The Auburn men's golf team will be in full swing this weekend at the Seminole Intercollegiate at the Golden Eagle Country Club in Tallahassee, Fla.
"I have expectations of us finally beginning to start putting our team together and try to get better each week," said head coach Mike Griffin.
During the tournament hosted by Florida State University, the team is expected to play a total of 54 holes, 18 on each day, according to its Web site.
The team travels to Florida after coming in eighth place at the 2009 John Burns Intercollegiate at the Leilehua Golf Course in Hawaii Feb. 18-20.
"I wish we could have played a little better in Hawaii," said Kyle Kopsick, who occupies the third spot on the team. "We've learned some things to improve on for the next tournament and the rest of the season."
Glenn Northcutt, a senior in marketing, and Cole Moreland, a junior in finance, round out the top three spots with Kopsick, a freshman in liberal arts.
The competition in Hawaii resulted in ties for Moreland for fourth, Northcutt for 19th and Kopsick for 33rd.
While Will McCurdy, a freshman in undeclared liberal arts, ended with a 7-222 and redshirt Jonathan Fly, freshman, received a 76-224.
Griffin said while the season has gone the way he expected it would, he thought the team could have played better in Hawaii.
"I'm a little disappointed at that one, but at the same time, we had the opportunity to put two more new freshmen in the line up and let them play the first tournament of their careers," Griffin said. This team is the youngest Griffin has ever coached, with Northcutt being the only letterman returning to the team.
Griffin said the inconsistencies are the hardest thing to adjust to with a young team.
"I'm hoping here recently, quickly, that we are going to be able to right the ship a little bit on that," Griffin said. "I'm hoping that we've gotten everyone in the line up that's going to probably to get in the line up, which means now we will be taking players to tournaments who've at least played one or two tournaments."
Kopsick said having such a young team helped make the transition into college golf a little easier.
"We have a really young team, so there wasn't a lot of pressure coming from the older guys," Kopsick said.
Auburn won the team championship of the Seminole Intercollegiate in 2007. They tied for second last year.
"It feels good to get a win," said head coach Mike Griffin after the team's victory in 2007. "It was fun for the guys. They have been thinking about trying to win a golf tournament and this was a good place to start. We put ourselves in a good position early."
According to secsports.com, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt will compete in the intercollegiate as well.
After the Seminole Intercollegiate, the team will travel to Las Vegas to play in the Southern Highlands Intercollegiate March 13-15.
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