EAST LANSING \u2013 In more than a dozen trips to St. Andrews Links, Casey Lubahn still goes back to the first.<\/p>\n
The Michigan State golf coach was 6-under-par heading into the 18th hole at the Old Course. In his first opportunity to close out a round at the home of golf, Lubahn sprayed his tee shot right into the hotel.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe caddy, who had said three words to me all day, he used an expletive to describe how bad my shot was into the hotel,\u201d Lubahn recalled with a laugh. \u201cIt\u2019s something I\u2019ll always remember.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the point and more lifelong memories will be made this week in Scotland with Michigan State men\u2019s and women\u2019s golf teams both playing in the St. Andrews Collegiate. Only four schools were invited and the third year of the tournament features Michigan State, California, Princeton and the hometown University of St. Andrews.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a pretty special one,\u201d Lubahn said. \u201cIt\u2019s the hardest invite in college golf to get.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lubahn said it takes a lot of heavy lifting to get a spot in the St. Andrews Collegiate and that was earned in part by Michigan State\u2019s work launching the Folds of Honor at American Dunes in Grand Haven. A partnership with NBC and the Golf Channel will continue with the Spartans on an international stage this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think every season when you win, you think you\u2019re the best coach in the world, when you lose you think you\u2019re the worst coach in the world,\u201d Lubahn said. \u201cThe reality is the truth\u2019s always in the middle and providing experiences is the only universal thing you can do for these kids that will transcend winning and losing. Between the Folds of Honor and this, we\u2019re certainly getting some great ones this fall.\u201d<\/p>\n
The tournament runs Monday through Wednesday with the first two days of stroke play at the Jubilee Course. The field is then separated for match play on Wednesday at the Old Course with the top two seeds squaring off for the title and the others for third place.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no place in the world of golf like St. Andrews for many reasons,\u201d Lubahn said. \u201cI\u2019ll tell you it\u2019s the only place that doesn\u2019t disappoint, ever. \u2026 They treat golf differently, they think about golf differently. It\u2019s much more an every-man embrace of the sport over there and these kids are going to have the time of their life.\u201d<\/p>\n
On a sunny day in East Lansing last week, Lubahn was optimistic about the long-term forecast for the trip. Mild temperatures and low winds looked ideal but one of his players preferred chaos. <\/p>\n
\u201cI hope that the weather is going to be the worst it could be because I\u2019m never going to play golf like that again,\u201d junior Lorenzo Pinili said, \u201cand I think experiencing every single aspect of golf is my goal because I love this game so much.\u201d<\/p>\n
That desire is central to the experience of playing elite links golf and both Michigan State teams will extend the trip. After closing out the St. Andrews Collegiate, the squads will embrace van time for five extra days playing stellar courses, including another major championship venue in Carnoustie.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a special trip to wrap up the fall schedule for both Michigan State squads and playing a competitive round on international TV at the birthplace of golf is a bit more than an average road trip. Crossing the iconic Swilcan Bridge while walking up the 18th hole is a bucket list item a bunch of young golfers can check off.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you cross the bridge, you think about who\u2019s walked on it and who\u2019s taken their picture on this bridge,\u201d Lubahn said. \u201cIt\u2019s really unlike any place in the world of golf, including Augusta.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EAST LANSING \u2013 In more than a dozen trips to St. Andrews Links, Casey Lubahn still goes back…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221858,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":["post-221857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}