HOUSTON – Competition against the nation's top collegiate programs, including four tournaments during the fall, highlight the University of Houston golf team's 2012-13 schedule, head coach Jonathan Dismuke announced Tuesday.
The Cougars open the 2012-13 season at The Invitational on Sept. 9-11, hosted by College of Charleston. Following the holiday break, Houston will take part in six regular-season spring events, starting Feb. 22-24 at the Redstone Collegiate Championships at Houston's own Redstone Golf Club.
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Combined, the Cougars will travel across the nation in2012-13 to face some of the nation's premier college programs. Houston will compete in seven states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, South Carolina and Texas.
"This schedule shows the continuing evolution of our program. As our team has improved through the years, the quality of our schedule each season has increased as well," said Dismuke, who begins his fourth season with the Cougars.
"We will play in some of the nation's top tournaments this season, and that's a testament to the hard work from our coaches and our players. Our guys have enjoyed a productive summer, and I know we will hit the ground running when school starts later this month."
The Cougars open the season on Sept. 9-11 when they compete at The Invitational, hosted by College of Charleston on the Ocean Course atKiawah Island Golf Club. Earlier this month, that venue's Ocean Course hosted the PGA Championship, won by Rory McIlroy.
From there, the team will compete at the Shoal Creek Invitational hosted by Conference USA-rival UAB on Sept. 24-25. After playing at the Fighting Irish Gridiron Classic on Oct. 7-9 in South Bend, Ind., theCougars close out their fall season at the Lone Star Intercollegiate on Oct. 14-16 at San Antonio's Hyatt Hill Country Club.
After a four-month break, the Cougars return to action and open the spring season when they team with Rice to play host to the Redstone Collegiate Championships on Feb. 22-24 at Redstone Golf Club in Humble.
The field for this outstanding tournament includes Baylor, Charlotte, Chattanooga, East Carolina, Houston Baptist, Indiana, Lamar, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, South Carolina, Texas and UTSA.
Later this month, the Cougars will officially open theDave Williams Golf Academy at Redstone Golf Club. This 4,400-square-foot-facility is located on the Tournament Course driving range and features the latest technology to prepare Houston student-athletes for competition. With its construction, Houston becomes the only school in the state of Texas that enjoys a golf facility/home course which annually hosts a PGA TOUR event.
Following the Redstone Collegiate Championships, the Cougars will take part at the Louisiana Classics (March 4-5) in Lafayette, La., and then compete at the Tiger Invitational on March 11-12 in Auburn, Ala.
The latter event will be a special homecoming for Dismuke, who competed at Auburn from 2001-04. There, he was an All-SEC competitor and member of the SEC Honor Roll as a senior. Dismuke competed in three NCAA Championships and four NCAA Regionals, remaining one of only two Tigers to compete in 11 NCAA Championships rounds during his career.
Houston plays host to the Border Olympics on March 15-16 at Laredo Country Club in Laredo, Texas. The field for that event had not been announced as of press time.
The Cougars open the month of April at the Insperity Augusta State Invitational on April 6-7 in Augusta, Ga., and close out the regular season on April 13-14 at the Morris Williams Intercollegiate on April 13-14 in Austin, Texas.
For the third straight season, the Cougars will open the postseason April 21-23 when they compete at the Conference USA Championships at Texarkana Country Club in Texarkana, Ark. The winner of the league's annual postseason event earns a berth to the NCAA Regional, scheduled at venues across the nation May 16-18.
The NCAA Championships will be held May 28-June 2 on the Crab Apple Course at Capital City Club in Atlanta.
A year ago, the Cougars returned to the NCAA postseason as a team for the first time since 2006 and tied for ninth at the NCAA Athens Regional.
All but one student-athlete return from that squad as well as two talented newcomers in freshmen signees Blair Hamilton and Vincent Martino.
Sophomore Roman Robledo returns after leading the Cougars in scoring average and finishing fifth at the Conference USA Championships to earn All-Tournament honors a year ago. Junior Curtis Reed joined Robledo as the only two Cougars to compete in all 13 team tournaments last season and ranked third on the team with a 73.56 average.
Junior Jesse Droemer finished fourth among the Cougarswith a 73.75 average and 11 rounds of par or better.
Senior James Ross is expected to sit out the 2012-13 season as a redshirt and will not compete. The Edinburgh, Scotland, native finished second on the team with a 73.13 average and was named a Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholar during the summer.