Miami golf eyes MAC title behind veteran leadership

The Miami University men’s golf team divides its season between the fall and spring semesters. The team used the fall season as a foundation for growth, and though the RedHawks began the spring with a losing record, they plan to use the experience to prepare for the rest of the season and for the MAC championship in May.

Spring season underway

The golf team began its spring schedule with a trip to the warm and bright island of Kauai, Hawaii, for the John A. Burns Intercollegiate on Feb. 12-14. The charming location came with its challenges. After three rounds, the RedHawks placed 15th out of 19 teams.

Cameron Pero, a senior team captain, tied for 50th place in the tournament after shooting three straight rounds of 72. He said the competition was fierce, and the players found themselves struggling against the harsh winds and cliffside conditions.

“It was a tough tournament with probably, if not the best, one of the best-ranked fields that we’ve played in,” Pero said.

Even with the hardships, he said the tournament provided needed fuel and practice for the team’s main goal this spring: win the MAC championship.

Team culture

Miami entered this new season with a reshaped roster. Head coach JD Fletcher said the losses from last year forced other players to step up and work harder. There are now three senior captains who lead the team: Pero, Brett Podobinski and Michael Weber .

Besides the seniors, all other players are underclassmen, leaving them without a single junior.

“We're a young team with really old leadership [from] our captains,” freshman Michael Stagnaro said. “We have a group of guys who just want to work hard.”

Pero said the senior golfers use their four years of MAC experience to motivate and challenge the underclassmen.

“We're all best friends, but on the golf course, we're competitors,” Pero said, “and we want to play for the ‘M’ on our shirt.”

Enjoy what you're reading?
Signup for our newsletter

Preparing for the MAC championship

Fletcher said he pushes his athletes to practice as much as possible. With the unpredictable Ohio weather in the spring, he said he plans training trips to other states like Georgia and Kentucky, so the team has opportunities to practice in better weather.

Fletcher also packs the tournament schedule full of challenging schools in an effort to push the players to higher levels.

“We try to schedule an extremely hard strength of fields and really hard venues,” Fletcher said. “When we get to the MAC, we're more comfortable in that situation.”

The team hopes the effort will pay off once the championships begin. Though they placed fifth in the 2025 season, the players are shooting for first this year.

“Our highlight is in the future,” Pero said. “I think we're gonna have our best golf ahead of us as a team.”

Looking forward

With other Miami athletic programs finding success this year, the golf team has drawn inspiration from the other sports and hopes to contribute to the school’s success.

“It's been super motivating seeing the basketball team, the hockey team and the women's basketball team do so well,” Stagnaro said. “That's just something we're trying to build off and keep that momentum going.”

The RedHawks' next opportunity to contribute will be on March 14 at the Schenkel Invitational in Statesboro, Georgia, which will serve as a benchmark for the rest of the season.

sheaak3@miamioh.edu

westonce@miamioh.edu

This story was produced by Miami University journalism students in partnership with the Miami Student newspaper.