The Binghamton University golf team, coming off a No. 1 district ranking in the fall, will start its spring season at the George Washington Invitational in Delaware this weekend.

Head coach Nick Lasky is granting last season’s backups a chance to prove themselves and compete for the fifth and final starting slot, which is up for grabs. The five players heading to Delaware are: freshmen Mike Corbo, Brian Golkiewicz and Patrick Donovan, junior Ryan Gabel and senior Tom Hackett, all of whom either saw limited time as a fifth starter or no time at all as a backup.

‘I think they’ll play to the best of their ability,’ Lasky said. ‘And I fully expect them to grind out every hole, not give up and remain confident that they can carry the team.’

Because the Bearcats’ starting lineup won’t be out there, they aren’t in danger of falling in the standings. Lasky informed Mark Lasch from Golfstat, the official golf stat tracker organization for NCAA golf, of his decision to alter his starting lineup, and was told that as a result, the tournament will not count toward Binghamton’s official status rankings in District 1. Varsity teams commonly designate themselves as junior varsity in certain events to give their backup players chances to prove themselves without the danger of the team falling in the rankings.

Lasky nonetheless intends to treat the invitational as a major tournament for the purposes of his players.

‘Everything is the same. I expect their comportment and composure and the way they represent the University to be the same, and we’ll go out and try to win as well,’ Lasky said.

After finishing the fall season ranked first in District 1 in front of Rhode Island, the Bearcats have found the positions switched in the spring season, with the Rams in first and BU second. But the Bearcats remain confident that they can reclaim the No. 1 seed.

‘We’ll see them at the New England championship in Providence, in April, and all of us have our eyes set on them and we’ll look to reclaim that No. 1 ranking,’ Lasky said. ‘I’m sure they’ll look to beat us and keep their No. 1 ranking, because last fall season was the first time in five years they were not ranked No. 1.’

Though the Bearcats have not seen the greens since the fall ‘ winter provides a particularly long layoff at a northeastern school like Binghamton ‘ they are confident their off-season workouts and conditioning have them ready to go.

‘Right after our last tournament in the fall, we started preparing for the spring season, and everyone fully embraced the idea of it,’ Lasky said. ‘Because of the efforts of Lori Martin, the strength and conditioning coach, from an endurance and flexibility perspective we are the most prepared golf team in the history of this school, which will hopefully carry over to the entire spring season and help towards being successful. Many of us played a lot of golf in Florida over winter break and played five rounds of golf over our mini-spring break as well.’