Florida State cannonballs (quite literally) into the spring season with statement win at Moon Golf Invitational

MELBOURNE, Fla. – Beatrice Wallin was the picture of peace sitting on the pool deck after a smooth 4-under 68 in Tuesday’s final round of the Moon Golf Invitational. Having held up her end of a deal with assistant coach Justin Fetcho, she waited patiently as Fetcho scrambled to find a towel before he made his promised leap into the swimming pool.

On the range Tuesday morning at Suntree Country Club, Fetcho gave Wallin a bit of incentive to score: A round of 6 under would get him in the pool. Mid-round, with wind kicking up, the two agreed to back it up it 4 under.

Fast forward to No. 18, Suntree’s par-5 finishing hole. Wallin was 2 under on her round and looking at just over 180 yards into the green on her second shot. She pulled the 4-iron and went for it.

“He’s was like, are you aiming in the middle of the green?” Wallin said of her mid-fairway conversation with Fetcho. “I’m like, I need to go for the middle of the pin because I need to make an eagle. I hit a really good shot and had a foot left.”

Fetcho could only shake his head and Wallin went on to tap it in for 68. She finished T-5 individually at the Moon Golf Invite, the second-lowest Seminole behind sophomore Charlotte Heath, as Florida State won the tournament at 10 under, four shots better than Virginia.

All feels right in Wallin’s world now that her senior spring has started. She decided last fall to delay her start on the Epson Tour even though she earned status at last fall’s Q-School, finish out the season with her team and graduate. A teammate informed her that this week was her last first spring tournament. She hadn’t thought much about it before that.

“She’s a great leader in keeping them loose and focused when she needs to,” said head coach Amy Bond, who said she got chills just thinking about Wallin coming back for this final semester. “She called herself the middle child today, playing the three guy. She’s like, it’s OK if you don’t see the middle child, it’s OK. That’s how she is. If you’re there great, if not she’s fine.”

Conversely, Florida State is elevated by Wallin’s presence. The Moon Golf title is the team’s first win this season, and a far cry from a fall-ending 10th-place finish at the Landfall Tradition, when Wallin was absent for Q-School. Florida State entered the spring ranked No. 26 in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings, which belies the team’s potential now that Wallin is back in the lineup.

The Seminoles picked up significant victories over top-20 programs South Carolina, Arkansas, Alabama, Virginia, Duke and Auburn at the Moon Golf.

“To lead wire to wire in this field, I’m extremely proud of them,” Bond said. “It’s almost like a regional – instead of 12 teams you have 15 teams. About half of that was in the top 25. Really happy with the caliber of play all around.”

It’s fitting that this whole team would eventually migrate to the pool deck post-round for Fetcho’s leap – which is exactly the kind of no-stress incentive Bond likes to see during competition.

“It’s one of those where if the kids are having fun and in the moment and the mood is light, they’re going to execute their shots,” she said. “If we put too much pressure on them it’s not going to happen. Golf is a game and it should be played.”

Bond calls Florida State a combined program – the men and women pool resources, share social media accounts, flip-flop coaches and generally look out for each other.

“It’s a lot of fun, it’s like a big family away from home,” said Heath, an Englishwoman who knows team golf well, mostly recently as a Great Britain and Ireland Curtis Cupper. “It’s great to be able to play with the men because you learn from them. They play golf completely different from how we play golf. It’s so nice sharing a coach because everyone knows everyone.”

Heath, who had her best finish of the season at Moon Golf, calls this squad a lot deeper than last year’s. Attribute that to an overarching “goofy, silly” culture as well as just another year of experience. She’s relishing the time spent competing against and learning from Wallin and names as a big goal the ability to come off the golf course after each round and know she didn’t get ahead of herself.

That was particularly important, big-picture wise, this week. The next stop in the road comes up quickly for the Seminoles, who host the Florida State Match-Up Feb. 25-27. That leaves only one real off day between tournaments. For the first time this year, Pac-12 programs Arizona, Oregon and Oregon State will all fly east to compete.

Florida State will host an NCAA Regional at its newly redesigned Seminole Legacy Course in May and scouting is perhaps part of the pull.

Hosting a postseason event is also a huge leg up for a team that has now revealed the extent of its capability with a full lineup.

“The great thing is we never have to leave,” Bond said of preparing for postseason. “I can qualify there and we can do a few things differently that maybe we wouldn’t normally do because we know maybe a kid is not playing well maybe coming into it but we know they play well at home so we can use that. But again, it’s nice to know that at the end of the year they can at least spend a regional sleeping in their own beds.”

Now somebody find the nearest swimming pool.