• The KillerFrogs

TCU Golf 2022-2023

JogginFrog

JogginFrog

Active Member
Baylor golf coach Mike McGraw's recent podcast episode featured Coach Montigel. A really good listen. Some highlights:

3:45 What he learned about coaching from Jim Killingsworth (every day a plan; never blame others)

6:30 What he learned from basketball recruiting (get to know the people influencing the recruit)

12:10 How he got the TCU golf coach job (great story--when NCAA rules changed to limit recruiting periods; Killingsworth said, “Go to the office if you want. I’m going to play golf.” Coach M went along and learned to love the game; then he rented a room to TCU golf coach Fred Warren and learned about college golf recruiting. Applied for the job in 1987 as Killer was retiring: 13K starting salary)

17:30 Who he learned from in early years (volunteered at OSU coach Mike Woodley's golf camp; also Mike McGraw, UTEP’s Cricket Musch, OSU/Ga Tech's Bruce Heppler, then-UNM's John Fields)

23:00 Who helped TCU as volunteer assistants (great story about giving OSU's Alan Bratton his start in coaching by offering him golf balls for volunteer help during a round at Mira Vista; also how he got Greg Sands into coaching)

28:30 Sources of new ideas (Nick Raffaele pushing aggression off the tee)

30:30 Travis Woolf volunteer coach and spiritual leader (College Golf Fellowship); also Dana Bellenger

33:20 Adrien Mörk (hardest-working coach he knows; Coach M says TCU won't find a better head coach candidate)

35:30 What accomplishment is he most proud of? (18 NCAA championship appearances)

38:15 Most impactful changes in college golf (NCAA field expansion/creation of regionals while he was on the committee; development of practice facilities; NIL)

43:15 Spring schedule preview (Hawaii great for team bonding; Prestige key for postseason positioning; goal is to get to regionals)

47:30 Retirement plans (grandkids in San Diego)
 
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JogginFrog

JogginFrog

Active Member
TCU men kick off their spring slate tomorrow at Mauna Kea's Hapuna Course on the big island for The Amer Ari Invitational. Mid-year enrollee Max Giboudot will make his debut for TCU, playing in the 5 slot. Other Frogs playing include Frimodt, Oleson, Laussot and Massey.

The field is talented--5 of the top 7 schools and 9 of the top 18--so finishing in the top half of the field would be a good outcome for the 41st-ranked Frogs.

As in past years, this event includes a Japanese university, Osaka Gakuin University, with whom the Frogs are paired in the opening round, along with Oregon & Stanford. Frimodt will be playing alongside Michael Thorbjornsen, who came very close last year to being the first college player since Phil Mickelson to win a PGA Tour event at the Travelers, and two weekends ago was in the final pairing on Saturday in the Euro Tour event in Dubai. Then again, he wasn't featured in a No Laying Up video like Gustav...no, wait, he semi-appeared in the vid about the Stanford women's team, so he's got that, too.

Follow progress tomorrow afternoon here: https://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=26901


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JogginFrog

JogginFrog

Active Member
Round 1 yesterday in Hawaii was wiped out after 6-7 holes due to high winds. At the time the Frogs were in 10th, a dozen shots back of North Carolina but leading their playing cohort. Following the reset, TCU was tied for the lead at -3 through 3 holes, but the wind kicked back up (20 mph sustained with gusts to 40+) and the event has now been cancelled.
 
W

Wexahu

Full Member
JogginFrog said:
Round 1 yesterday in Hawaii was wiped out after 6-7 holes due to high winds. At the time the Frogs were in 10th, a dozen shots back of North Carolina but leading their playing cohort. Following the reset, TCU was tied for the lead at -3 through 3 holes, but the wind kicked back up (20 mph sustained with gusts to 40+) and the event has now been cancelled.
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Golf in Hawai sucks.
 
Eight

Eight

Member
JogginFrog said:
Round 1 yesterday in Hawaii was wiped out after 6-7 holes due to high winds. At the time the Frogs were in 10th, a dozen shots back of North Carolina but leading their playing cohort. Following the reset, TCU was tied for the lead at -3 through 3 holes, but the wind kicked back up (20 mph sustained with gusts to 40+) and the event has now been cancelled.
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don't understand cancelling the event

the teams traveled all that distance, wind isn't desirable, but not life threatening as far as i know and if everyone is having to play in it so be it
 
JogginFrog

JogginFrog

Active Member
Eight said:
don't understand cancelling the event

the teams traveled all that distance, wind isn't desirable, but not life threatening as far as i know and if everyone is having to play in it so be it
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It usually has to do with the inability of the ball to remain at rest on the green. The increase in green speeds over time has increased the potential for unplayable conditions--meaning greens with limited locations where the ball can come to rest. So, maybe you can get the ball to within 12 feet, but if you miss the 12-footer, your next shot will be from off the green. It starts to look like a carnival game pretty quickly. That course has 700 feet of elevation change, so I expect there were certain greens with slope and wind exposure that were deemed unplayable.
 
JogginFrog

JogginFrog

Active Member
TCU's Gustav Frimodt shot +2 yesterday at the Genesis Collegiate Showcase, which offers select college players a chance to earn a spot in the field at the Genesis Invitational. He finished 2 shots back of Tech's Jack Wall. He was also part of an all-Frog foursome that included Tom Hoge ('11), Eli Cole ('13) and two-time All-American Adam Rubinson ('03).
 
JogginFrog

JogginFrog

Active Member
TCU women are on the course for round 2 of their second spring event at the site of the Hero World Championship at Albany Golf Club in the Bahamas. The 10-team field features 8 top-20 teams, so the competition is stiff. Wind too, apparently, as only 3 teams finished better than +17 in round 1. The Frogs began round 2 in 6th place at +20. Individually, Caitlyn Macnab is T12 and Lois Lau T14.

Scoring: https://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=26749
 
JogginFrog

JogginFrog

Active Member
Women finish +81 in the Bahamas. After a first day that saw them fight the wind and finish ahead of 3 top-20 teams, they were terribad on days 2 & 3. Half of the six Frogs in the field did not break 80 for the week, and one played so poorly that if she'd been given a shot a side by every player in the field, she still would have finished last by 3 shots.

Today it looked like they just gave up. If the rankings system to determine NCAA bids didn't factor in scoring margin, I'd shrug--they were going to finish last in a strong field anyway. But losing huge will cost them at least a dozen spots in the rankings.

Not the first time the TCU women have thrown out a clunker in the Caribbean. I know the schedule is the recruiting pitch, but going to a beach resort and losing by 70 is a bad look. I don't question their commitment to TCU or their craft, but they need to learn how to limit the damage.
 
JogginFrog

JogginFrog

Active Member
TCU men are in La Quinta this week for The Prestige, and the Frogs are off to a good start in a tournament that plays a significant role in their postseason plans.

TCU is in 3rd place, a shot ahead of #3 Tech and 3 shots back of Pepperdine. The star today was midyear freshman enrollee Maxence Giboudot, who played in Hawaii but--with that event wiped out--gets to count a 67 as his TCU debut. He's T4, which is pretty good when the top 5 individuals include 3 of the top 15 amateurs in the world.

The Prestige has a large and mostly weak field, but there's real strength at the top (Pepperdine, Stanford, Tech). So it carries both opportunity and risk. Play well against those top teams, as TCU did today, and you'll move up the rankings and solidify a winning season record. Play poorly against the bottom half of the field, as TCU did last year in gale-force winds, and you can shoot yourself right out of NCAA contention.

So, it's great to see 67-70-70-72 from the international Frogs--but they'll need something better than 80 from the domestique to stay in the top 5.

Scoring: https://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=25851
 
JogginFrog

JogginFrog

Active Member
TCU men on the wrong side of the draw in La Quinta. After relative calm all day yesterday, winds picked up this afternoon. As the a.m. wave put their feet up after shooting a collective +24, the Frogs and others were fighting gusts at +67 through 10-14 holes. Thankfully, play was suspended before too much damage was incurred. TCU is in 5th at Even par.
 
F

frogfanatic03

New Member
JogginFrog said:
TCU men are in La Quinta this week for The Prestige, and the Frogs are off to a good start in a tournament that plays a significant role in their postseason plans.

TCU is in 3rd place, a shot ahead of #3 Tech and 3 shots back of Pepperdine. The star today was midyear freshman enrollee Maxence Giboudot, who played in Hawaii but--with that event wiped out--gets to count a 67 as his TCU debut. He's T4, which is pretty good when the top 5 individuals include 3 of the top 15 amateurs in the world.

The Prestige has a large and mostly weak field, but there's real strength at the top (Pepperdine, Stanford, Tech). So it carries both opportunity and risk. Play well against those top teams, as TCU did today, and you'll move up the rankings and solidify a winning season record. Play poorly against the bottom half of the field, as TCU did last year in gale-force winds, and you can shoot yourself right out of NCAA contention.

So, it's great to see 67-70-70-72 from the international Frogs--but they'll need something better than 80 from the domestique to stay in the top 5.

Scoring: https://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=25851
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4 Frogs not in the lineup are playing the Prestige Individual as well at a different course
 
JogginFrog

JogginFrog

Active Member
frogfanatic03 said:
4 Frogs not in the lineup are playing the Prestige Individual as well at a different course
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I missed that last year, too, then wondered where the additional competition scores came from in the team stats. Played at the Club at Terra Lago, The Prestige Individual Invitational features 49 players who didn't crack the lineup for the other event. Frogs include Dial, Beauchamp, Hamm and Berzina, who is solo 2nd at -5 through 36 holes, 4 back of the leader. He'll play in the final group.

Scores: https://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=player&tid=25850

Edit: Berzina yet to tee off but now tied for lead, as the overnight leader is +4 through 7. Weird that leaders are not in the same grouping.
 
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JogginFrog

JogginFrog

Active Member
Edit (online scores corrected): TCU finishes round 2 tied for 6th at +2. Frogs were projected as 9th-best team in field; they are a shot out of 5th, which would be a solid finish. Round 3 gets a shotgun start, so all players will play under the same conditions (reported as sunny & breezy).

Individually, Aymeric Laussot leads the Frogs at -1, which is T13 in 120-man field.
 
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JogginFrog

JogginFrog

Active Member
Good week for the TCU men. The Frogs finish 4th in the desert; tops among the 21 teams outside of the top 15. They pushed through a difficult draw and today managed the wind better than most. It was a balanced team effort--no Frogs in the top 20 but only one outside the top 32 in a 120-player field. Frogs dropped a different player's score each day.

The Frogs were 5 spots over .500 going into this event; they leave 22 spots over .500. That gives them some needed margin for later events with strong fields. Despite a strong fall, TCU also had yet to post a head-to-head stroke play win over a top-50 team--they beat 7 top-50 teams this week.

In the secondary event, Chris Berzina finished solo 2nd. On a windy day when the average score was nearly 78, he posted 73 and got beat by the only guy to shoot better than 71.

Frogs will head to Las Vegas and be back in action at the Southern Highlands Intercollegiate this weekend. That event often has final-day streaming coverage.
 
JogginFrog

JogginFrog

Active Member
TCU men were Even through 16 holes today in Vegas, then lost 5 shots on the last two holes, leaving them in 9th.

Giboudot makes a lot of birdies; today he also posted a pair of triples. Welcome to U.S. college golf setups, Max.
 
JogginFrog

JogginFrog

Active Member
TCU men finish 11th in Vegas. It's where they were projected in a strong field, and the stroke margin over 54 holes (within 7-24 shots of half of the top 16 teams) is pretty good. It's a measuring-stick event, and the Frogs fared much better than they did in the season opener.

Also, Olesen and Laussot posted top 20 finishes in a field featuring 30 of the top-100 players (per Golfstat). That's good company.

Giboudot is a meaningful addition. Frogs still looking for a consistent 5th; if someone gets hot, they could give themselves a chance to get through regionals. Coach M has worked some late-season magic in the past; would be nice to see them make a run in his final season.

An exciting finish among the top 4 teams, all of which were within a stroke of the lead with 4 holes to play. Illinois won, but I think North Carolina is still the national title favorite despite letting this one get away.
 

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