Confidence carries over – season to season, venue to venue, roster to roster. Good memories may be just as important as good play, and in its season opener, Arkansas State had both.
Arkansas State head coach Mike Hagen can’t remember the last time, if ever, his Red Wolves won their first tournament out of the gate. But after closing out last season as the Sun Belt Conference champions, and thus earning an NCAA Regional berth, Hagen’s team rolled that momentum right through the summer and into Pawleys Island, South Carolina.
They won the Golfweek Fall Challenge on Sept. 10 by a 12-shot margin over Wright State.
“They’re really pumped,” Hagen said of the post-win vibe. “. . . I think it’s a big momentum thing for a team. They know they can win. We go and tee it up again in 10 days out in New Mexico.”
Scoring: Golfweek Fall Challenge
Three of the six men Hagen traveled to True Blue Golf Club for the Golfweek event had played there a year before. Scores can vary wildly at True Blue, a Mike Strantz design heavy on risk-reward. Last fall, Arkansas State was 36 under as a team, but only 8 under in the final round. The Red Wolves finished fourth, 11 shots behind Loyola Marymount, which came up a shot shy of the tournament scoring record of 48 under (still held by Campbell).
Still, Hagen liked the gameplan a year ago. His team played well, and they liked the place. Hagen can’t picture a better season opener, from venue to timing to format.
“I think the gameplan that we had last year was really solid and we kind of just took some of that into this year,” Hagen said. “Changed a few things up as well that we may have learned from playing the tournament and playing the golf course last year, and I think that kind of helped us play a little more consistent this year over the three rounds.”
Arkansas State won at 35 under this year and played the final round in 15 under. Patton Samuels, a junior at Austin Peay State, won the individual title at 15 under.
Hagen’s men still hit a lot of drivers this week, but there were holes – like Nos. 2 and 6, both par 4s – where a conservative strategy paid off. The field averaged over par on those holes for the week, but Arkansas State made up ground.
Hagen took into account history, spots on the course where a miss was particularly costly and hole locations.
“We were able to say hey, on X hole, we know that’s one that could really get you in trouble, we’re going to hit it at this spot on the green, if you roll a putt in great, if not we’re going to walk off with a par,” he said. “We’re not going to bring bogey or double into play.”
Arkansas State led the field in birdies and largely avoided big numbers. Three men placed in the top 6 individually: Jake Wallis was third, Jack Maxey fifth and Jake Lile tied for sixth. Wallis and Lile are both underclassmen and Maxey is a senior. The Red Wolves fivesome also included junior Thomas Schmidt and sophomore Milan Reed, and Hagen likes the mix of youth and experience there. Lile, Schmidt and Maxey competed in the NCAA Regional lineup.
Before last spring, Arkansas State last won the Sun Belt title in 2019. The team played the inaugural National Golf Invitational in 2023 and tied for sixth. Hagen always looks at the experiences that are carrying over.
“Going into this year, we bring back our top 3 players and only one of them is a senior,” Hagen said. “You add another senior who has been in and out of our lineup and some of the young, newer talent we’ve got. I think it’s helped them get comfortable to where they can step in and perform right away.”
