Five years is a long time between home sporting events.
That’s how long the wait has been for the Fort Lewis College men’s golf team between events at Hillcrest Golf Club, which last hosted a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference event in 2008. The wait will end at 9:30 a.m. Monday when the Skyhawks hit the course for the two-day, 54-hole RMAC Event No. 1 at Hillcrest.
According to FLC head coach Bud Andersen, RMAC events are awarded on a rotating basis, with two events each year aside from the conference championships. Now, it’s Fort Lewis’ turn to welcome the rest of the league.
FLC opened its season last week at the Ryan Palmer Foundation Invite in Amarillo, Texas, and it wasn’t the start the Skyhawks were hoping for as they finished 16th out of 16 teams, playing a combined 28-over par. But back in the familiar confines of Hillcrest, Andersen and company are hoping for a better showing this week.
“We have home-course advantage, so that helps. That’s not to say it’s a huge difference, but it’s definitely an added thing for us to play a little better,” Andersen said.
The format involves 36 holes Monday and 18 on Tuesday, with shotgun starts both days. After playing qualifying rounds, FLC will send the team of Lucas Laudick, Morgan Miller, Clark Riedberger, Bryan Schlichter and Michael Thomas out on the course this week.
It’ll be a chance for three FLC golfers to finally get a chance to show off their skills in a college event in their own backyard. Miller and Thomas both are Durango High School alumni, while Riedberger hails from Pagosa Springs.
“It’s really nice to have local kids, and both (Miller and Thomas) have been playing (Hillcrest) a long time, so they definitely have an advantage,” Andersen said.
Miller and Riedberger were Skyhawks a season ago, but Thomas recently returned home to join the local squad after a year at Costal Carolina. Andersen said the former Demons golfer went east to try and both play collegiately and get a degree as part of the PGA Golf Management program offered by the university. However, doing both at the same time proved too difficult, so Thomas opted to return home.
“He went out there because he wanted to get in the PGM program, then he figured out he couldn’t play and do the PGM program at once,” Andersen said.
Now, Thomas and the Skyhawks will try and make the most of what truly is a once-in-a-collegiate-career opportunity.
rowens@durangoherald.com
