Burnsville, Minn.- Men's Golf picked to finish 6^th in 2023-24 with Gavin Metz named USF's Athlete to Watch.
 
The NSIC released the Men's Golf preseason coaches poll for the 2023-24 season earlier today. After a 5^th place finish at the 2023 NSIC Men's Golf Championship the Cougars are expected to finish 6^th this year. Head Coach Wade Merry retained nearly the entire squad from last year and added three promising newcomers. Last year's campaign saw the Coo capture three tournament victories with two in the Fall and their final tourney before the conference championship. USF also shot better in the latter half of the season despite their team placements alluding to the contrary. Gavin Metz returned to the course during the Spring season and promptly reestablished himself as one of the best in the NSIC.
 
We didn't graduate anyone off last year's team that finished fifth in the conference tournament so we have some good experienced players returning. If they spent the time working on their games this summer as I hope they did, we may have a chance of moving up and competing with the top teams in the NSIC. I expect Gavin Metz to be one of the top players in the NSIC and I hope junior Jimmy Clark continues to show improvement and be more consistent from round-to-round and tournament-to-tournament. Incoming freshman Riley Larson had a nice high school career and I am excited to see how he transitions to playing college golf and becoming a really good player for us this year.
 
Metz triumphant return last season earned him the spotlight heading into this season as he was named USF's player to watch. Upon his return the now graduate student earned First Team All-NSIC honors with his 73.1 stroke average and an 11^th place finish at the 2023 NSIC Championships. Metz put up multiple impressive performances in the Spring; tying for 4^th at the Hillcat Classic, tying for 5^th at the NSIC Preview, tying for 11^th at The Mule, and taking 2^nd at the Augustana Spring Invitational before his 11^th place finish at conference. With one year left Gavin will look to lead his team back into the top-5 or better at the NSIC Championship to cap off his career.
 
Gavin had a tremendous spring season for us, one in which he earned first-team all-conference honors and was one of the top players in our region. He works hard at his game, never mails it in when he's not at his best and is very determined to make his last season at USF a memorable one. At his best, he's capable of finishing at or near the top of every tournament we play.
 
The Cougars will open their season with the Bemidji State Invitational on September 11^th and 12.