ANDERSON, S.C. – After having more than half of their spring seasons canceled due to COVID-19 a year ago, the nationally-ranked Anderson men's and women's golf teams are looking to garner even more attention when they open the 2021 campaign next month.

"Our schedule - for both men and women - are very strong this year, but we have talented teams," said Anderson Director of Golf, Danny Neal. "We have the most talented men's team we've ever had here, top to bottom, so we want to test them and get them playing the teams we need to be competing with if we're going to get to the postseason."

The No. 7 men's team begins its spring slate at Lincoln Memorial's Spring Kickoff and Neal noted that "it should be a really good field down there. LMU is ranked third in the country and the field is always strong in that tournament, so that should be a good (opening) test for us."

The Trojans return to the Sunshine State a week later to play in the St. Leo Invitational, with Neal saying "again, trying to get down there to play against the best teams and in strong fields."

Following a two-week layoff, AU heads to Greenwood for Lander's Bearcat Classic, which was the first tourney on the Trojans' schedule to be canceled a year ago.
"Again, a very strong field," said Neal. "They will have five teams inside the top-15 in the country and six of the top-20, so there will be plenty of competition for us for sure. But our guys did get those two tournaments played in the fall, which is a big deal for our two freshmen that have been playing. It gave them some experience, so hopefully we'll be ready to take on that field at Lander."

The Trojans are scheduled to wrap up the regular season against a strong field at LMU's Tennessee River Rumble at Wind River Golf Club in Lenoir City, Tenn.

"Then we just see what we can do and look to our conference tournament," noted Neal. "This will probably our best chance to do well there. Of course, LMU is the top-ranked team and we're playing at their home course, so that's to their advantage as well, but I know our golfers are talented. We had good fall with one win (Matt Dyas Invitational) but we really didn't play our best in either of the two tournaments. It's encouraging that we were able to finish that well while not playing our best and gives us hope that if we do ever play our best, we feel like we can compete with anybody. So that's exciting."

Q & A with Danny Neal

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FOCUS STARTING THE PRESEASON?
"We've had seven weeks off, so after such a long layoff the big focus for us is going to be getting the players back into the routine of workouts, the routine of practices six days a week, and back ready for tournament play. We trust they've been doing work on their own, both in the weight room and on the golf course, so hopefully they've done that, but we'll find out soon enough. That's what the focus will kind of be - just testing where they're at, doing some qualifying and getting them back into the weight room.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT YOUR SCHEDULE?
"I like the fact that it's challenging, given that we have a good team. It's one of those things where every year's different, every team is different and some years you may not be prepared to play that strong of a schedule. It's nice to go and feel like you can compete, so I like that about this year's schedule because we have a good team. We are going be challenged, but I think we're up to it."

YOU MENTIONED THE TALENT OF YOUR TEAM, IT SEEMS LIKE YOU HAVE A LOT OF DEPTH AS WELL:
"We do have a lot of depth. We have a situation right now where we actually have good players that are not playing, they're staying home, but those kids are just outside of being in the top five. They have opportunities to get in the lineup and they're certainly good enough at pushing the others to stay sharp and take care of their business, and to continue working on improving their game. We do have more depth than we've had in the past."

WHAT ARE THE STRENGTHS OF THE MEN'S TEAM?
"Depth is the biggest strength for a team sport in college and consistency in the scoring average will be really important as well. Having tight scoring windows is important - it develops a sense of trust between coaches and players, and we kind of know what we'll expect out of the player. That's always a little safer for us and makes us feel better than someone who could go really low but shoots a really high score as well. That's a good part of our team strength. We also have good mix of upperclassmen and freshmen. It's not all seniors playing, which is really a tribute to depth and to our recruiting, and also it helps us with going forward and continued success."

The 13th-ranked women's squad opens its slate in the Sunshine State, as well, with the Black and Gold taking part in the Lady Moc Classic in Neal's hometown of Lakeland, Fla.

"It's a similar situation with the women's team," added Neal. "We have a talented team and we believe our schedule is the strongest we've ever had - the biggest challenge we've taken on here and that's indicated by us going down to Florida, because that's where a lot of the best teams are located."

"We only have six on our roster," said Neal. "So it's a little different situation, as far as qualifying and playing. Of course, the COVID-19 stuff is even more important, just because they're all there, some of them are of course living together. The field is going to be really strong in Florida at both of those events."

Neal noted that the field at the Low Tide Intercollegiate in Charleston "will be an extremely strong field. They'll have seven teams within the top-20 in that field. It's an extremely aggressive schedule. But again, we feel like we're really good. We're proud to have that No. 13 ranking and it's ours to lose. Nobody can just take that from us. We have to continue to play well this spring and get the tournaments in. There's no reason we can't stay as one of the higher-ranked teams and hopefully make it to postseason, but it's a challenging schedule for sure."

"They've got 21 teams in the Lander event, including some good teams," added Neal. "So it will be a challenge for us there. A lot of the spring tournaments are going to be full. Some of these teams didn't even get to play in the fall, so they're trying to play as much as possible in the spring. A lot of tournaments that we're playing in are going to have 18-20 teams."

Q & A with Danny Neal

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FOCUS STARTING THE PRESEASON?
"With the long break, we just have to hope that they've been working, both in the weight room and on the golf course a little. We'll find that out, and then we'll come back and start practicing. We do have a little more concern about injury or eligibility issues because we only have six players, but that's our only different concern. But I really like the smaller squad because in those smaller groups, practices are really easy to keep them together, it's a tight-knit group, and they're very close which is important with the team aspect and traveling as much as we do. Practices have been a lot more productive. You have more time to spend with all the kids because they're all going to be playing. And when you're trying to do drills, and you're all on the green on the same time, it's a lot less congested and a lot less distracting. So, a lot of times it just works out really nice to have a smaller team."

WHAT ARE THE STRENGTHS OF THE WOMEN'S TEAM?
"The strengths of our women's team are similar to the men's team, in that there is more depth than we've had before. We only have six players, but they're six top-quality players. We're leaving a good player home (every weekend), but we're taking them as individuals to every possible event, because they are so tightly grouped in their abilities. At any given tournament one could be in, and one could be back out of the lineup. We certainly want to keep all of them playing as often as we can so that when they get put in, they're ready to play. Our depth is good, even though we only have six. They are six solid players - we don't have a weak player on the team. Again, we have a nice mix of freshmen, and they both have come in and really done well. After the two fall tournaments in the fall, Jess (Rathbone) has become our No. 1 player, which is impressive for a freshman because we have such good team. For her to come in as a freshman and take over the No. 1 spot is pretty impressive. But we do have a nice mix with the two freshman contributing, and then some seniors as well, so we have a nice mix."

2021 Men's Golf Schedule
Day Date Tournament/Host Location
Mon.-Tue. Feb. 15-16 LMU Spring Kickoff St. Johns Golf Club / Fleming Island, S.C.
Mon.-Tue. Feb. 22-23 St Leo's Invitational Lake Jovita Golf & CC / Dade City, Fla.
Mon.-Tue. Mar. 8-9 Lander Bearcat Classic Stoney Point GC / Greenwood, S.C
Mon.-Tue. Mar. 29-30 LMU River Rumble Wind River GC / Lenoir City, Tenn.
Sun.–Tue. Apr. 18-20 SAC Championship Woodlake CC / Tazewell, Tenn.

2021 Women's Golf Schedule
Day Date Tournament/Host Location
Mon.-Tue. Feb 22-23 Lady Moc Classic Grasslands Country Club / Lakeland, Fla.
Mon.-Tue. Mar. 1-2 Low Tide Intercollegiate Dunes West Country Club / Charleston, S.C.
Mon.-Tue. Mar 15-16 Peggy Kirk Bell Memorial Orange Tree Golf Club / Orlando, Fla.
Mon.-Tue. Mar 29-30 Lander Bearcat Classic Stoney Point GC / Greenwood, S.C.
Sun.–Tue. Apr 11-13 SAC Championship Woodlake CC / Tazewell, Tenn.