The three-day-long Trinity Forest Invitational golf tournament is returning to Dallas, Texas.
Southern Methodist University (SMU) is hosting the event at Trinity Forest Golf Club, Go Shockers reported, and each day will feature 18 holes. It started on October 2 and runs until October 4, with 17 teams playing.
Two teams will represent the SMU Mustangs, and other competing teams include UT Arlington, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee State, and Wichita State.
Mustang Team A includes players Nathan Petronzio, Justin Thompson, Zachary Kingsland, Dawson Ovard, and Will Sides. Team B features Holden Wisener, Christian Clark, J. Holland Humphries, Alex Valenzuela, and Trip Carter.
The team lineup for the Wichita State Shockers includes Blake Lorenz, Michael Winslow, Aston Castillo, Dawson Lewis, and J.T. Pittman, the Go Shockers website shares.
Judd Easterling, Shockers head coach, told Go Shockers that the event will let the Wichita State team go up against some of the best golfers in the nation.
“It comes down to competing with top-25 schools and believing that they can, knowing that they’ve reached this level for a reason,” Easterling said. “They’re not just here by chance. They’ve earned this. We’ve got a junior college national champion, a fifth-year guy, so we can compete at the highest level. We just have to go down there and do it.”
It also will allow for the team to see where they currently stand as the season starts, according to Easterling.
He told Go Shockers, “This event will be a really good test of where we stand early in the season. It’s a very strong field, a championship-style golf course, and we’re taking what is right now our top five guys.”
“We have three Texas kids, so there should be a good turnout and they should feel right at home. Excited to get down and hopefully come back with some confidence and be ready to go in our home event at Crestview next week,” Easterling continued.
The Shockers just finished eighth at the Ram Masters Invitational.
Easterling shared that the Dallas golf course has hosted high-level events before and is an excellent course to play on.
“It’s a really good golf course in Dallas that has hosted some high-level events. It’s a links style, similar to Flint Hills and Terradyne, with similar grass, so we should be in good shape,” he said.
The Trinity Forest Invitational course plays with a par-72 at 7372 yards.
The SMU Mustangs recently won the Trinity Forest Invitational Championships twice, in the spring and fall of 2021.
“The Mustangs have won back-to-back Trinity Forest Invitational Championships, taking the title in spring and fall of 2021. The wins give the home team two of five possible championships at the event, which began in 2017,” the SMU Mustangs website states.
“Individually, Noah Goodwin took medalist honors in fall of 2021, making SMU only the second team to take the individual and team title at the same event,” it continued.
As of the first day of the event, October 2, the SMU B team was tied for fourth place, SMU Mustangs reported.