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The Rice Thresher
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by Chris Larson thresher editorial staff
Two years ago, the Owls finished 15th in the 16-team WAC. Last year, after eight schools left the conference, Rice tied for seventh in an eight-team WAC field. That's a grand total of one team the Owls beat in two years. But the Owls say this year's edition of the WAC meet, to be held Monday through Wednesday in Broken Arrow, Okla., will be different, and they've got a lot on their side to make the claim more than an empty cliche. The most obvious difference is the presence of two freshmen, Scott Philips and Ryan Morgan, who have emerged as the team's leaders. The duo has posted two of Rice's top three individual scores in the Owls' last eight tournaments. Morgan and Philips have each shown the potential to be not only good, but great - Morgan finished second in February's Rice Intercollegiate, and Philips reeled off three top-five finishes in Rice's next three tournaments, including a win at the El Diablo Intercollegiate. Most recently, Morgan tied for 24th and Philips tied for 30th at the Border Olympics in Laredo April 5-7 to lead the Owls in a somewhat disappointing 11th place effort. "[The WAC is] definitely going to be a great tournament," Philips said. "I've been trying to prep for this ever since we got out of Border. Hopefully I'll get up there and things will work out like they did earlier on. I think I played really well earlier this semester, and gave myself the confidence that I can do it, so I'm hopeful that I can get up there with some confidence and get off to a good start. "I think that's the key for the team - just get ourselves in position for a strong finish," Philips said. "We're definitely capable of it. It's just a matter of, like we've struggled to do all year long, putting four solid rounds together." Another factor working in the Owls' favor is health. Senior Chris Connolly returned in the Border Olympics after being on the injured list due to a fractured collarbone. Low scores are nothing new to Connolly - he used a final-round 68 to finish fifth in the Purina Classic in October, and he was the Owls' low scorer in Rice's last two events a year ago, including the 2000 WAC Championships. Freshman Winn Smith and sophomore Brandon Jung will round out the Rice Five. "Winn's playing great now," Philips said. "He's got his putter rolling - it's fun to watch, and he's had a lot of improvement just over the past two weeks. Chris is always pretty steady, and Brandon's been steady on the team. He hasn't played as well as he liked or as well as he can, but he's improving every tournament." Additionally, the Owls hope to come into the tournament fresh after a week without competing. "We got some much-needed rest after Border," Philips said. "It's tough when you're going week after week - we had a stretch there when three out of four weeks we had a tournament. We've had time to rest and get our games in shape." There will be a lot of unfamiliar faces for the Owls at the tournament - of eight WAC foes, Rice has only competed against the University of Tulsa and Southern Methodist University. SMU won the season-opening Stonebridge Classic, where the Owls finished 15th, and the Mustangs finished fifth in the Border Olympics. Tulsa finished sixth in the Purina Classic, in which the Owls ended up 10th. Even though Rice is ranked eighth of the nine WAC teams in Golfstat's national rankings, ahead only of San Jose State University, the Owls see 10th-ranked Texas Christian University, along with Tulsa and SMU, ranked 35th and 49th, respectively, as their main challengers. "We really don't see much of the WAC all season until conference," Morgan said. "I would say of the teams in the WAC, those are the three we're most focused on going after. We should be beating the other teams with the people we have on our squad." The tournament has additional implications for Philips, who hopes to earn an invitation to the NCAA regionals. Each region invites three individuals whose teams were not invited to the NCAA tournament to compete in the regional tournament. "I talked to [head] coach [Clay Homan] about it, and I know I'm close," Philips said. "I really wish I would have played well at the Border, it would definitely have helped. I hope to go out and focus for three rounds." The Owls hope the WAC tournament ends the frustration the team has faced this season as a result of seeing a few poor performances cancel out some strong rounds. "I think we're all pretty determined to give a good performance in our last opportunity," Morgan said. "We've known all year we've been capable of doing it - it's just been so frustrating that we haven't."
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