The William and Mary men's golf team met a number of historic milestones last season, and with the top five players back in 2014-15, the Tribe is poised for a run at the NCAA Tournament for the first time in a decade.  Director of Golf Jay Albaugh has assembled a roster of nine outstanding golfers for this year, two-thirds of whom are underclassmen and ready to contribute for years to come.

Seniors
The senior class includes the Tribe's top two players entering the season.  Alex Hicks (Cape May Court House, N.J.) has been a first-team All-CAA selection each of the past two years, and shot a career-best 72.81 average in 2013-14.  That was the second-best season average in school history, and included Hicks' first tournament medal and hole-in-one.  Both came at the Joe Agee Invitational, when Hicks also set the W&M school record for best 36-hole and 54-hole tournaments at 10-under and 14-under (199).  During the summer, he reached the second round of qualifying for the U.S. Open, and with another strong campaign could become the first player in school history with three first-team all-conference honors.

Likely to be challenging Hicks for top honors at every tournament this year is classmate Charlie Kern (Seattle, Wash.).  Kern came on strong at the end of last season, and led the Tribe at the CAA Championships.  During the summer, he had an impressive string of performances at amateur championships, including winning the Bremerton City Amateur and the SPC Qualifier to earn a spot at the Sahalee Players Championship, one of the top international tournaments held in the U.S. each year.  He tied for 13th at the SPC, and then a week later reached the quarterfinals of the Pacific Northwest Men's Amateur.

Rounding out the senior class is Joey Shroyer (Victoria, Minn.).  He has showed flashes of brilliance over the past two years, including shooting a 67 (-4) at the Joe Agee Invitational en route to a 10th-place finish.  In 2012-13, he also tied for sixth overall at the Towson Invitational to help W&M claim the team title.  Entering his final campaign, Shroyer will be looking to put it all together and become a consistent member of the scoring line-up heading into championship season in the spring.

Sophomores
Last year's freshman class was the best in school history, with three of the four best rookie-season averages ever at W&M.  Leading the way is Austin Morrison (Charlotte, N.C.), who averaged 74.04 strokes per round to claim the freshman record.  He led the Tribe at two events in the spring, and was named the CAA Golfer of the Week after finishing third at the Greenbrier Invitational.  Austin shot a season-best 68 (-3) at the Joe Agee Invitational, and finished with seven rounds of par or better on the year.

Just three strokes back and also breaking the existing freshman record was Davis Morrison (Charlotte, N.C.).  Davis averaged 74.15 strokes per round, and was second on the team with a 490-213 (.697) head-to-head percentage.  He shot par or better in six rounds, and tied for the team lead at the Snowman Getaway to start the spring.  Davis also had a top-10 finish at the Joe Agee Invitational and tied for 15th at the Greenbrier Invitational.

The third member of the class is Lucca Horwitz (Surrey, England), whose average of 74.80 strokes per round was fourth-best ever for a Tribe freshman.  He came on very strong in April, finishing in the top-10 at the Greenbrier, and took 15th at the CAA Championships to finish the collegiate season.  In the summer, Horwitz advanced to the final round of qualifying for the British Open.

Freshmen
To complement and push the returning veterans, coach Albaugh brought in three more highly-touted freshmen to join the team this year.  Bryce Johnson (Oakton, Va.) is one of the top junior players to come out of Virginia this year.  He reached the semifinals of the state match-play championships over the summer, and represented the Virginia State Golf Association at the 2014 Mid-Atlantic Junior Invitational.  He also led Flint Hill HS to three-straight conference titles.

Alex Shattuck (Sioux Falls, S.D.) earned his way to the top of two different states in high school, attending Lake Mary Prep in Florida while also returning home to South Dakota to play events there.  He won the S.D. Golf Association Junior Tour in 2013, and was an alternate for both the junior and open U.S. Amateurs.  Shattuck also finished fourth at the South Dakota Junior Amateur and 14th at the Men's Amateur that summer as well.

Tom Simmonds (East Lothian, Scotland) is the latest in a long and successful line of Tribe golfers from the British Isles, including his new teammate Horwitz and Hall-of-Famer John McHenry '86.  Simmonds played for Glenalmond College, and was the runner-up at the Perthshire Schools Championship in 2011 while leading his team to combined trophy.  He also won the East Lothian Junior Golf League in 2012, and went on the make the semifinals of the Scottish Junior Club Championships later that season.