As the new season begins, Nicholls golf aims to build on last year’s historic finish

The Nicholls State University golf team teed off on the new season last Monday as they
traveled to participate in the Jim Rivers Intercollegiate tournament hosted by Louisiana Tech.
The team finished 10th out of 12 participating teams in Monday’s rounds and finished 11th on
Tuesday’s.

Head coach James Schilling explained that the team lacked the consistency needed to put
them over the top, saying, “We were at Louisiana Tech for the first tourney. It was a tough
competitive field from top to bottom. We played well in spurts but not consistently well enough
through each round. Because of that, we didn’t place where we should have once the 54 holes
(three 18-hole rounds) were complete. We played well in portions of each round, but not
throughout the entire round.”

Last season, Nicholls golf had a historic finish to the year. The team placed fourth overall
in the Southland Conference Tournament, which marked the best finish in school history for the
program. Returning senior Albert Badosa-Soler became the first player in program history to
capture the Southland Conference Individual Championship. The team will aim to better last
year’s finish and make history again this season.

“Most of the players that did that are back. Our individual champion for the Southland
Conference was Albert (Badosa-Soler), he’s back as well. He’s here for his senior year. We’ll be
relying on those core players that we had last year, we had two in the top five, Jack Lee and
Albert,” said Schilling. “We’re looking for them to lead the team going forward. Hopefully some
of the freshmen, we have three freshmen, can improve and step up their game as well.”

Nicholls golf will continue play next week on Monday and Tuesday as they travel to
Madison, Illinois to participate in the SIUE Derek Dolenc Invitational hosted by Southern
Illinois University Edwardsville. For the tournament, Schilling hopes that his team stays
confident throughout.

“Our goal is improving mental play, don’t let poor shots or bad breaks affect us as much
mentally. Be more on an even level throughout the entire round, regardless if we’re playing
excellent or we’re playing not so well. Just try to ride it out and be more confident in what we
can do and not if something bad happens to you,” said Schilling.