College golf: Odessa College hopes being home means being dry

The Odessa College golf team’s next tournament, the Odessa College Invitational, will be in the friendly confines of the Odessa Country Club today and Friday, and that is nice enough.

In reality, though, the Wranglers would take any dry course.

OC is coming off the NJCAA Division I National Championship Preview in Huntsville, Ala., last weekend. The River Course at Hampton Cove was appropriately named. Heavy rain caused the second round to be cancelled.

The Wranglers did manage to finish third, however.

“We’re building toward consistency and being able to put up low numbers every round,” head coach Paul Chavez said. “Overall, I think everyone played extremely well considering the toughness of course, No. 1, and, No. 2, the conditions. It was wet and soggy.”

Forecasts for the two days here look mostly sunny. Eight teams, including Midland College, begin today’s 36 holes with a shotgun start at 8 a.m.

Odessa College’s starting five: freshman Abraham Ancer, freshman Stanton Tondre, freshman Gonzalo Gallegos, freshman Jordan Hamblin and freshman Kevin Stratton. The Wranglers’ B team features freshman Wynand Potgieter, sophomore Zach Stokes, freshman Ian Evans, freshman Mackenzie Mueller and sophomore Ganeev Giddie.

Ancer turned in the Wranglers’ top individual performance last week. He finished at 139 (70-69) for third in the medalist standings.

“I’ve tried to improve my long game,” Ancer said. “That course was very long (in Alabama). I worked a lot on my long game. The links here at OCC are long, too. That really helped me a lot.”

Ancer, who came from Mission Sharyland and tied for 11th at the UIL Class 5A Golf State Championships this spring, is already making an impact. He said he chose OC over Division II St. Mary’s (San Antonio) because of two former Wranglers he knew.

“He will be counted on heavily to put up great scores,” Chavez said.

And as is usual this time of year, Chavez is using the fall season to evaluate his roster. That’s why the starting lineup for today will be different than last week’s, which was different than the tournament prior.

The Wranglers are without sophomore Mac Walrath, who is contemplating surgery for his problematic knees, Chavez said. Freshman Greg Snow and sophomore Andy Andrews are redshirting, sitting out the fall so they can stretch out their eligibility for the fall season down the road.

Still, Chavez wants to see improvement in his team and will look for how they handle the conditions, rain or shine, home or away.

“What separates great teams is the mental approach and how they handle adversity,” Chavez said. “It’s the maturity and approach and how they handle a bad shot. They gotta learn to shake it off and put it in play and put bad shots behind them.” 

ODESSA COLLEGE INVITATIONAL

>> When: 8 a.m. today; 8 a.m. Friday.

>> Where: Odessa Country Club.

>> Teams: Odessa College, New Mexico Junior College, Midland College, Western Texas College, University of the Southwest, Lubbock Christian, New Mexico Military Institute, Ranger College.