By Ian Quindoza

The NCAA recently announced the return plans for multiple fall sports, including both men’s and women’s golf. The Southeastern Conference (SEC), the Big 12 Conference, and the Pacific-12 Conference (PAC-12) have continued with official competition, with new rules and protocols. These three conferences however are among one the only ones that have been allowed to resume competition. The two other major NCAA conferences, the Atlantic Coastal Conference (ACC) and the Big Ten, along with numerous other smaller conferences across the country, have decided to not compete for the fall golf season. In many ways, this is putting some college golfers at a disadvantage. 

Obviously, it is unfair for the players who can’t compete due to the fact that they are losing a season of eligibility. However, certain players are being affected more than others. For the typical college golfer, losing a season of eligibility means one less year they can compete for their school. For the small number of college golfers who make the decision to turn professional, a year of eligibility is very important in preparing them for their professional careers. The competition in college events is one of the best ways for soon-to-be professionals to improve their games and stay sharp mentally. 

For golf fans, it is great to see some of the best college golfers back in action in competitive events such as The Blessings Collegiate Invitational, which took place on October 5th-7th at The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Arkansas. This event included only SEC men’s and women’s teams. With a different format than college events in the past, players from each team played only with their teammates, as opposed to being paired with players from other schools. Despite this change, the event is still considered an official NCAA competition. This is where a disadvantage exists players across different conferences who do not have the opportunity to play in collegiate events this fall.

Many of these SEC golfers are ranked on the World Amateur Golf Rankings  (WAGR) as some of the world’s best amateurs, both on the men’s and women’s side. By playing in collegiate events, golfers are able to improve their WAGR rankings. For many of the top-ranked amateurs who also happen to be collegiate players, a large portion of their ranking points come from playing in college events. In a typical NCAA golf season, most teams get to compete in a similar number of tournaments. This gives each player a fair chance to improve their amateur rankings. Some players from bigger, more competitive schools play in stronger events that can have a greater impact on their ranking. This fall, however, with only a few conferences competing in official collegiate events, golfers in other conferences are having to find alternative ways to stay competitive and maintain a good ranking. 

Peter Gasperini, a 23-year-old graduate transfer at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), is currently playing for the Rams in his last year of NCAA eligibility after an impressive career playing for Radford University. While at Radford from 2015-2020, he led his team in scoring average in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons. He was twice named the Big South Conference golfer of the week, as well as earning a spot on the 2019 Big South All-Conference team. Gasperini planned to turn professional after graduating from Radford, but when the pandemic cut his senior season short, he made the decision to wait another year. After citing multiple reasons for his decision, he claimed that it’s overall, “just a bad time to turn pro.” He decided to play an extra year at VCU to continue to improve and compete against stiff college competition. He is now experiencing the same troubles as many other college golfers with canceled seasons.

Gasperini. Photo credit: Virginia State Golf Association, via facebook. 

VCU, a member of the Atlantic-10 Conference will not be competing in any official collegiate events this fall. This leaves Gasperini with very few options for solid competition as he plans to turn professional once he leaves VCU. Despite Gasperini’s very impressive amateur career, which includes many notable finishes in prestigious amateur events outside of school competition, this season could have a major impact on his ranking and ability to gain entry into future events. 

Other amateur competitions events are being conducted over the next few months to account for these college players who don’t have seasons. At first glance, these seem to be an adequate alternative. However, they do not bring close to the level of competition of a college event. Gasperini even says in terms of rankings, the competition in some of these events is so weak that, “even if you win, it can have a negative impact on you.” A reason for the lack of competition in these events is the price to enter them. Typically, the school pays all of the tournament fees and many other expenses for the events that their players participate in. For these new replacement events, the fees are all on the individual player to pay, and they can be quite expensive. In a recent tournament played at Independence Golf Club in Midlothian, the entry fee alone was 250 dollars. With the SEC and PAC-12 continuing official play, Gasperini suggests that “the big conferences aren’t getting as hurt by this as the smaller conferences are.” 

For Gasperini, the most important aspect of maintaining a strong WAGR is to gain entry into elite amateur events run by organizations outside of the NCAA, where the strongest amateur competition is. This is most likely his last year of amateur golf, and stiff competition is crucial in preparing to succeed as a professional. 

The transition from college to professional golf is already an extremely competitive endeavor even without the complications from COVID-19. Unlike other sports, where athletes are drafted onto professional teams and sign contracts with hundreds of thousands of guaranteed dollars, a professional golfer’s income is based almost directly on how they perform. Without his final college golf season, Gasperini, along with many other golfers in his position, will need to find non-traditional methods to get every ounce of preparation possible before they take on the demanding world of professional golf.

Featured image credit: Phil Morris, Jr.