Lows And Highs From College Golf: Grieving Enloe Steps Down, Showcase Returns To Riviera

Jason Enloe stepped down as SMU’s golf coach, still struggling with his wife Katie’s passing from leukemia and a dreadful aftermath that includes a legal entanglement with in-laws.

Ryan Lavner files a GolfChannel.com must read on Enloe’s admirable decision and continued grieving not long after his SMU team made an improbably run at the 2019 NCAA’s.

Normally fun-loving and gregarious, Enloe retreated socially and moped around the house, caring for little else other than his two girls, Emma, 7, and Maddie, 4. He questioned everything – his parenting skills, his coaching ability, his new relationship, his growing rift with his in-laws. He felt lethargic. Stopped taking care of himself. Developed dark thoughts.

“Grief has no rules. It has no stages,” he said. “Psychologists say that there’s this stage and then this stage, but that’s bulls---. You can go to counseling and talk about grief, but it’s not foolproof. Time is the only thing that can minimize how it feels and when it comes and how you deal with it.”

And time, of course, is a precious commodity for a college coach at a major program. He’s the point person who has to travel, recruit, fundraise and, yes, lead a roster of 18- to 22-year-olds who have complex personalities and differing needs.

In happier news, one of the more underrated college golf days of the year returns stronger than ever with the 6th annual Genesis Invitational Collegiate Showcase. The deepest field yet will be playing for a spot in the Genesis Invitational hosted by Tiger Woods later that week at Riviera

Good luck to the collegiate players who have the chance at a life-changing week and tip of the cap to all involved for continuing to build on this fine tradition.

For Immediate Release, with details on Monday’s open-to-the-public day that includes PGA Tour pros playing with the groups:

TOP COLLEGIATE GOLFERS TO COMPETE AT RIVIERA

FOR SPOT IN THE 2020 GENESIS INVITATIONAL

Professional alums join pro-am competitors, with winning team earning a donation to their alma mater’s golf program

LOS ANGELES – The Genesis Invitational kicks off its tournament week at The Riviera Country Club on Monday, February 10 with the Collegiate Showcase, featuring top collegiate players vying for an exemption into the 2020 Genesis Invitational field. The Collegiate Showcase tees off at 8 a.m. The event features an individual stroke-play competition for the collegiate entries, with the low collegiate golfer earning a spot in The Genesis Invitational 2020 field. The expected collegiate athletes competing in the 2020 showcase include:

School  Collegiate Player* 

University of Kentucky Alex Goff 

University of Kentucky Allen Hamilton

University of Nevada, Las Vegas Jack Trent

Odessa College Jose Dibildox 

Pepperdine University Clay Feagler

Pepperdine University Josh McCarthy

University of Southern California Yuxin Lin

San Jose State University  Sean Yu

University of Texas Spencer Soosman

Texas Tech University Kyle Hogan

University of Washington  Jan Schneider 

University of Washington  Noah Woolsey 

University of Wyoming  Kirby Coe-Kirkham 

*Players subject to change

2020 marks the sixth time the tournament has hosted the Collegiate Showcase. Past winners of the event who earned an exemption into the PGA TOUR event at Riviera are Kentucky’s Lukas Euler (2019), Texas’ Scottie Scheffler (2018), Pepperdine’s Sahith Theegala (2017), Illinois’ Charlie Danielson (2016) and Wake Forest’s Will Zalatoris (2015).

The Collegiate Showcase also features a pro-am style event with teams comprised of a PGA TOUR pro and two amateurs representing their alma mater. Professionals expected to tee it up at Riviera on Monday include defending champion J.B. Holmes (Kentucky), Abraham Ancer (Odessa), Ryan Moore (UNLV), CT Pan (Washington), Andrew Putnam (Pepperdine) and Jhonattan Vegas (Texas) among others. The three-man pro-am teams compete against each other in best-ball play, with the lowest scoring team winning a $50,000 donation to the school’s golf program. For the second straight year, the tournament has collaborated with the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) to help educate college golf programs on the unique opportunity available by participating in the event.