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Before the men’s golf team takes on finals next week, it will take on the Mountain West Championship in Tucson.
The Lobos enter the tournament ranked No. 16 in the nation.
Senior James Erkenbeck said there is no extra pressure on the team to perform well because of the high ranking.
“I don’t think any of us feel pressure,” he said. “A lot of us are pretty competitive, so we’re focused on winning because we’re competitive, not because we’re highly ranked.”
Head coach Glen Millican said no single player is going to lead the team this weekend.
“We have a lot of different guys that can get it done,” he said. “We’re doing a good job of getting prepared and we’re going to be ready to go to Tucson.”
Although San Diego State is ranked No. 15 in the nation, freshman Victor Perez said he is not scared of the Aztecs.
“Our team is the one that scares me the most,” he said. “We definitely have the chance to win and we should just focus on our game and not think about other players.”
Perez is coming off a win at the Aggie Invitational on April 22 in Bryan, Texas. He said that at the beginning of the season, he wasn’t even sure he was going to be competing.
“I didn’t expect to play in a tournament this year,” Perez said. “To win as a freshman is pretty special.”
His win at the Aggie Invitational impressed his coaches and teammates.
“He had a really good tournament on a really hard golf course against a lot of good players,” Millican said. “It was exciting for everyone on the team to see one of our new guys get a win.”
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Erkenbeck said the freshman has been playing with a lot of poise since the start of the spring season.
“This whole semester, he’s been playing really well,” Erkenbeck said. “He’s comfortable with his game and last week everything fell into place for him.”
Millican said finishing up classes while preparing for the tournament was a challenge for the team.
“We have some guys that have major papers due and we have different guys with different schedules right now school-wise,” Millican said. “I think it will be nice for our guys to get through this stretch of school.”
