By Noah Meffert
Photo by Robert Ruggiero on Unsplash
The Covid-19 pandemic that swept the world last year was one of the most devastating viruses in recent memory, for many reasons. Not only was this virus extremely deadly to those in the elderly age bracket, it also caused the most widespread and far-reaching economic shutdowns that this country has ever seen. Masks, social distancing, and other safety protocols were strictly instituted by not only businesses and schools, but by sports across the world as well. According to signalscv.com, “All areas of life have seen the wrath of the pandemic and sports is not an exception. The respective health guidelines and protocols have added more insult to the injury on sports.” Even though many of these sports were outdoor sports, masks and social distancing were still enforced on the field, even if the athletes were at extremely low risk from the virus. This was no different for golf, which, though the sport is played outdoors and away from other people, still insisted on masks and social distancing for spectators in the pros, and required the same measures for players in high school and college. This being the case, college golf teams across the nation had to deal with these protocols on top of the already stiff competition many of them faced in their conferences. According to theadvertiser.com, “All sports have been impacted, and maybe none more than college golf because of the way the sport is set up.” This was no different for Skagit, who, despite the inconvenience and newness of many of these measures, persevered to enjoy a decent amount of success.
“The season was wonderful, and we were all thankful to be able to practice and compete. The check-in and distancing protocols were a bit challenging at first, but became just a normal part of our routine as the season progressed,” said Skagit Valley Men’s and Women’s Golf Coach Daniel Graber. He also said that “the teams travel was restricted due to the pandemic, and so we didn’t get to compete at the variety of courses that we normally do and also didn’t get to see all of the teams in the league.” This is especially hard, considering that after you play courses for many years in a row over the span of the season, you learn how to play a course and what strategy to use in order to shoot your best score. With pandemic restrictions barring some courses from use, however, this was yet another obstacle that SVC golf had to overcome, which they did successfully. By doing their homework on the courses they did play, they were able to compete with their opponents all the way through the season, though they never reached the top of the leaderboard for a team victory. Despite this, there were many examples of individual success exhibited by the team.
“In my twenty years of coaching, I have never seen an individual win quite like that by any player from any team.” said Graber when referring to Carson Linville, a golfer for SVC. “When I was able to make it out to Carson on the course, he was 3 strokes behind the leader, Austin Duffy, with only 6 holes left to play in the tournament. After bogeying a couple easy holes back to back, things looked bleak, and when I caught him on the thirteenth, I told him he was the best player on the course and it was time to show it. I told him to try to make his shot from about 150 yards out on 13, which he nearly did, and after Austin had an unfortunate lip out on his chip for birdie, Carson rolled a perfect putt from about 8 feet to get within 2. After following that up with 2 more birdies, we got to hole 16, where he hit a drive about 100 yards right, leaving him about 260 yards into the green with a severe side wind. He hit a beautiful 5 wood that landed about 6 feet from the hole and rolled to 20 feet from the pin, where we picked a line and he rolled another perfect putt for eagle to go 5 under through his last 4 holes, giving him a 2 shot lead over Duffy who had played those holes at even par. After barely missing birdie putts on both 17 and 18, he ended up winning by 1 stroke over Austin. It was great to see him just take control and win the tournament, especially with Austin still playing well. The whole team was there watching on the last couple holes and then got to celebrate the victory, and it was a very special moment that we will all remember for a long time.” This just goes to show that even in a season where things were different and adaptation was required, hard work can lead to success if your skill is allowed to shine.
