Leonardo Guajardo/Vaquero Radio
With one final competition on the horizon, the UTRGV Men’s Golf Team is preparing to showcase itself at the regional tournament.
The Vaqueros tied for 11th place at the Tiger Intercollegiate Tournament. Now, the team finds itself practicing for the Southland Conference (SLC) Tournament.
Head coach Houston Moore evaluated the team’s overall improvement throughout the year.
“I think we started off a little slow this year,” Moore said. “As the year went on, we slowly progressed and had some adversity and fought back and we’ve slowly gotten better as the years went on.”
He explained the mentality of the team as it gets ready for the SLC tournament.
“Our game plan all along, throughout the year, has kind of been make the regular season as hard as we can make it,” Moore said. “Then, by the time we get to the conference, it feels a little bit easier and a little less pressure. These guys have kind of been through the wringer the last few weeks, and I think that has gotten them prepared to kind of go into conference with a little bit of calmness.”
He highlighted the impressive improvement of standout sophomore Esteban Gonzalez.
“I don’t know if [Gonzalez] would have played as well as he did in the last few events,” he said. “But as time went on, he grinded it out, was able to take some constructive criticism and develop his game, and it’s gotten better and better as he has gone on.”
Gonzalez attended McAllen Memorial High School and joined the team during the 2023-24 season. He currently holds a 73.1 stroke average.
Gonzalez reflected on how the team’s different perspectives helped him improve as a player.
“They have a lot of different points of views on things and a lot of different ways to do pretty much the same thing,” he said. “So, just kind of picking the other players’ brains from all over the world [and] just seeing how they do it and seeing what works for them. The coach helping me out with any technique that I needed or game plans. It’s nice to get a lot of different points of views and kind of figure out what works best for you.”
Gonzalez discussed the physical and mental toll that travelling has had on him.
“It takes a big toll on your body, especially when you’re flying and those long days,” he said. “You just need to have a reset button and take time to yourself, relax just to get back into it and adapting to the environments [and] just be prepared.”
The UTRGV Men’s Golf Team will hit the road to compete at the SLC Championship Monday in Kerrville.
This is Leonardo Guajardo for Vaquero Radio.
