<\/p>\n
In the fall of 2024, Eastern announced the return of varsity men\u2019s golf after an absence of close to 25 years.\u00a0Soon after, Tim Collins, Eastern\u2019s athletics director, brought on Russell Grove to restart the program.<\/p>\n
Grove, a certified PGA class member who came to EWU after a decade coaching at North Idaho College, is the sixth head coach in EWU men\u2019s golf history. \u201cI look forward to building a program focused on fostering connections, building tradition and providing our student-athletes with opportunities to excel academically and athletically,\u201d he said in a statement to local media.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s inaugural campaign saw the fledgling Eagles compete in a fall schedule that took them to WSU for the Washington State Palouse Collegiate tournament; the Tindall tournament, hosted by the University of Washington; the University of Colorado\u2019s Mark Simpson Invitational; and, finally, the Oregon State Beaver Invitational at the Illahe Hills Country Club in Salem, Oregon.<\/p>\n
Tournament results were mixed, and there were predictable growing pains. But there was also plenty to feel good about, perhaps most notably the play of freshman standouts Cal Anderson and Eli McNelly, along with the consistent contributions of junior transfer Hogan Park. At season\u2019s end, Park underscored his promising future by qualifying as an amateur for the PGA\u2019s World Wide Technology Championship held this fall in Los Cabos, Mexico. \u201cIt was super exciting and nerve wracking to be able to play in a PGA event and competing with the best in the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Eastern brought back men\u2019s golf after the program was discontinued following the 2001-2002 academic year. The 10-member Eagle team is competing as an NCAA Division I member of the Big Sky Conference.\u00a0To make room for men\u2019s golf, EWU discontinued its varsity men\u2019s tennis program.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been a valuable learning experience,\u201d Grove said at season\u2019s end. \u201cWe\u2019re going to have to work really hard over the off-season to get our scores where they need to be heading into the spring. It is also an important time to make some adjustments; of getting the core culture and competitiveness of this team headed in the right direction to establish what this program can and will be.\u201d<\/p>\n
That spring season isn\u2019t far off. The now-more-seasoned Eagle men\u2019s golfers will be back on the links beginning Feb. 23 at the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate in Palm Desert, California.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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Eastern\u2019s newly revived men\u2019s golf program completes its inaugural season. In the fall of 2024, Eastern announced the return of varsity men\u2019s golf after an absence of close to 25 years.\u00a0Soon after, Tim Collins, Eastern\u2019s athletics director, brought on Russell Grove to restart the program. Grove, a certified PGA class member who came to…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":484,"featured_media":86511,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-86509","stories","type-stories","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","stories_categories-sports","stories_tags-fall-winter-2025-26"],"acf":{"subheading":"","featured_image_format":"cover","display_byline":false,"display_featured_image":true,"display_date_published":false,"featured_video":"","Links":false,"Resources":false,"page_override_title":"","page_hide_sidebar":false,"page_enable_page_nav":false,"page_persona_bar_default_tab":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/86509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/stories"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/484"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/86509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86513,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/86509\/revisions\/86513"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}