There isn’t much breathing room on the first-round leaderboard at the National Golf Invitational. Even as Wyoming finished the day 8 under at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes in Maricopa, Arizona, the Cowboys only gave themselves a one-shot cushion on Penn State.
The top nine spots on the leaderboard are separated by seven shots. Stetson, in 11th place at 2 over, is only 10 shots off the pace. And for a program that lives in the red, 10 shots is very much in the conversation.
The Hatters have never competed in the postseason before this year. Second-year head coach Danny Forshey has pushed a competitive culture back home in Daytona Beach, Florida, and it carried his team all the way to the desert.
Forshey, who previously coached at Appalachian State, Bethune-Cookman and Alcorn State, took inventory when he arrived two years ago. He brought in five new players this season to blend with the roster already in place. Then it became a birdie fest – all the time.
“We had a super competitive qualifying every time we qualified, and it was tough to get in the lineup,” Forshey said. “It forced guys to get better and shoot lower scores.”
Round One Results from the National Golf Invitational#GoHatters pic.twitter.com/5U9zLtBFYE
— Stetson Golf (@StetsonGolf) May 20, 2023
Most of the time, it took rounds in the 60s, or at least under par, to get a seat in the team van. Some players didn’t get to compete in tournaments as much as they’d hoped, Forshey said, but the outcome was that competition sharpened the whole roster, top to bottom.
It showed in the fall.
Stetson was runner-up at three fall tournaments and won its own Daytona Beach Intercollegiate. Remarkably, the Hatters were under par as a team in each of 15 fall tournament rounds. After the first half of the season, Stetson was ranked No. 55 in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings. The team had as strong a fall season as any program in the 13-team NGI field.
“We have a special group now,” Forshey said, “this is by far the most special team I’ve been a part of.”
Opportunity begets opportunity, and a first foray into the postseason could conceivably open even more doors for Stetson. Forshey said his men are learning on the fly at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes. He has emphasized driving the ball well and playing for the first bounce on firm, desert greens.
Mason Quagliata knows all about it, having grown up in nearby Scottsdale, Arizona. Quagliata brought in a bogey-free, 4-under 68 to lead Stetson on Friday and is tied for third individually. Wyoming’s Tyler Severin has the individual lead at 6 under.
“I got off to a really good start, started birdie-birdie, so that always helps get into the flow of things,” Quagliata said. “And then the putter felt really good. Just felt like I got it in all the right spots, was getting up and down when I needed to and just felt like I was capitalizing on all the right opportunities.”
Quagliata, a redshirt junior, has never played a college event in his home state. Already this week, he’s had his teammates to his house and taken them to his home golf course.
As an upperclassmen, Quagliata has seen both the pre-Forshey era of Stetson golf and the post-era. If you weren’t working hard, Quagliata said of the new climate, you weren’t going to play.
“We definitely all got more comfortable under par when scores like that are being shot in qualifying because then you come out to a tournament and it’s not as big a deal to shoot under par when you’re doing it every time at your home course,” he said.
When he went through the recruiting process, Quagliata wasn’t much concerned with postseason. He wanted to go to a school where he could play and get better, but this week is a nice bonus.
Forshey is proud of the buy-in from players like Quagliata as well as new recruits who believed in what could be accomplished at Stetson. The NGI is a big step forward in the program’s progression.
“I think the thing that’s fun for us is this was an idea, it was a dream and it was just a thought a year or so ago,” Forshey said. “We tried to put a plan together to get a group of guys together that want to compete and can compete. Not everybody is interested in being a part of that because sometimes that means you might not get to play as much.
“We put together a special group and all the guys bought in. We’re an underdog story.”