Q&A with Mark Hankins
9/24/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Sept. 24, 2004
EAST LANSING, Mich. -
What does it mean to the team to be ranked so highly this early in the season?
We hope it doesn't mean anything. It's just two tournaments and most teams have just played one. We've just played well. It's hard to do any ranking on one or two tournaments. I think more than anything it represents that people need to respect our program and that we're a good team. We won't know how good we are until we get four or five tournaments into the schedule.
Is there any added pressure on the team because of the rankings?
There isn't any added pressure because we don't talk about rankings amongst ourselves. Our goal is not to be ranked high. Our goals are to go to the NCAA tournament and play well at the Big Ten tournament and at nationals. Our goals have no bearing on rankings.
What does Ruthkoski's individual ranking mean to himself and to the team?
Ruthkoski has lofty goals this year, this being his senior year. We're a little premature in saying if that's going to affect his game in any way. It's nice to be recognized for good play. So few times our golfers are recognized for all the hard work they put in. Golfers probably put in the most hours of any team because we have a fall and spring season. It's great any time we can recognize their accomplishments.
Talk about the importance of the team's confidence level heading into this week.
I think we have really tried to break it down into staying in the present and taking one shot at a time. It may be cliché but in golf it's extremely important. When we go out there I think our main goal is to always play to our potential. We can't control if we win or lose, but we can control how we play. We did that well in the last round of last weekend's tournament. We let the field come back to us. We can only try to change or control things we have control over. We control how we play and the decisions we make.
Is the team excited to return to a course where they performed well at last year? I think we always enjoy this trip, it's a beautiful place. I don't know why, but we have performed well out there in the past. The guys just enjoy the trip and the golf course. It should be a fun trip.