Young Nicholls golf team faces tough test to open 2023 fall season

The Nicholls golf team faces a tough test to open its fall season when the Colonels take part in the Argent Financial Classic hosted by Louisiana Tech in Ruston.

Among the more prominent teams taking part in the event are Houston, Middle Tennessee, Alabama-Birmingham, and Southern Mississippi.

“This is a difficult event for us to start the season with because of the field that we play. This is probably the most varied field that we are going to have in regards to different conferences. Naturally, all Division I. There are a couple from the Southland, but almost all the schools are from larger conferences,” said longtime Nicholls coach James Schilling.

The event will feature a practice round followed by 18 holes of golf Sunday through Tuesday. The top four scores from among five golfers from each team are added up after three rounds to determine a team’s final score.

“With that list of teams, you can tell we are the smallest kind of team going against it, but I do like going against it right away. It’s a really good event. It allows us to kind of see where we stack up against teams from various conferences versus, say, just playing Southland Conference teams all the time,” Schilling said.

Nicholls is not only among the smallest, but it may also very well be the youngest. The nine-member roster features six freshmen, one sophomore, one junior, and one senior.

The youngsters have stepped up to open the fall season.

“I was kind of counting on some of the returning players really to possibly be in the lineup because they are familiar with the area and everything, but a lot of my freshmen made it,” Schilling said. “Thomas Danielson and Chase Pochylko are both from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (Canada). They know each other. They played Junior Golf together. Chase is my No. 1 this week. When I say he is my No. 1, that’s based upon six, 18-hole rounds of qualifying. It was like a mini-tournament to determine, based upon scores, who was going to go.

“Jack Moro is a guy that has surprised me. He’s right there with Chase, 1-2, based on some of the scores so far. Now you have to take it on the road, so we’ll see how that goes.”

Like Danielson and Pochylko, Moro also is a fellow Canadian. Yet another freshman, he’s from Thunder Bay, Ontario.

The lone senior on the team is Mickael Najmark from France.

The local flavor comes from sophomore Zachary Morvant. He went to Vandebilt Catholic in Houma before his parents moved to The Woodlands, Texas, for work.

Peyton Canter is the only junior on the team.

Rounding out the squad are three freshmen, including Diego Prat Cruza, Dylan Weber, and Collin Jones. Jones, from Lake Charles, was the Class 3A state champion a year ago.

The biggest surprise for Schilling, the coach said, was the scores put up by the freshmen.

“Peyton played in the state am (amateur) this summer. He played a lot of golf this summer. He made the cut in the state am against a lot of other college players,” said Schilling. “He did not make the first event. That surprised me.

“Najmark has been pretty steady. You are dealing with someone that’s 23 years old versus someone who’s 17 or 18. How is that going to translate on the road?”

Now, Schilling said, the freshmen just need to play.

“They can shoot the scores, but when you’re that age, you haven’t been on the road and you haven’t done a whole lot of that, it can be (and up and down level of play). You have to get it more (on an even level). I’m a bit hesitant in having that may true freshmen playing, but at the same time, it’s a reset (season) anyway.”

Nicholls could have had a bit more returning experience, but Schilling chose to make 2023, his “reset” year. Because of COVID rules, a couple of players who graduated could have returned for another season, but that would have just delayed the rebuilding process. Plus, the Nicholls coach chose to rebuild with freshmen.

“I don’t have any (transfer) portal players. I’m not doing that,” the Nicholls coach said. “There has been some trickle down. I’m getting some good freshmen because so many coaches are just going to the portal.

“The portal is not just for LSU, the SEC, or Sun Belt. It affects the Southland as well, big time.

The portal is a part of your job now. Whether you like it or agree with or not, it’s there. A coach has to deal with it.”

One of the freshmen who didn’t make the first travel squad was Jones.

“If he didn’t make the top five, I think that shows you’ve got a state champion on your team and he’s not in it,” said Schilling. “When people are wondering why are you looking at a guy from France? Why are you looking at a guy from here, here, here, and here?

“Well, I’ve got the state champion on my team, and he didn’t make it. It’s Division I. It’s not Tri-Parish area Division I. That’s not what this is.”

The rest of the fall season for Nicholls will include the Grover Page Classic in Jackson, Tenn., and the Bubba Barnett Invitational in Jonesboro, Ark., before the Colonels close out the fall by hosting the LaTour Intercollegiate in Mathews on October 23-24.

While casual golf fans may think of “the golf season” being in the spring and summer as the professionals vie for major championships, the fall golf season should not be equated to something like the NFL’s preseason.

“It (the results) count in your rankings,” Schilling emphasized. “Your rankings are all year long. The four events we have in the fall count toward the rankings.

“We have four events in the fall and five events in the spring. You have nine total, with the conference tournament that will be in Kerrville, Texas. Then from there, if I have like I had in ’18, an individual champ, you are going to regionals, or your team, as well. If you win, you go. It’s an automatic ticket.”

The Nicholls coach said he is anxious to see how his young team performs as the season progresses.

“I think the guys are happy to be here,” he said. “The freshmen are happy to be here. That’s a big part of it. Do they want to be at Nicholls, or they are just at Nicholls? I’ve noticed there’s a distinct difference in that.

“At the beginning, everything’s new so it’s fun and it’s fine. But if some person truly wants to be here…a lot of my guys, some had D-I offers, some did not. They come in trying to prove the point that, ‘I’m better than a D-II or I’m better than this or that. Or I’m better than going to a northern school where I can’t play golf all year.’”

That’s all part of what Schilling has been trying to sell for a long time.

“There’s a lot of things at Nicholls we can’t provide because of the budget and the restrictions and stuff like that. With golf, there’s a lot of things we can provide with climate. We have an on-campus facility. We’ve got LaTour. We’ve got Ellendale. We have places that we can access to go and work at getting better. The key is you have to work at it.”