RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's golf team is excited for the new year and is happy to get the year started. 
 
"It's a new dynamic," UTRGV Head Coach Houston Moore said. "We have some good returners back and a good group of freshmen coming in, so we are excited. We are happy to get going next Monday and taking it one step at a time."
 
The Vaqueros bring back eight student-athletes from last year's squad in Juan Luis de Bethencourt Duque, Sebastian Lundberg, Edmundo Mesta, Javier Neira Garcia, Leonardo Novella, Carlos Roldos, Taj Sutherland and Henry Wang. 
 
UTRGV added Emilio Gil Leyva, Esteban Gonzalez, Eddie Lai, and Juan Martinez to the roster. 
 
The start of the fall season gets under next Monday at The Golfweek Challenge Collegiate Kickoff. It will be a quick turnaround for the Vaqueros, who usually get a couple of weeks after the fall semester starts to get prepared. 
 
The student-athletes got in a week early to start practicing as a team, but they have been working hard since the start of summer. 
 
"It fell on the guys a little bit," Moore said. "They started getting ready some time ago during the summer on their own and playing their own events. They came ready to go last week. We brought them in early and got some qualifying rounds in. The scores have been good so far, so I am impressed with the work they put in over the summer to be ready for our first event."
 
Last year, the lineups mainly consisted of Duque, Garcia, Novella, Sutherland, and Wang but that could all change this season with all the depth the Vaqueros have. 
 
Depth does a couple of things for the Vaqueros and Coach Moore. First, it gives the Vaqueros different options when it comes to selecting a lineup for each tournament and secondly, it will make everyone else want to up their play.
 
"I think the depth this season is what excites me most," Moore said. "Last year, we may have been a little top heavy. I think this year we have 11 guys that can pop in the lineup at any time, which is really exciting. I think it will push everyone on the team to work a little harder and come a little closer as well."
 
After The Golfweek Collegiate Kickoff, the Vaqueros will compete at the UAB Graeme McDowell Invitational in late September. They will play at the Greir Jones Invitational to open the month of October and then will close out the fall at the George Washington Invitational in Monterrey, Mexico. 
 
In years past, the Vaqueros used the fall to navigate the state of Texas but this fall season, the Vaqueros will compete outside of the Lonestar State.
 
Some of the courses will be new to the Vaqueros as well as the cities they will be traveling to so it will be key for them to be able to adjust on the fly. 
 
"It's all about adapting," Moore said. "When we go to these new events, we have to be ready to roll. We have to be on our P's and Q's. We have to navigate each golf course how it's designed and then each golf course is in a different location. We are not playing all four tournaments in Texas. I think being ready to put in the work whenever we get to the event and having the right preparation done when get ready to tee off will be key."
 
The Vaqueros are ready and excited, and they don't want to add any more pressure on themselves. They know that if they go to each event prepared then that will take care of the results.
 
The Vaqueros are looking to have some fun this fall.
 
"We have no expectations this fall, we just want to be our most ready when we are teeing off," Moore said. "I think we just want to get in good work and let what we do leading up to the event take care of everything else and have fun. We want to have a lot of fun this year and take it one day at a time."

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