Golf Vols quickly No. 1 under coach Brennan Webb

KNOXVILLE - Brennan Webb looked down at his watch at 6:11 one morning shortly after beginning his new job as Tennessee men's golf coach and came to a realization.

The perception of his new team - from himself, from others - was off.

Tennessee's men's golfers were on the driving range before sunrise working with enough focus and cohesion to prompt their new coach to make a rather bold statement.

"I told them if they continued to encourage each other and help each other and work as hard as they could that we were going to win no matter where we were," Webb said. "They certainly proved that a little bit earlier than I expected."

So far, Webb looks like a guru.

After finishing the 2017-18 season ranked 49th nationally and graduating their top player, Tennessee won its first two fall-semester tournaments for the first time in program history.

The Volunteers won the Carpet Capital Collegiate Invitational over 14 other teams, including some of the nation's best, in Rocky Face, Georgia, in early September. They followed up with a win over 11 schools at the Inverness Intercollegiate in Toledo, Ohio, a few weeks later.

The fast start has Tennessee ranked first in Golf Week's national poll and fifth in the coaches' poll. The Vols play Saturday through Monday at the Maridoe Intercollegiate in Carrollton, Texas.

"We're certainly excited how everything has transpired so far," Webb said. "The first tournament was certainly one that was unexpected. It was one of the bigger fields of the fall. Seven of the top 14 teams in the country were there from the preseason polls. We certainly weren't expected to win or maybe even expected by ourselves to go down there and win."

Webb came to Tennessee after three seasons as the head coach at Middle Tennessee State. Originally from Canada, he played college golf at East Tennessee State before playing and caddying professionally for several years.

Before his head coaching stint in Murfreesboro, he was associate head coach for Georgia Tech. Webb reunited with his former boss and longtime Georgia Tech coach Bruce Heppler prior to the Carpet Capital event and shared his optimism for what the Vols might accomplish that weekend.

"Kind of ironic, but I mentioned to Coach Heppler before the tournament started, I said, 'I think these guys are actually a lot better than anyone thinks,'" Webb said. "I told him, 'I don't know how they're going to handle the pressure of the situation, but physically they're really, really good.' Then they came out and handled the situation like they'd been there before, so I was happy with that."

Junior Jake Meenhorst led the Vols by finishing 9 under par in a tie for second place at the Carpet Capital event in the individual standings. Sophomore Spencer Cross led the team, playing as an individual, with a 215 in the Inverness Intercollegiate. That was good for third place overall, and Tyler Johnson and Hunter Wolcott tied for fourth at 216.

Tennessee athletic director Phillip Fulmer and associate AD Angie Boyd-Keck introduced Webb as the team's coach in June. Soon after, the Vols announced three in-state signees and the addition of two of Webb's top three former MTSU players who have transferred in.

Already, expectations have risen for a program that has not finished in the top half of the SEC standings since the 2010-11 season.

"I think," Webb said, "we just kind of learn to deal with the expectations as part of the process now and make sure we keep doing what we've been doing to get to this stage."

Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidWCobb and on Facebook at facebook.com/volsupdate.

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