One for All : Team Spirit Helps Advance Toros to NCAA II Golf Championship

So you think golf is a game strictly played by individuals?

Don’t tell that to the team at Cal State Dominguez Hills. The Toros benefited from a little teamwork to advance into Tuesday’s opening round of the NCAA Division II Championships at the Lake View Country Club in Erie, Pa.

Led by a pair of 69s recently by Jeff Manare and Enrico Montano, the Toro team came from 13 shots behind in the final round to capture the title of the last Western regional qualifying tournament. The victory advanced the team to the national finals.

“It was an amazing feat,” said Dominguez Hills Coach John Johnson. He compared the comeback to a football team “being four touchdowns behind after the end of the third quarter.”

Five players constitute a golf team, with the highest score in each round thrown out. That format is appealing to the Toros, who may be one of the most close-knit group of golfers around. A first-place finish in any of three Western regionals would have advanced the team. But the best Dominguez Hills could do was second place in the second regional.

Then, after falling behind at the end of 36 holes in the third and final regional event, the Merced Invitational, the five Toro players went out to dinner together. Led by No. 2 Ray Fawcett and No. 4 Montano, the talk that night, and again the next morning at breakfast, was spirited.

“We told each other to refuse to give up,” Montano said.

No. 1 Manare, who carries an average of 77, heeded the advice. “It really fired us up,” he said.

Montano said the dinner table talk was about “bearing down and making a few pars.”

“As it turned out,” he continued, “we got a couple of birdies.”

Golf is a sport most often portrayed by television as a one-on-one experience. You sink the putt, you win. You miss it, you lose.

“Golf is such an individualized sport,” said Montano, who was a ranked youth player in tennis before taking up golf six years ago.

On the collegiate level, most players have their own pros and their own home courses. They often practice alone. Collegiate coaches are many times no more than organizers.

Johnson sees his role in a team concept somewhat differently. “My job is to motivate them,” he said.

In the fall he put his charges through conditioning runs and even during the season he insists that they lift weights.

Johnson is regarded as somewhat of a character. He has authored several books on golf and football and has campaigned to take American football worldwide.

He has spent the last five years researching the effect of weight training and conditioning on golfers. A book is forthcoming.

“This year I concentrated on getting them in shape,” Johnson said. “I think it paid off.”

College golfers must carry their own bags and often the toughest thing they must endure is walking through lunch when tournaments run late. It’s not uncommon for players to bring food onto the 10th tee.

To the layman, eating a hotdog and walking a golf course doesn’t seem like much, but according to Johnson “if you walk 36 holes you got to be in shape.”

Still, it’s difficult for golf to shake its glitzy, loner image. Even the team concept on the collegiate level isn’t helping, because most people don’t understand it.

In addition, tournament golfers not only play for their schools but also as individuals. On any given day a player is not only scoring for a team but may be battling one of his teammates for low-medalist honors. At 72-hole tournaments, days can go by without players from the same school speaking to each other.

And so, the feeling of pulling for a teammate is atypical of this game.

Yet, Dominguez Hills enters a team in the nationals for the second time in five years because a few players were willing to break with tradition.

Of course, there will be individual competition in Pennsylvania, too. In all, 90 of the top individual golfers on the Division II level will be competing in the four-day event. And, oh yes, each of the Toros--Manare, Fawcett, Rich Chartrand, Montano and Bob Hayes--will be shooting for a medalist spot. Johnson has sent individuals to this tournament in five of the last seven years.

As compared to the 1985 team, which finished seventh in the nationals, the current Toro team is about two strokes off the pace. But Johnson is confident.

“In 1985 we didn’t have the depth we have on this team,” he said.

Indeed, five years ago the team was led by All-American Mack Smith, who finished eighth in the individual competition. He carried a 74. Of the five men competing this year, any one is capable of lowering the team average.

Johnson sees the team peaking at the right time.

“They’re ready to play, and I think they will do well,” he said.

Dominguez Hills, however, rates little more than an underdog roll. The team from Florida Southern is expected to be an easy winner.

But then, a little teamwork and who knows?