Both the Spartans men and women's golf teams are looking forward to exciting seasons, despite the increasing competition from the Big Ten.

The men's team's first tournament is the Topy Cup, held in Tokyo, Japan.

"This is a rare opportunity," coach Mark Hankins said. "Obviously it will be a great experience."

Only four U.S. schools are invited to the tournament. The only Big Ten schools to have been invited in previous years are Ohio State and Minnesota.

The women's team ranked 17 last year and are hoping to do better this year, coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll said.

The fact that the women's golf team was in the top 20 out of 400 teams is often overlooked, Slobodnik-Stoll said.

"It's pretty amazing, and I don't think people get that aspect of it," she said.

The team isn't losing any players, so the team will just be working on lowering everyone's average score and focus on the short game, she said.

Though Mandi McConnell scored the best-stroke average with 76.97, there's no team member that stands out above the rest, Slobodnik-Stoll said.

The top five players all averaged about the same, she said.

The men's team lost their highest ranked player, Andrew Ruthkoski, who was ranked about 15 in the country, Hankins said.

"It's going to be a big loss for us," he said.

Another big loss for the team was Jimmy Chestnut, Hankins said.

There are five returning players who have been in tournaments, though, he said.

"You never know who's going to come back from the summer with the most improvement," Hankins said.

Hankins said that he expects the Big Ten to be strong this year.

Purdue and Northwestern didn't lose any of their players.

"The Big Ten has so many big teams on it," he said. "We'll definitely be in the top five, hopefully."

The goal for the women is to be the best out of the Big Ten and to break the top 10 in the NCAA Finals, Slobodnik-Stoll said.

Among their other achievements, MSU women's golf had the highest team grade-point average out of any MSU sports team, with 3.404, she said.

"They are good at being a team and are just good people," she said. "They are really proud to represent State."

Ryan Brehm, the third-ranked player on the team who recently made the cut at the Buick Open, said he believes the men's team could do very well.

"Our strength is we're strong and we're long," he said, referring to the teams ability to drive well.

"If we put it all together we can go far."

Although they lost two players, Brehm said he believed the team gained more than it lost through the new members.

"It's going to be a dog fight to play," he said about the competition.

Brehm is also excited about the trip to Tokyo because it'll be a chance to hang out and get to know the team, he said.