PULLMAN, Wash.- The WSU men's golf team will tee off the 2018 spring season on February 15^th, when they will compete in the John Burns Intercollegiate in Lihue, Hawaii. The tournament will mark the first of six in the spring, eventually leading to the Pac-12 Championships in April.
 
Excluding the season opener and the Bandon Dunes Championship in Oregon, the Cougars will spend much of the spring jumping between California and Arizona for the four remaining tournaments.
 
The Cougars will be coming off of a fall season that had its ups and downs after kicking off with the Itani Quality Homes Collegiate in September. Starting the season off on the right foot, the Cougs would take home the title on their home course, boasting a -33 score of 819. Despite the hot start to the year, the Cougs would struggle to find the same consistency of play away from home in their final four tournaments of the fall.
 
"I think the disappointment and lack of what we expected from the fall will be a catalyst for the spring and get everyone to dig in and play hard," Head Coach Dustin White said.
 
Despite the team finishes, several Cougars individually had strong performances throughout the season. In the Itani Quality Homes Collegiate, all five players finished 11^th or higher, with junior AJ Armstrong sitting at the top tying for 5^th.  In the Golfweek Conference Challenge, senior Brian Mogg tied for 12^th in a field of 73.  
 
"We have three seniors this year so hopefully they'll come out this spring and lead the way," Coach White said, "We saw some good stuff from the younger guys last semester that speaks well for the future and I think those guys will continue to get better as they get in more tournaments,"
 
One of those younger guys talked about is sophomore Daniel Kolar, who had three top 20 finishes in the fall, including a tie for 10^th at the Southern Dunes Invitational. Kolar shot an even 216, and shared the ranking with fellow teammate A.J. Armstrong.
 
After the long winter break, the Cougars will face a much more active spring season than the fall. The spring schedule is more heavily packed with tournaments; with less than a two-week break between all of them.
 
"We're going to have seven events all together, which I think is good because if you get into a flow you want to keep playing. You don't want to come home and sit around and practice, you just want to keep competing."
 
Though the fall season did not meet the high expectations the team had going into the year, White expects the spring to present many opportunities for the team to grow. Each tournament presents different competitors and obviously different courses, including the brand new Pac-12 Championship course. Everything the Cougars do from here on out will be in preparation for the Pac-12 Championships with an eye on the postseason.
 
"After having our first event in Hawaii to get our feet back underneath us from the break, the Southwestern Intercollegiate will be a good test to see where we really are and what we can look forward to as the spring progresses." White said.