Golf finished fourth out of twelve teams in their first tournament of the season last week.
The team shot an 853, 13 shots over par, across three rounds in the Howard USF/ Intercollegiate at the Manor Country Club in Rockville, Maryland, finishing just two strokes behind their crosstown rival, Georgetown University. The Revolutionaries’ top performer of the match, junior Rodrigo Barahona shot 4 under par, 206 across 54 holes, tied for second best in the competition.
Princeton University won the tournament with a 12-under par 828, Loyola Marymount University came in second and the Hoyas rounded out the team podium at third place.
“I think the tournament was a reflection of what we have been doing this past month as a team,” Barahona said. “So I think it was great signs of the right trend, moving in the right direction as a team.”
Head Coach Chuck Scheinost said they played well as a team throughout the tournament, with golfers picking up the slack when others were struggling. The four best scores out of the five golfers on each team count for the team score for each 18-hole round.
Scheinost said the tournament was a “productive start,” especially after three contributing golfers from last year’s lineup graduated in the spring. He said the team of eight will focus on hitting out of the rough in practice to clean up some of the mistakes they made in their first outing.
“We lost three big pieces from last year,” Scheinost said. “And while we’ve got two of our leaders back in Rodrigo and Manuel, it can be a little rocky when you flip out half your lineup. So I was very pleased.”
After a rough start, shooting 87 in the first round, sophomore Benjamin Garcia Moreira bounced back with a 18-stroke improvement, turning in a 69 for his second round. Scheinost said it’s one of, if not the largest, comebacks he’s seen from one round to another in his twenty-year coaching career.
The Revolutionaries finished as the Atlantic 10 runner-up last season, after placing fourth in the preseason A-10 poll. Scheinost said he was left a little disappointed by last season’s team in their failure to reach their full potential. Scheinost said during the 2022-23 season, the Revs broke 39 program records and finished in fourth at the A-10 Championship, which was followed by a less successful 2023-24 season despite the team clinching silver in the A-10 Championship.
After team leader and two-time First Team All-Conference Jakub Hrinda graduated in the spring, Barahona and Junior Manuel Barbachano now aim to fill their place as the heads of the team, leading the Revs as the top-performing returners from last season. Last season, Hrinda led the team with an average score of 71.18, compared to Barahona’s 72.75 and Barbchano’s 72.69.
“Now that I have more of that leadership, it also comes with more responsibility in showing the guys how things should be done,” Barahona said.
Barahona said his introverted personality and Barbachano’s extroverted personality provide an opportunity for the two to share leadership responsibilities. He said Barbachano can lead with a motivating voice, and Barahona can lead through quiet example.
The pair met through the Junior National Tour in Mexico when they were ten. Barbachano had been playing and winning the junior tournaments in Mexico since he was six, until Barahona beat him in their first tournament together. The two have competed in Mexico ever since, and Barahona said the two still maintain the competitive spirit as they lead their team.
They’ll be leading a team of newcomers, which includes junior transfer Phillippe Thorin, who joined the Revs from north Texas last season but did not compete due to an ankle injury and Garcia Moreira who transferred from Swarthmore College after being earning GCAA All-Freshman honors. Freshman Adam Bencik and senior Luke Lyu round out the team’s lineup.
“I think this is going to be a special group if they continue to put in the work throughout the year. I think we can do some really special things come the end of the year,” said Scheinost. “The A-10 is probably more wide open this year than it’s been last couple years.”
Scheinost said Richmond and Davidson are teams that could challenge the Revolutionaries in the conference. The two schools both placed ahead of GW in last year’s A-10 preseason poll, at three and one, respectively. Reigning A-10 champion VCU is only returning two of its golfers from last year.
The team will head to The Goat in Annapolis, Maryland, next weekend for a 15-team tournament hosted by Navy, playing against regional opponents like Georgetown and the University of Maryland. GW won stroke-play competition in their last tournament at Navy in 2018.
