By Jim Richards
SMCC sophomore Scott Brace remembered the disappointment he felt when his club failed to qualify for nationals a year ago.
But it wasn’t completely on his mind this past week when the No.1-ranked Cougars headed back to a NJCAA Region Division II tournament that was eerily similar to last year’s.
“It wasn’t that we were trying to avenge anything,” Brace said. “We just wanted to show everyone that we were the best team this year.”
The Cougars certainly did just that, with a 32-stroke victory over second-place Chandler-Gilbert on the Vistal Golf Course.
And this time it came when it mattered most.
The Cougars qualified for the NJCAA-II national golf tournament in Scottsboro, Alabama, where they’ll return to the Goose Pond Colony Golf Club.
The Cougars held their own at Goose Pond Colony seven weeks ago in a national tournament featuring several of the top golf schools in the nation, many of which will return for the championship tournament.
“I think we have the best team in the country and we’ve got to go out there and prove it,” said second-year men’s golf coach Jake Harrington, a former SMCC golfer who will be trying to guide his club to the school’s first national golf title since 2004.
Win or lose, it was a banner year for the Cougars. For starters, they ended Scottsdale CC’s 29-year reign as ACCAC champions. They also won 6 of 7 conference matches, losing only the Glendale invitational held the same days Harrington had to bring his top golfers to Goose Pond Colony.
This weekend, Brace also showed that he was the best of a deep and talented group of Cougar golfers, carding a 4-under-67 on Sunday’s final round to capture the individual medalist with at 5-under-279, making him the ACCAC’s only two-time medalist in a conference full of strong individual golfers.
“He’s an unbelievable competitor,” Harrington said of Brace, who will attend the University of San Diego next year on a golf scholarship.
Brace had competition, mostly from his own teammates.
Teammates Trent Ka’ahanui placed second with an even-par 284 and Adam Winwood (287) third. Chace Nathe placed 10th (295) and Rob Murray 15th (299).
As a team, the Cougars fired day-best scores in the third and fourth rounds, having fallen four strokes behind Chandler-Gilbert after the opening round.
“They knew they just had to play the course,” Harrington said. “They just had to go out there and leave it out there on the course.”
At Goose Pond Colony in March in the 8th Annual Spring Fling Invitational, the Cougars placed fourth with a team score 879, behind winning Darton (875), Meridian (876) and Tyler (877). Only four strokes separated the top four teams.
Winwood’s 1-over-214 fell four strokes off the winning pace and good for second place. Ka’ahanui (217) took seventh and Brace (222) 19th.
“We’re not done yet,” Harrington said. “Our first goal was to win the conference, then the regional now is one of the best teams to have ever come through this school.”