Louisville offseason complicated as golfers wait to return to campus
Ryan Blagg’s first few months as the Louisville men’s golf head coach have been complicated due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but his excitement to lead a talented roster hasn’t diminished.
Blagg, who was an assistant at Baylor for eight years, was announced as Louisville head coach May 13 following the retirement of Mark Crabtree.
Although some student-athletes on the team are in Louisville, no golfers are on campus yet. Members of the men’s golf team return to campus during the fourth phase of the University’s planned return.
Golfers aren’t allowed to use on-campus facilities prior to their return to campus, but can play at the University of Louisville Golf Club in Simpsonville.
Blagg said the biggest challenge this offseason is getting four golfers back to the United States.
“I’m hoping that it’s not going to be a big challenge and that they are going to arrive on July 13, but there have been a lot of questions from those guys,” Blagg said. “They hear a lot of rumors that they can’t get into the United States.”
John Murphy, who became the program’s first Byron Nelson Award winner in 2020, is from Kinsale, Ireland. Murphy set the school’s single-season record for stroke average in 2019-20.
Matthias Schmid, who is from Germany, finished second on the team last year with a 69.91 stroke average.
The golfers are schedule to be back in the United States by July 15, but the team won’t be back together until August.
Louisville’s first tournament this fall is planned to begin Sept. 11, but the events are subject to change due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Cardinals have four events scheduled for this fall.
In his first season as the program’s head coach, Blagg takes over a team that ranked 11th nationally by Golfweek when the season ended in mid-March.
Louisville won three tournaments last season while Murphy and Schmid earned PING All-American honorable mentions.
Blagg wants the program to take another step this season.
“A lot of that jumping to the next level is confidence, these guys have just started to hit the tip of the iceberg of starting to get confident these last couple of years,” Blagg said. “They have to understand they can do damage at the national championship.”