This Week In Rattlers Golf
Lone Star Conference Championship
April 20-21 (Stroke Play) • April 22 (Medal Match) • Rockwall, Texas (Rockwall Golf & Athletic Club)
•   The St. Mary's Men's Golf team begins postseason play at the Lone Star Conference Championship, beginning on Monday. The teams will play 54 holes over two days, and the top four teams advance to Medal Match play, with the semifinals in the morning on Wednesday and the finals in the afternoon.
•   The Rattlers advanced to medal match play a season ago, falling 4-1 to DBU in the semifinals after placing second in stroke play at the Lone Star Championship.Â
•   The Rattlers lineup for the championship is 1) Kongpop Kaikaew, 2) Baptiste Touchard, 3) Guillaume Paquette, 4) Elijah Galvan, and 5) Philip Hallstrom, the same five who finished second a season ago.
•   St. Mary's is 23-6 in competition this season against the remainder of the Lone Star Conference and has not finished behind any team in the league more than once.
•   The weather forecast for Rockwall calls for partly cloudy skies on Monday, with morning showers on both Tuesday and Wednesday. Temperatures should be in the mid-70s throughout the entirety with wins 10-12 mph.
•   Senior Kongpop Kaikaew recorded the 1,000th par of his career at the Argonaut Invitational, while fellow senior Philip Hallstrom needs only nine more for the same milestone. Kaikaew also collected his 20th round in the 60s and his 50th round of par or better at the final regular season tournament.
•   St. Mary's rose back to No. 9 in the GCAA Coaches Poll on April 17. The Rattlers have been ranked in the top 25 in 11 straight polls, the second-longest streak in school history behind the 20 straight from 2018-2020.
•   Three of the five golfers should record their 300th pars of the season this week, and all five have an opportunity to do so. Baptiste Touchard leads the team with 296, while Elijah Galvan has 293, Philip Hallstrom has 283, Guillaume Paquette sits at 267 and Kongpop Kaikaew has 256 for the 2025-26 season.
•   In seven of the nine tournaments during the regular season, the Rattlers placed in the top four, including tying for third in the finale at the Argonaut Invitational, which featured eight other teams ranked in the top-25.
•   Sophomore Guillaume Paquette earned his second Lone Star Golfer of the Week award on April 2 after he tied for fourth at the Argonaut Invitational. St. Mary's earned five Golfer of the Week awards in 2025-26, as Paquette and Kongpop Kaikaew each won twice and Baptiste Touchard won 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 and Guillaume Paquette been the low scorer five times, and Elijah Galvan led for the first time in his career at the Las Vegas Desert Classic.
