Houston Baptist University and Head Coach David Shuster have announced the first incoming recruiting class for the men's golf program since the 1990-91 season. A 17-year hiatus will end when the Huskies tee off at the North Texas Fall Classic in Denton on September 8-9.
HBU was a strong NCAA program for 25 years (1966-91). The Huskies were the Trans America Athletic Conference (now Atlantic Sun) champions in 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988 and 1989 and boasted nine All-Americans while also winning six conference tournament titles. HBU made three trips to the NCAA Division I Tournament (1984, 1987, 1988), finishing a school-best fifth in '87.
A group of six young men (two sophomores and four freshmen) will look to begin HBU's trek back to those heights under Shuster, who last year got the women's program underway while also laying the groundwork for the rebirth of the men's program.
Leading the way for the strong incoming class are two junior college players from national power Odessa College. Jordan Jeffers and Landon Waters are sophomores who helped the Wranglers to seven tournament titles last season.
Jeffers was an NJCAA Region V Medalist and was named to the Ping All-America squad. He finished in the top-five five times after redshirting his freshman season. At 6-5, the Dalhart product was also an All-District basketball player in high school.
Waters also had five top-five finishes after a redshirt rookie campaign. He was an All-Region and All-State selection who won the Andrews Invitational by getting birdies on the final five holes to win by one stroke. He was MVP four straight seasons at Lubbock Frenship High School.
The rest of the newcomers are all highly regarded freshmen.
Kenneth Earl Young of Coppell leads the quintet of rookies. He is ranked No. 32 in Texas by Golfweek and No. 35 by Junior Golf Scoreboard. A four-time All-District selection, “Key” was the first Coppell High player to reach the regionals four times and was the Team MVP in 2008. He was the Young Guns Tour Player of the Year in 2004 with six wins and five more top-five finishes.
Ranked No. 34 (Golfweek) and No. 53 (JGS) respectively is Andrew Rollins, who hails from Round Rock and Heritage Academy. He had wins in the TJGT Houston Kickoff Classic and TJGT Tour Championship and also placed second at the AJGA Stars of Texas junior event at Horseshoe Bay.
Sumin Yu was ranked No. 143 in the country last season. The freshman from Rockwall and Plano West helped Pearland to the Region III title in 2005 before transferring and leading Plano West to the Region II title in 2007. He was a second-team All-State selection in 2005, finishing fifth in that region tournament.
Ian Armstrong of Richmond (Fort Bend Austin) comes to HBU with rankings of No. 45 and 46 by Golfweek and JGS. He had four top-ten finishes last year and graduated with honors.
The final newcomer is Mark Slater. He comes to HBU from Elkins High School and boasts six top-12 finishes last season, including a runner-up at the HGA Houston City Junior Championship.
The Huskies have not played a round on the men's side since the 1990-91 season. HBU's aforementioned golf history includes a number of well-known alumni. That list begins with Colin Montgomerie, who over the past 20 years has been one of the most notable and successful of HBU alums.
Montgomerie was a two-time NCAA All-America and was the TAAC Player of the Year in 1985 after establishing a conference record with his 11-under, 205 in the TAAC Tournament that season. An eight-time member of the European Ryder Cup team, he currently plays on the European Tour and is third on the all-time list for career wins (31) on that circuit.
HBU boasts three other TAAC POY's in Ken Kelly (1982), Darryl Henning (1984) and Paul Devenport (1988). Henning was a two-time NCAA All-America as well, while Tim Thelen, who was a two-year letterman in 1983-84, is still active on the PGA tour.
The Huskies will release their full 2008-09 schedule when it is finalized in the next couple of weeks.
