With Hard Work Comes Great Reward

Glendora, CA -- The Citrus College Men's Golf team will be kicking off their 2013 campaign in less than 48 hours, and things surrounding the team seem optimistic. The Owls have continued to improve in their previous three seasons under Head Coach Trip Horton, and that trend looks to continue starting this weekend.

"Now that I'm in my fourth year as the Head Coach, I have a better idea of where we are starting. Our team is in good shape. We have a strong number one, and the guys behind him aren't that far behind," Horton said.  "Top to bottom it's probably the best team we've had. My last guy isn't too far away from my first couple of guys. I'm hoping that if we continue to improve throughout the season we can finish better than our seventh and sixth place finishes the last two years. I think we'll do better for sure."

The Owls, who boast three returners with playing experience, a handful more who have spent time in the program, sprinkled in with a few newbies have a tight knit group. That along with their returning experience should be a positive for them going forward.

"Our cohesiveness is a strength. The team gets a long really well, and we've got a good group of guys. It helps that we're a little older than we have been in the best. That means that we also a little smarter hopefully out on the golf course," Horton said. "We only have on true freshman this year, and he's one of our better players. We have three returners who know what to expect, and then we have other guys who red-shirted last season. It strengthens us from head to toe."

Being an individual sport, golf presents unique challenges when it comes to the team competition portion of it. Your mind can play almost as large a role as your physical skills. In order for Citrus to continue their upward trend, they'll have to learn to play the course and not just their opponent.

"We have to stay strong mentally throughout the whole season. They have to learn not to get down on themselves for one bad round. A lot of our guys have never seen competition like they will this year," Horton said. "There's a high level of competition in our league, and our guys will have to understand quickly that you can't always play to catch up to some of the other guys. You have to play within yourself and stay consistent."

One thing is for certain, if the Owls can continue to work hard the reward at the end has potential to be great, possibly in the form of a berth into the Southern California Championships as an entire team.

"I want to get a team to SoCal Regionals. That's my goal," Horton said. "We've had a single player there the last couple of years, but my goal is get an entire team there. It's so tough in our conference in comparison to a lot of others, and it'll take a lot of work. I think we can do it though."

The Owls' season starts this Sunday when they tee-off for the first day of the Bakersfield College Tournament at Bakersfield Country Club. The first group is set to tee-off at 10:00 AM.