No. 10 Men's Golf Faces Loaded Field at Argonaut Invitational

This Week In Rattlers Golf
Argonaut Invitational
March 30-31 • Pensacola, Fla. (Pensacola Country Club)
 

•    The St. Mary's Men's Golf team wraps up the regular season at the Argonaut Invitational at the Pensacola Country Club, where they will compete in two rounds on Monday and one round on Tuesday.

• This is the second time the Rattlers have competed in the annual tournament, but the first since 2019, where the team finished fifth out of 17 teams.

•    The Rattlers lineup for the Argonaut Invitational is 1) Baptiste Touchard, 2) Kongpop Kaikaew, 3) Elijah Galvan, 4) Guillaume Paquette, and 5) Philip Hallstrom. 

•    The loaded tournament will be a shotgun start at 9 a.m. (Eastern) and the field consists of teams from #9 Columbus State, #RV Flagler, #2 Florida Southern, Georgia College, #5 Georgia Southwestern, #RV Lander, #6 Lee, #13 Lincoln Memorial, Missouri-St. Louis, Montevallo, #12 North Georgia, #10 St. Mary's, Valdosta State, #1 West Florida and #4 Wingate.

•    St. Mary's is 12-9 against the remainder of the field this season, and this will be the fourth tournament this season with Lincoln Memorial and North Georgia in the field. The Rattlers have beaten both teams twice and have been beaten by each once.

•    The weather forecast for Pensacola calls for cloudy skies with temperatures in the mid-70s with winds out of the southeast between 13-15 mph both days. There is a 15% chance of precipitation on Monday, and that jumps to 24% on Tuesday.

•    Both seniors Philip Hallstrom and Kongpop Kaikaew could record the 1,000th par of their career during the tournament. Hallstrom has collected 958 holes of par throughout his Rattlers career. Kaikaew stands at 987 in his collegiate career, though there is one tournament where the breakdown of shots is unavailable.

•    St. Mary's dropped one spot to 10th in the GCAA Coaches Poll on March 27. The Rattlers have been ranked in the top 25 in 10 straight polls, the second-longest streak in school history behind the 20 straight from 2018-2020.

•    St. Mary's bounced back to finish in the top four for the sixth time in eight tournaments, finishing fourth at the Midwestern State Invitational last week. Baptiste Touchard tied for 12th with a three-round total of 214, while Kongpop Kaikaew was one shot behind him in a tie for 17th with 215 strokes, and Guillaume Paquette tied for 22nd with his total of 216.

•    Senior Baptiste Touchard was named the Lone Star Men's Golfer of the Week after his victory in Florida at the Spring Kickoff. It is his first award of the season, but the fourth for the team, as Kongpop Kaikaew has won twice and Guillaume Paquette once.

•    The 264 shot by the Rattlers in the second round of the Skip Wagnon Invitational breaks the school single-round record by four strokes, while the 806 shatters the 54-hole tournament record of 833 from the 2004 team at the St. Edward's Invitational. Kongpop Kaikaew's 197 also establishes a new 54-hole individual record, bettering his own record of 198 from last year at the Ryan Palmer Foundation Invitational.

•    One of the strengths of the Rattlers is that any tournament, anyone can step up to be a leader. Baptiste Touchard has led the team eight times, Kongpop Kaikaew seven times, while Philip Hallstrom has been the low scorer five times, Guillaume Paquette has done so four times and Elijah Galvan led for the first time in his career at the Las Vegas Desert Classic.