Golf is an up-and-down sport. One day, a golfer doesn’t miss. The next day, a golfer cannot sniff par. The Sacramento State golf teams experienced this during the 2009-10 season.

The men’s team finished tied for third place April 27 at the America Sky Conference Championships, finishing 15 shots behind the University of Texas Pan American.

The team was led by senior Nick Neal, who tied for eighth place at the tournament with his teammate, sophomore Cameron Rappleye &- both shot 232 and both were named to the All-America Sky second team.

The men finished the season with nine top-10 finishes in 10 matches, including its first victory since 2007 on March 26 at the Cal Poly Invitational.

The women concluded the season April 21 at the Big Sky Conference Championships. The team entered the third round trailing the eventual champion Portland State University Vikings by seven strokes. The team would finish two strokes behind the Vikings following tournament-low scores of 74 from senior Brooke Green and sophomore Justine Chen.

Green tied for third place overall with a score of 222.

Sophomore Julie Shutler said she knows the team is better than the scores would indicate.

“We showed what we can do in the conference,” Shutler said. “We just came up a little short.”

Golf Director David Sutherland said he is pleased with each teams’ growth.

“Overall, both programs achieved some things that are really exciting and kind of speak to the hard work and work ethic of the kids on the team,” Sutherland said.

The women had five top-10 finishes in nine matches, including two second-place finishes.

Shutler was one of the most consistent golfers on the women’s side. She got off to a fast start on Sept. 14-16 by placing third at the Chip-N Invitational in Lincoln, Neb. She also set a 54-hole school record by shooting 70-70-72, which eclipsed the previous mark of 216, set by Margaux Sheehan at the 2007 Big Sky Championships.

Shutler said she did not think she would perform as well as she did this season.

“I improved a lot off last year,” Shutler said. “I didn’t really have huge expectations coming into the season because I played really terrible over the summer. But then I came in and played a lot better than I thought.”

Shutler said her play at the Chip-N Invitational was definitely the high point for her.

“I had my first under-par tournament,” Shutler said. “It was really exciting for me.”

Sutherland said Shutler’s record-setting feat was the most impressive of any golfer.

“I think it’s probably the best performance that I’ve seen individually from a kid in either program,” Sutherland said. “It was fantastic golf.”

Shutler averaged a team-best 76.3 overall score during the season &- nearly three shots better than her average of 79 last year. She said her goal is to get down to an average of 75.

“I gotta work on playing more consistent golf – maybe more pars” Shutler said. “It’s all about my short-game area.”

She also was awarded All-Big Sky Conference honors for the first time in her career and was twice named Black Clover Golfer of the Week.

Sophomore Grant Rappleye said he was more pleased with his fall season performance than he was with his spring season performance.

“I don’t know why that is,” Rappleye said. “My class schedule was actually easier in the spring, so I was assuming I would play better and have more time to practice.”

Rappleye led the men with a 73.5 average overall score, more than two shots better than his average last season &- 75.9.

He said he thinks his team could have played better throughout the season.

“Overall, we didn’t perform up to our standards &- nowhere near,” Rappleye said. “We thought since we got off to a good start, we belong here. It was disappointing not to win at least one tournament.”

The team did win match play, but Rappleye said he wants his team to win a full tournament.

“Maybe two of the five guys play good and the other two or three guys would play like crap,” Rappleye said. “The two guys that played good last time will play bad and then the other two guys will pick up the slack. It’s not like one person has it all figured out. We all struggled and we all had our bright spots.”

An individual achievement on the men’s side that was memorable for Sutherland was made by yet another sophomore.

“Jake Johnson’s performance at Utah, where he set some school records and finished second there (stood out),” Sutherland said.

The second-place finish by Johnson was also a school record-tying performance, as he shot 67-69-73-209, tying his teammate Grant Norton, who did not compete this season.

The women are graduating two players – Green and Anna Becker – while the men are losing Neal to graduation.

Despite the losses, Sutherland said he is excited for the teams.

“We are setting our expectation that we’re going to make NCAAs,” he said. “We have the talent in both programs to do that. I’m excited about the fact that I think that many of the best players on our team are underclassmen. It’s going to be their responsibility to perform when we need them to; and I think they’re going to be OK with that.”

Dustin Nosler can be reached at [email protected]