NMMI Sports Press
It was a busy day at the NMMI Golf Course Thursday, with more than 100 high schoolers vying for the Colt Classic championship, but that wasn’t what had Bronco Golf assistant coach Jonathan Allen pacing the pro shop.
After coming up just short of an automatic bid to nationals during a regional tournament in San Angelo, Texas earlier this week, the team had to wait and see if they’d be chosen as one of four at-large selections.
Allen, a former Bronco golfer that was on the last team to qualify for the national tournament in 2010, knows what it’s like to make the cut and was anxious to see his guys enjoy that same feeling.
As the high school tourney was wrapping up Thursday afternoon, Allen emerged from the pro shop to very enthusiastically inform your friendly campus reporter that Bronco Golf was nationals bound.
“These guys have worked so hard and I’m proud of them,” Allen said. “They were on a mission all season to get this team back to nationals and now we’re there, so it’s time to go make a real statement.”
The team will head into Rockwind Community Links in Hobbs with plenty of confidence, having played the course many times with multiple individual wins by sophomore Phalatphon “Putter” Viboonviriyasakul, including last month’s WJCAC Championship.
As far as a jump in competition, the Broncos shouldn’t be fazed after competing against the best in the country all year, including conference foes Odessa, Midland and NMJC, the top-ranked squads in the nation.
Sophomore Jackson Hicks arrived at the Institute course not long after the at-large bids were announced, all smiles as he looked for his coaches and teammates, but willing to stop for a moment to give his thoughts and offer the reporter a strong handshake.
“That course is like our second home and we feel really comfortable there,” said Hicks. “Nobody has an advantage over us at that course, we know it just as well as anybody. We know where to miss and there’s not a pin there we haven’t seen before.”
Hicks was one of only six individuals to qualify for nationals in 2023, and was on his way to a top-10 finish before a disastrous fourth and final round. Bad weather played its part, but Hicks refused to blame Mother Nature.
“I 100 percent have something to prove, especially to myself,” he said. “The last day of nationals last year really tore me apart and I’m coming back for it, but this time, the Broncos are coming for it.”
First-year head coach Kris Ward credited the Broncos’ togetherness for helping navigate a new challenge for a group of brand-new coaches that were learning on the fly. Jackson’s father, Travis Hicks, is another Bronco assistant.
“Early on, coach Hicks and I talked about the unique chemistry this group has,” Ward said. “They all get along, they love each other, they joke with each other, pick on each other, but they’re also the first to pick each other up. And any team in any sport that has that kind of chemistry is dangerous.
“Having two coaches that have never really coached golf, don’t know the technical side of it, and for these guys to buy into everything unconventional that coach Hicks and I did is a testament to their trust and belief in themselves.”
Allen was quick to acknowledge the architect of the 2023-24 Bronco Golf team, another former Institute cadet and golfer Boyd Kapalamoto, who coached the team last season.
“This is the team he recruited and he did a good job, so we walked into a pretty good setup as coaches,” said Allen.
But ultimately, it’s the players that make the shots and determine the success of Bronco Golf.
“I didn’t get the team back to nationals, Coach Hicks didn’t, Jonathan didn’t. Those boys got Bronco Golf back to nationals,” said Ward. “They are selfless individuals and getting to watch their unique bond all year and what they have accomplished has been very rewarding.”