Published: May 04, 2008 01:44 am            

FSU golfers set for title run

FAIRMONT — Will Gautreau, Justin Caroli and Zack Rudy have been here before and know what it feels like to win it.

This week, Fairmont State University's top three golfers would love to experience that feeling once more.

The Falcon golf team departed Fairmont early this morning en route to the NCAA Division II Northeast/East Super Regional at the St. Anne's Golf Club in Middletown, Del. FSU will play its practice round today. The three-day, 54-hole event will begin Monday.

Fairmont State is the defending East Regional champion. The Falcons rallied on the final day last season to topple Indiana (Pa.) University by three strokes on the Jones Course at the Speidel Golf Club in Wheeling. That victory gave FSU its first-ever NCAA Division II East Regional title and earned the team its first-ever trip to the NCAA Division II Finals, where the Falcons finished 18th last May.

Gautreau, one of FSU's two senior leaders this season, tied for medalist honors last year at the East Regional with the University of Charleston's Michael Todd. Both finished with eight-over par 221s.

“It's an exciting time for all of us and assuming that none of the other seven teams in our region have played the golf course before I think we'll all be on equal footing in those terms,” said Gautreau, a first-team All-West Virginia Conference selection this season.

Like Gautreau, Caroli, a senior, and Rudy, a junior, were both selected first-team All-WVC this season. Caroli finished 11th individually last season at the regional and a team-best 51st last year at the NCAA Finals.

“For Will and I, this is our last go-round,” said Caroli. “Coach (Mike) Walker sent out an e-mail the other day saying that we worked really hard last year to get our seniors Jon (Burnside) and Tyler (Franklin) to the NCAA Finals last year and we're not expecting anything less out of ourselves or the guys this year. We'd love to make it back there.”

Rudy, who played in the five-spot last season for FSU, struggled some last season at the regional, but bounced back and enjoyed a solid outing at the NCAA Finals. In fact, at one point early on in the national tournament, he was leading the event.

“I learned last year that one shot can make all of the difference in the world,” said Rudy, who now plays No. 3 for FSU. “You know, we didn't win the regional by much last season so every shot counts. You've got to focus on every shot and make every one count because you never know when your score will be used.

“Winning the regional last year was without a doubt the best golf feeling I've ever experienced. I'd love to have the chance to experience that again.”

Because Gautreau, Caroli and Rudy all have a wealth of experience playing in big events they say the best advice they can give to FSU's young players is to remain calm, overcome your nerves and take shots and holes one at a time.

“Whether you're a senior or a freshman, you're going to get nervous in this type of event, but you've got to learn to just battle yourself,” said Caroli. “If you have a bad hole you've got to quickly put it in the past and look toward the present and future and try to make up for it the best that you can. You also have to play within yourself. You can't get caught trying to do things you can't do.

“Jon (Burnside) and Tyler (Franklin) were great captains and leaders for us when they were here and hopefully Will and I can be the same way for the young guys on our team this year. If they have questions, we're here to talk. When you're out there playing you just have to calm yourself and play the course one shot and one hole at a time. You can't look back and you can't look ahead.”

Heading into the East Regional, FSU fell a few spots in the regional rankings from fourth to sixth despite the fact that the Falcons won a pair of events this spring and finished third in another. That drop, however, has only served to motivate Fairmont State's players even more.

“That's fine with us,” said Rudy with a laugh. “I hope everybody does take us lightly. We kind of flew under the radar last year and won it when no one expected us to. I'd love to do it again this year.”

Gautreau agrees.

“We basically fell in the rankings because we lost a player (Ben Palmer) at the semester, but one player doesn't make a team,” he said. “You still need four solid scores to count. So, yeah, that hurt a little, but it really doesn't matter where you're ranked going into this thing, it's where you finish that counts.

“We just need our four and five guys to step up and play well for us. It's going to be a new experience for them, but as veterans we're trying to coach them and support them as best as possible. We'll see what happens for us this week.”

        

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