The UTSA men’s golf team ended their fall season with a 14th place finish at the Herb Wimberly Intercollegiate Tournament on Oct. 21 at the New Mexico State University Golf Course in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The tournament was the last of four fall events.

Freshman Bryce Alley led the way with a nine-over-par (71, 79, 72) 222-stroke performance. Just a spot behind him was senior team captain Ryan Werre who shot a 71 on the final day to help the Roadrunners move up two spots.

Werre is now heading into his final spring season with UTSA, and his teammates will need to improve on the putting greens if they want to finish in the top 10 in the spring tournaments.

“As a team, if we just putt well, that would equalize all the other mistakes,” Werre said. “You will see guys after the round and think, ‘Wow, I can’t believe this guy beat me by four shots. I hit it as good as him, but he is making every putt.’”

UTSA head coach John Knauer concurred with the team captain and will do everything to help his team improve.

“It wasn’t that we were hitting it out-of-bounds or that we were hitting it into the water. It was that we didn’t make those birdie putts,” Knauer said. “We didn’t get birdies when we had those chances. So, it all comes back into the short game.”

The fall season saw an influx of new talent and the team is still finding their rhythm.

Sophomore Brett Hogan and freshman Bryce Allen will use the fall season as motivation to do better in the spring.

“There were equal amounts of good things and not so good things, so we are kind of right in the middle,” Knauer said. “We are a very young team. Just like in any sport, if you have a bunch of freshmen and sophomores playing you’re going to see some mistakes. I think we set ourselves up pretty well for the spring.”

Now that the fall season has ended, the UTSA men’s golf team must move on. Their spring season is just three months away, and there is still hope to win the C-USA Championship in April. A solid performance there will also help in the NCAA Regional and Championship tournaments.

“This off season is huge for us,” Werre said. “We can firm up those little mistakes or flaws that we have.”

The golf off-season is much like an individual season for NCAA golfers. Players are allotted only eight hours to work with their coaches. Much of their time will be spent outside of the coaches control.

“This group really seems to be more committed in every aspect. I have been here six years and this is the first year we went the whole semester without having one guy miss anytime in study hall,” Knauer said. “We didn’t have one person miss it, and that goes to show that it’s the little things, even off the course, that they are taking care of their business.”

The spring season begins on Monday, Feb. 10 with the UTSA Oak Hills Invitational Tournament at Briggs Ranch Golf Course in San Antonio.