TCU men start the season tomorrow at
Pebble Beach Golf Links for the Carmel Cup. It's a small-field event--same eight teams as last season--and a unique play-six-to-count-five format that puts a premium on consistency and allows coaches to get a look at an extra player.
The Frogs posted their lineup yesterday, which features three freshmen and a transfer. Getting their first start for the Frogs will be the trio of international frosh, Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira, Gustav Frimodt and Aymeric Laussot. Joining them will be Thomas Allkins, junior transfer from Tech, junior Trevor Brown, and sophomore Justin Gums.
Not many surprises here--Allkins played in this tournament last year; Brown played well in his limited starts last year, as did Gums, who is a NorCal guy. Fernandez de Oliveira had a great summer and will play in the 1-slot for TCU this weekend.
The main surprise is that sophomore Alejandro Aguilera didn't crack the top six. He came in like gangbusters last year and posted a pair of 67s at Pebble in the opener, finishing T13. But he also showed a tendency to let bad holes balloon into bad rounds, and he was out of the lineup by mid-year. His summer play wasn't great, but hoping he can find his way back. Guy can go low.
Frogs will get a good early look at how they stack up against top teams, as they face off against teams ranked 1, 3, 6, 12, and 19 in the preseason poll. Frogs project to place sixth.
Scores will be here beginning Friday:
http://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=teamPlayer&tid=18208