Michigan State University Athletics
Q&A With Men's Golf
4/1/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
April 1, 2004
The Michigan State men's golf team heads to the 53rd Border Olympics in Laredo, Texas, this Friday-Saturday (April 2-3). This year's tournament will be played at the par-72, 7,125-yard Laredo Country Club with 36 holes on Friday and the final 18 on Saturday.
MSUSpartans.com caught up with a few of the golfers to talk about the spring season and the team's expectations before MSU's trip to Laredo.
Q&A with Casey Lubahn
Q: After not playing the fall season, how difficult is it to come back and compete at the top of your game?
A: It's pretty hard. Just getting back into competitive golf is totally different. You can practice on the range, green and on the course, but you can never get the same feeling you get in competition. There's no way to simulate it. You just have to get out there and get used to it again. I'm pretty close to it now, the first tournament was kind of a shock but I'm feeling that I'm a lot closer.
Q: What are you doing mentally to regain your competitive form?
A: Not a lot, just trying to remember good rounds, good feelings on the golf course, past tendencies and just regain control of my emotions.
Q: What does the team need to do the remainder of the season in order to rebound from the rough first spring tournament?
A: I think we just need to go play. We got a little caught up in analysis and the technicalities. We need to go play golf. That's what most of us have been doing since elementary school. It's not too big of a secret; we just need to keep playing and start trusting ourselves. And now that we've got this great weather, we're going to back into form in no time.
Q: What did the team learn from its experience in Alabama?
A: You have to be honest with yourself. We thought we were so prepared. We really weren't being honest; we weren't as prepared as we thought we were. We worked hard, but we hadn't worked hard on the little things you have to do in order to play well. We'll get things back together. This is the most talented team I've been on since I've been here. We just need to get back out there and start winning and playing well again. One good tournament and we'll be back into the swing of things; one good round really for most of us. One good round can make the difference between a good year and a bad year. Last year we had it going all fall; we had it on auto-pilot and then the spring came and we had one bad tournament like we did in Alabama and kind of fell apart. But this year it was kind of a wake up call for us.
Q: How can you provide leadership to the team?
A: Just the little things, these guys all know how to play. We have the best freshmen class. Matt Harmon is one of the best freshmen I've ever seen. There's not a lot I can do as far as telling them how to play golf, they know what to do. It's the little things: when to practice, what to practice, and how to behave on the road. Little things that I didn't know, that (former Spartans) Eric Jorgensen and John Koskinen taught me. Being a leader is just being there for these guys, and that's what I do.
Q: Is it difficult practicing in the cold Michigan weather, sometimes indoors, and then having to compete south in a more temperate climate?
A: Definitely, you can't simulate rough lies or tough little chips shots around the green. There's nothing you can do; you just have to go and get used to them again. I think that's what we struggled with the most (in Alabama). We've gotten some good practice the last two weeks and are more than ready now. We have no excuses left, we can just go play. We're not giving ourselves outs; we're just sucking it up and competing. We're ready now, definitely.
Q: What are your personal goals heading into the Border Olympics tournament?
A: I just want to go back to playing how I play: control my emotions, make a lot of pars, shoot a couple rounds around par, and help the team play well. There's nothing left for me to do except for go out there and try to win every week. I've been working hard for 14 years to do something like this. I want to go out there and get a good start and get myself into contention.
Q: What are the team's goals heading into the Border Olympics tournament?
A: I think we just need to get back onto our feet a bit. I really think we could play in one of the last groups in the last round. That would be a great goal if we could get into the final threesome, just so we can get our nerves back, see what it's feels like to be in the hunt. When you get into contention everything changes. You get nervous again, that's what we need to get back to. If we're going to win Big Ten's and make it to Regionals, we have to have those feelings.
Q: What professional golfer do you model your game after?
A: I like the way David Toms and Mike Weir play. I like the guys that are a mixture of length and accuracy and are neat around the greens. I'm not a power player; I'm more of a finesse player. Mike Weir is a good one for me.
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A: I think we just need to keep working hard. It's always tough to go out the first tournament of the spring and get right into competitive golf, especially since we can't play outside. We've put it past us, it's just getting used to tournament golf again.
Q: What did you learn from your experience in Alabama?
A: I usually play basketball in the winter, so I learned that I should focus on my swing some more in the winter and make sure I'm in correct positions and everything.
Q: Is it difficult practicing in the cold Michigan weather, sometimes indoors, and then having to compete south in a more temperate climate?
A: Yes, we're used to practicing in the cold weather so it's not hard to practice, but making the transition to the south is always tough.
Q: What are your personal goals heading into the Border Olympics tournament?
A: I just hope to have a good showing, not have any bad rounds. We're all going to throw away a few shots here and there, I just hope to recover and just play well.
Q: What are the team's goals heading into the Border Olympics tournament?
A: To be in contention. We've got enough talent on this team that we should be in contention every week. Just throw four scores together and see what happens.
Andrew Ruthkoski
 Andrew Ruthkoski | |
A: I think it's going to be good having three tournaments back-to-back coming up. I think it will just carry over from weekend to weekend, depending on how we play in the first tournament. We've all played before; we know that it was a rough start coming off of winter break. We need to get back into the competitive flow again. Once we do that it will start carrying over from one tournament to the next.
Q: What did you learn from your experience in Alabama?
A: It takes a little bit to get back into the competitiveness again. It's a little different because you're hitting shots that mean something. You're not scooping up your 5-footers or throwing down another ball. Each shot means something and it takes a little bit to get back into that. That's why I think these next three weeks will be good for us because we'll be into that and we won't lose that feel. It will just carry over from one tournament to the next and all the way through to the Big Ten's.
Q: Is it difficult practicing in the cold Michigan weather, sometimes indoors, and then having to compete south in a more temperate climate?
A: Competitiveness is the main thing; you just have to get that going. It's hard to regain your feel also. You need to get the feel for your shots how well you're hitting it and once you get out there you need to adjust to the way you're hitting it. There's a bit of a disadvantage there but we can still stay sharp by hitting into the nets.
Q: What are your personal goals heading into the Border Olympics tournament?
A: I always want to win when I go to a tournament. If you don't go there to win, there's really no point in going.
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A: We just need to relax a bit and not go in with as many expectations as we had. I think we felt like we were really prepared for the first tournament and probably put a little too much pressure on ourselves. When you do that, things usually don't turn out very well. If we just stay relaxed and keep doing the things we're doing; good things will happen because we're more than good enough.
Q: What did the team learn from its experience in Alabama?
A: Not to put a lot of pressure on ourselves, stay in the present when we're out there playing. The big thing I learned was not to put a lot of pressure on myself to go out and try to do too much out there.
Q: Is it difficult practicing in the cold Michigan weather, sometimes indoors, and then having to compete south in a more temperate climate?
A: The only difficult adjustment we have is probably just playing golf. We get to practice a lot, work on our swings and we're in pretty good physical shape when we go down there; but getting out there, playing golf, walking and trying to shoot a number, posting a score, is a lot different than hitting balls into a net or inside in a dome.
Q: What are your personal goals heading into the Border Olympics tournament?
A: I really don't have any; the only thing I want to do is go out and focus on each shot that's in front of me and let the results take care of themselves.
Q: What are the team's goals heading into the Border Olympics tournament?
A: I think we wouldn't go to a tournament if we didn't think we could win it, but at the same time, by the time we get down there we won't be thinking about that. We'll be focused on learning the golf course and getting ourselves mentally ready to play.
