Freshman Year
Eastern Michigan University, with the support of GameAbove, has been working to rebuild the golf program to compete with the best D1 colleges in the country. Being part of a new program and culture like this is exciting, but it also comes with real expectations and pressure. As a player, that's exactly the environment I wanted — it's the only kind of environment that will get me ready for professional golf.
I had prepared as well as I could at IJGA, but I knew I had to treat my first year as a "practice round" year — accepting when things didn't go as planned, and responding to that in a thoughtful way instead of an emotional one. And there was a lot to think about. With only seven players on the roster, and one teammate hurt for the whole first semester except our last tournament in Hawaii, we knew we had to not only perform well but be very efficient as a team.
Whirlwind Invitational
My first collegiate tournament was in the hot Arizona desert at Whirlwind Golf Club — 36 holes on the first day and 18 on the second. I quickly learned that college golf is clearly different from junior golf. For a tournament like that, preparation starts days before we even arrive in Arizona, by hydrating well ahead of time. During the tournament, especially on the 36-hole day, eating and drinking is priority number one.
I had a good first round, shooting 3 under par, but I couldn't back it up over the second 18 that same day. Nutrition was definitely a factor I had underestimated. I finished the tournament at -3, which was a decent showing for my first event, even though it was a very "scorable" course. With the team finishing 7th out of twelve, we knew we had a lot of work to do to live up to the expectations.
Pearl at Kalauao Invitational
After Arizona, I had some solid performances in the next few tournaments, with every round except one counting for the team. A big part of that was having Head Coach Andy Walker on the bag, talking through every shot thoughtfully and deliberately — it really sharpened my strategy and my ability to handle pressure situations with a clear head.
The Kalauao Invitational in Hawaii was the last tournament of the semester, and I finished top 10 with a score of -2 — my first top-10 finish in a college event. As a team, though, we weren't able to reach the results we'd set out for at the start of the semester. In most tournaments, we'd have one or two stretches where we all struggled at the same time, which took us out of contention to play for the win.
Even so, I was proud of how I handled this new environment over those first few months. I look at my personal performance in that first semester as a success — a lot learned, but still a lot to process.
The Goodwin
We started the second semester with two decent tournaments, I finished T12 in Alabama and T15 in Houston. I felt like I was able to translate what I was learning into actual results. As a team, we were doing better too — still not where we wanted to be, but we seemed to have some momentum. Motivated and full of energy, we headed to California.
At the first tournament, in Napa, we finished 7th out of 14 teams — a disappointing result given the field and the momentum we had going in. Sitting down with the coaches afterward, the feedback was that we lacked self-belief. Looking back now, I think that was the wrong read on the situation — more on that later.
At Stanford, the same week, we had a shocking performance, both as a team and personally for me. The course was tough, with fast, hilly greens, but it was still fair. So how did we finish 28th out of 30 teams? I don't think it was a lack of self-belief — I think it was a lack of self-understanding in the moments when our confidence slips.
MAC Championship
Going into the MAC Championships, expectations were high once again. We were the top-ranked team in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) by a comfortable margin, and this time we had to win — it was our only way into Regionals.
After the first day, things were looking good — we had a lead of over 10 shots heading into the second round. On the second day, we lost some of that momentum, with our lead falling to just 1 shot. I was playing steady golf on the tough Holiday Farms Golf Club, designed by Pete Dye, carding a -1 and a +1 to take the individual lead going into the final day.
Rain was forecast for the entire last day, and it delivered. As soon as we started playing, we began to fall back — too many big mistakes as a team. Personally, I had a decent start, sitting 2 over through the front nine despite the constant rain. But as soon as I stepped onto the back nine, things started to unravel. A couple of big misses off the tee sent my confidence way down. At the time, I didn't yet have the tools to respond to that state correctly, and the weather made it even harder.
In the end, we finished 3rd, ending our 25/26 season early. It was crushing, and we were numb for the days that followed.
Winning is one thing, but out of losing I always learned more for the future.
- Niki Lauda
One could look at this season and call it a failure. I don't see it that way. We didn't get the results we set out for, but we gained something just as valuable — the information and experience we need to start building our EMU culture. And like anything worth building, that takes time. We just can't allow ourselves to forget this year — we have to keep making connections back to it, to understand it better and plan better because of it. This year is part of the history of the new era at Eastern, and we have to preserve the lessons we learned from it.
The biggest one: how do I respond to a drop in confidence? It's different for everyone, but it has to be something that runs deep — a thought that can spark that special fire we all possess, and it has to happen instantly. It takes time to figure that out, but if you're truly engaged with your work and have the courage to go through the details, even when they hurt, you'll find exactly what you need.
I'm more than excited to start my second year at Eastern, and I can't wait to keep building the culture.
