The Rams have seen the majority of those teams in tournaments this year, topping Kansas, Arizona and Boise State along the way. In the 14-team field, the Rams need a top-five finish to advance to the NCAA Championships, held May 27-June 1 at the Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Newton says his team is ready for it all because of what he’s seen. Bryant has remained steady all year. Jones hit the ball well all year, but some work with assistant Parker Edens and a change in his putter has led to a complete game for him. Rasmus Hjelm continued at the Western and Christoph Bleier and Gavin Hagstrom have both had strong showings.
“Now, there are teams we’ve beaten, and we’ve played in fields like this and finished in the top five,” Newton said. “If we play the way we did at conference, we’ll be fine.”
The team will get a few rounds in prior to regain a feel for playing in Bermuda grass, but they say that comes back pretty easily. The course is noted to be tight, also not a real disadvantage, and playing at sea level isn’t anything new.
What is is the team as currently constructed and the way the Rams have played of late. Getting to this point may have been tougher than it needed to be, but here they are.
“Everything happened for a reason. If some of those things didn’t happen last semester, maybe we wouldn’t be here,” Bryant said. “We all had a part in why we’re leaving on Friday. We’re happy and proud we did overcome those things, but at the same time, we’re not surprised we’re hear. We have a tee time on Monday morning, and that’s all we can ask for.”
The week of preparation coincided with finals week, and academics were part of the talk Newton had with his team months ago. As a squad, they focused on finishing strong in the classroom, and Jones, for one, had to contest with three finals in one day.
As they took tests and turned in projects, golf was the one they were holding back. As a group, they rewrote the season as a whole in a few short months, but the final few chapters, well, those they want to make special.
“I think we’ve overcome a lot. At the start of the year, regionals was a goal, but our long term goal was the national championship and going there,” Jones said. “I feel like we’ve overcome a lot to get to this point, but I still feel we have a lot to get through.”
It’s an extension Newton was more than happy to see granted.