WILLIAMSBURG, Va.— The William & Mary men's golf team kicks off their 2023-24 campaign with a trip to upstate New York for the Red Bandanna Invitational hosted by Boston College. The 54-hole event takes place on Sunday and Monday at Turning Stone Resort and Casino's Kaluhyat Course.
 
TRIBE NOTES:
 
A Look Back:
Coach Tim Pemberton's squad enjoyed a successful 2022-23 season that saw multiple entries into the W&M record books. The Tribe's season scoring average of 292.24 beat the previous record by a stroke and a half from 2020-21. Last year's edition of the Green and Gold also set program records for single round, 36-hole and 54-hole scores, all coming at the season opening VCU Shootout. The team posted a blistering 16 under second round 272 on their way to a 21-under-par 843. At the same event Matthew Feinstein tied the program record for lowest single round with a 7 under 65.
 
The Tribe earned their best finish of the year at Eastern Carolina's Ironwood Collegiate where they were runners-up last October. Last season concluded with the CAA Championships with W&M finishing in fourth.
 
The Schedule:
This week's season opener in Verona, N.Y. is the first time that the Tribe heads to the Northeast in the last 14 years. A week later they head to North Carolina for Davidson's River Run Collegiate hosted at River Run Country Club. After a month's hiatus William & Mary finishes the fall off with trips to events hosted by Georgetown, Furman and UNC Greensboro in October.
 
Going Lo(gan):
Logan Hunter returns for his junior year with the Tribe after setting the program record for rounds of par or better in a single season with 15. Hunter found red figures seven times a season ago and tied his career best of 67 on two different occasions. His best finish was T-5 when W&M played host at the Golden Horseshoe Intercollegiate. The former record for rounds of par or better was shared by David Hicks and Jeremey Wells with 13. Hunter set the new mark thanks to back-to-back even-par 72s to close the season at the CAA Championships.
 
Key Returners: 
The Tribe brings back six returners alongside Hunter. Charlie Bundy enters his sophomore year after playing in all 29 rounds as a freshman with a 74.1 average. Jake Newman returns for his junior year after posting a 75.35 average last season, while Davis Adams comes off a freshman year where he appeared in 14 rounds averaging 76.79. Jimmy Taylor, Matt Epstein and Scott Hanna also return for W&M.
 
Newcomers:
Coach Pemberton only adds a pair of new players to this year's team, both being freshman. Preston Burton, from Charlottesville, Va., joins the Tribe as the reigning VHSL Class 3 State Champion. Burton also won the 2021 State Junior in the 16-18 age group. The second addition is Luke Walmet, a Charleston, S.C. native. Walmet was the second ranked junior golfer in South Carolina according to Junior Golf Scoreboard. He has posted six top-five finishes in national junior events over the last three years.
 
The Field: 
15 teams will tee it up in the Red Bandanna Invitational on Sunday. A pair of 'power five' schools headline the field with the hosts Boston College from the ACC and West Virginia from the Big 12. Reigning Big South champs, Longwood, will tee it up after making their first NCAA appearance since 2007 a year ago. Delaware is also in the field, they finished third in the event last year when it was hosted by Missouri as the Turning Stone Tiger Intercollegiate. Also of note, Le Moyne will be playing in their first event as a DI program after transitioning from DII this summer.
 
The Course:
Kaluhyat, designed by the world-renowned Robert Trent Jones Jr., is one of three championship golf courses at Turning Stone Resort. The 7,100-yard layout plays to a par of 72 and hosted the 2016 PGA Professional Championship as well as this year's New York State Four-Ball Championship. The course features four par 5's and four par 3's, with a key stretch being holes 10 through 13. The 10^th is a short and gettable par 4, the 11^th a 621-yard par 5 that requires three long and accurate shots, the 12^th being a longer and tight par 4 and the 13^tha risk-reward dogleg right par 5 that may be reachable in two, but features a lake down the entire right side.