COLLEGE GOLF: OC's unsettled lineup fosters competition

When the Odessa College men’s golf team loaded into a van Saturday afternoon for the 5-hour trip to Aledo, its lineup for remained unsettled.

Three golfers — freshmen Tad Darland, Blayne Street and Ryder Skillern — are competing for the fifth and final spot on the Wranglers’ top team. Odessa College coach Paul Chavez said he won’t make a decision until the team plays a practice round at Split Rail Links & Golf Club.

It’s not the ideal scenario, in Chavez’s opinion. He said he’d rather have an entrenched lineup going into The Wrangler, a tournament scheduled for today and Tuesday that is both a state championship preview and Odessa College’s first meet of the spring season.

“In the back of everybody’s mind it’s still a question,” Chavez said of the No. 5 golfer. “When you have questions or (uncertainty), things like that, it just kind of plays mind games with you.

“I’ll be comfortable with whoever fits that role, but obviously you want to try to build your team and get that consistency, that chemistry going as much as possible.”

Freshman Jamie Warman, sophomore Chris Bell, sophomore Antonio Morales and sophomore True Graves are set in the top four spots, respectively.

The roster uncertainty has been beneficial, though, according to Bell, because it has created competition among teammates.

“There’s probably four, maybe five, of the guys that are at the golf course all the time just now just trying to make the top five,” Bell said. “That’s obviously before practice, after practice, practicing at night, which I know, yes, we all should be doing, but it’s just a lot more than what it was last year.”

Bell also said the team makeup has changed from the 2010-11 season.

“I think there was a few guys on the team back then that wanted to finish the year and get out of here,” Bell said. “Going by last semester and what everyone’s been like the last few months here, it’s a lot better. It’s a lot more relaxed atmosphere.”

That bodes well for the Wranglers, who will be looking to rebound from a disappointing finish to the 2011 spring season.

Odessa College hosted the NJCAA Division I Men’s National Championship at the Odessa Country Club and finished 12th as a team. The Wranglers ended up 32 strokes behind champion Indian Hills Community College (Iowa) on The Links Course.

“We were favored,” Morales said. “I think we put too much pressure on us because being here, hosting it. … That’s why we’ve been working hard, played good last semester and we’re trying to keep that momentum going.”

The Wranglers won the final three tournaments of the fall season, which Morales compared to the preseason. The second tournament during that stretch was the national championship preview in Newton, Kan., which Odessa College won by eight strokes.

Odessa College finished the fall season ranked No. 2 in the NJCAA Division I national poll. Meridian (Miss.) Community College occupied the top spot.

Bell said he thinks there’s a correlation between the strong play and the improved team chemistry.

“We were friends to a certain extent back then, before, but not as good as we are just now,” Bell said. “We also hang around each other. … We all play golf every single day together. We’re also closer together. It’s just a more friendly atmosphere, which makes us want to do better on the golf course.”

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