The University of Houston-Victoria hosted their golf UHV Fall Classic on Oct. 16 and 17 this year. Both the men’s and women’s golf teams competed, marking their second of three tournaments for the month of October.
Finishing with a two-round score of 725 (+149), the women’s golf team placed in fifth place. Kimberly ‘Kim’ Burch, a junior economics and finance major, led the Crusaders’ scores, shooting rounds of 84 and 83. She tied for sixth place at +23, achieving her 18th top-10 placement to date.
“I didn’t play as well as I would have liked but the course itself was kind of difficult,” Burch said. “Those scores of the whole tournament are a little bit worse than they would normally be because the course was hard.”
Burch’s highlight of the UHV Fall Classic occurred on the first day of the tournament. Undeterred by the difficult course and windy weather conditions, Burch expertly holed out from 125 yards on the 18th hole, scoring a 3 on a par-5 with her 9-iron.
“I saw it bounce and I thought it might have been good and I didn’t see it up on the green,” Burch shared. “I was like it’s either in the hole or I misjudged it, and sure enough it was an eagle. I was pretty proud of that.”
While the women were hard at work at the UHV Classic, so were the men. The men’s golf team took fourth place in their three-round tournament, finishing with a score of 922 (+58), with Texas A&M-San Antonio just three strokes ahead.
“Day one was absolutely brutal conditions,” said Rex Soulliere, a junior business major on the men’s team. “There were a couple weird holes in terms of layout, which made it pretty difficult, but we got a good group of guys.”
Leading the Crusaders for the men’s team, Soulliere shot 74, 74, and 78, finishing at +10 and placing eighth in the tournament for his best finish of this fall season so far.
“We played 36 holes that [first] day,” Soulliere shared. “Just being able to keep your head in it when you’re on the course for ten hours at a time is kind of a grind, but it was a good experience for sure.”
In addition to his scoring achievement, Soulliere shared another highlight of the tournament.
“We saw an alligator,” Soulliere said. “It was just chilling there in the practice round on the 17th hole.”
Without an official golf coach, other members of the athletic faculty, including Director of Athletics Jarred Samples, continually stepped up to take the teams to tournaments. Though the coach-less situation has presented difficulties, it has not stopped the golf teams from pursuing their sport this season.
“It’s kind of a tough scene for us but we manage,” Burch agreed. “We have pretty good relationships on the team, so it wasn’t a huge deal for us to kind of figure it out.”
Despite shooting on one of the toughest courses of the season, as well as the temporary lack of a coach presence, the men’s and women’s golf teams put in 100% effort and came out strong from the UHV Fall Classic with a positive outlook future games.
“It was a little bit of a tough outing but I’m sure we’ll bounce back and we’ve been having a good season thus far,” Burch commented. “Hopefully we can end the fall on a high note so that way we have confidence coming into the spring.”
Soulliere shared the same hope for the men’s team.
“This team has such a bright future,” Soulliere said. “We’re really close as a team.”
After Wayland Baptist University’s Chicken Express Classic (Oct. 23), the men and women’s golf teams will conclude their fall tournament schedule.