SAN FRANCISCO – Saint Mary's Golf is ready to begin their 2022-23 campaign, and return the bulk of their roster from last year's young Gaels team.
 
FAB THREE
Stalwarts Michael Slesinksi and Dylan VanderVeer finished their Gaels career strong, but three freshmen shined for SMC last season who are ready to build on that for their sophomore year.
 
Kristian Bressum was tabbed the WCC Freshman of the Year for 2021-22, becoming the first Gael to earn the award since Andrew Putnam in 2008. The Denmark native recorded three top-10 finishes last season, including third at the Rutherford Intercollegiate hosted by Penn State and second at the Visit Stockton Invitational hosted by Pacific.

Bressum had 12 rounds under par last season and was at par or better 15 times while carrying a scoring average of 72. He shot a 1-over 217 at the WCC Championships to lead the Gaels, and was the SMC clubhouse leader six times this season.
 
Mitchell Hoey finished second at the Saint Mary's Invitational and sixth at the Rutherford Intercollegiate hosted by Penn State with a 215. Mitchell had an average score of 73.10 this season, playing in 10 tournaments overall. 
 
Connor Reis finished 2-under par and tied for ninth overall at the SMC Invitational after shooting a 211 in the three rounds. The Claremont, Calif. native finished 13th at the Las Vegas International, shooting a 69 on the par 72 course on day one and three with a 74 in between to finish with a score of 212. His average score was a 73.52 as a freshman and shot par or better nine times and scored in the 60s four times.
 
NEW ADDITIONS
The Gaels welcomed two transfers to the squad for 2022 in Henry Fitzhugh and Aiden Lee. Both attended St. Francis High School in Pasadena, Calif., but Lee took a gap year after recuperating from a shoulder injury before joining Saint Mary's and Fitzhugh transferred from UC Irvine.
 
Fitzhugh Played two seasons at UC Irvine and as a sophomore finishing with a stroke average of 74.73 through 30 rounds. He competed in all seven tournaments as a true freshman, ranked fourth on the team with a 76.05 average through 21 rounds, and had a top-20 finish in his collegiate debut at the Orange County Classic (T19th).
 
2022-23 SCHEDULE
The Gaels released their schedule on August 30 and have a slate of games that will challenge and provide plenty of opportunity for the young Saint Mary's team to continue to gain valuable experience.
 
"When putting together our schedule we stress the need to provide our student-athletes the opportunity to compete at the highest level of college golf and have special experiences," said Head Coach Scott Hardy. "This collection of tournaments definitely meets both of those goals. As Head Coach, I look forward to watching our student-athletes develop and improve while competing in these events. We are proud to have a program that prioritizes competition and providing an awesome experience, not only for our current student-athletes, but for incoming and potential recruits to see as well."
 
OPENING TOURNAMENT
Saint Mary's will begin the season on Monday, September 12 by competing in the USF Intercollegiate at the world-renowned Olympic Club Lakeside Course. Among its rich golf history, the Lakeside Course at Olympic has hosted five U.S. Open Championships. It will be their first time participating in the USF Olympic Invitational since 2016.
 
The tournament will be 54 holes in a two-two-one, team-pairings format with an 8:30 am.m shotgun start on Monday morning. Par for the course is a 71 and is 6,921 total yards.
 
The Gaels will compete against San Diego, Nevada, LMU, Arkansas Little Rock, Santa Clara, BYU, UC Davis, Seattle University, and tournament host San Francisco. That gives SMC a chance to compete against five WCC teams in the opening tournament to measure themselves against future conference tournament competition early in the season.
 
STARTING LINEUP:

1. Connor Reis
2. Kristian Bressum
3. Mitchell Hoey
4. Jonathan Curran
5. Hentry Fitzhugh

Ryan Hartanto is Competing as an individual golfer (not counted on team score).
 
FOLLOW LIVE:
The live scoring link for the USF Intercollegiate is available here.