JONESBOROUGH – At the Bank of Tennessee/The Ridges Intercollegiate Golf Tournament this weekend, three Bucs freshmen learned their first lesson: Horned Frogs can be dangerous.
Defending tournament champion Texas Christian University, ironically not one of the six teams in Jonesborough this weekend coming off an NCAA championship appearance, blitzed the field and won their second straight title at The Ridges.
The Horned Frogs finished with an aggregate score of 23 under par, 10 strokes better than Southern California. Steve Shuert (-12), the individual champion, and Adam Rubinson (-10), who finished second on the strength of an opening round record 64, paced the rest of the field.
The highest finisher for the seventh-place Bucs was Cennydd Mills, a freshman from Wales, tied for 11th place with a two-under-par score.
“He’s a solid player and I’m real proud of him,” said head coach Fred Warren. “He’s a very accomplished player.”
“I was quite happy,” Mills said about his performance, and the team’s, as in the opening two rounds, Mills jumped out with a four under par through 18 and kept it up with an even-par second round.
The team finished Saturday with a seven-under-par total through two rounds, but lost five strokes in Sunday’s final round while Mills, dragged down by a triple bogey on the par-five eighth, carded a +2.
Still, with a team of two juniors and three freshmen, Warren was pleased with the Bucs overall performance, one which saw them play one shot better than a tough Wake Forest team and beat out last year’s NCAA-runner-up Clemson Tigers.
“We actually played pretty well.”
One of the juniors, James Johnson, played bookend rounds of one under par to finish one stroke behind Mills, while his classmate, Adam Riddering, followed up two even-par rounds with a +2 on Sunday.
For both Johnson and Riddering, the tournament marked their first as team elders, with the departure of such decorated seniors as 2001 ETSU Male Athlete of the Year Chris Wisler.
“It’s big shoes to fill,” Riddering said.
If this weekend is any indication, however, the youngsters may help with stepping easily into those shoes while perhaps making a few footprints of their own.
In addition to Mills, Marco Trejos was also in contention for the team lead before a three-over par Sunday left him at four over for the tournament.
Jeremy Hobson bucked the team trend and improved upon his opening-round +6 to shoot +2 over the final 36 holes.
“Overall our freshmen did well,” Warren said.
Still, there is obviously plenty of room for improvement. “Nowadays good is not good enough” Warren said, pointing to performances like that of TCU that have raised the bar in collegiate golf.
More exposure, due to factors like The Golf Channel and Tiger Woods, have made for better players at younger ages, Warren said.
The Bucs will continue their journey in the “brave new world” of NCAA golf Sept. 28-30 at the Ping/Golfweek Preview in Columbia, Ohio, near the campus of Ohio State.

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