Freshman Golfer Kurt Nino's Golf Diary

Oct. 14, 2005

USF freshman golfer Kurt Nino shares his thoughts as the USF men's golf team faces a great national field at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational at the Meadow Club.

October 9th Today is my 18th birthday. I cannot believe I'm already this old. The bad part is that there isn't any way I could celebrate it unless our USF golf team wins our next tournament in Marin, which is the California Alister Mackenzie Invitational.

Today is our practice round and our team consists of 5 players, who are Taylor Hobin, the only upperclassmen on the team and four freshmen, Domingo Jojola, Jesse Galvon, Tony Toulan, and myself. We arrived at the golf course at about 11:30 am and had a little lunch; shortly after lunch, we went to warm up for our practice round.

It was actually a College-Am Tournament. It was played in a different way, called best ball. It basically means that each team takes its best out of four scores on each hole. Moreover, the team consisted of three college players from different schools and one amateur or member from the Meadow Club Golf Course. It was a fun and exciting event and everyone had a great time.

The best was yet to come in the dinner after the College-Am. I swear it has to be one of the greatest dinners a collegiate player will ever have in his college golf career. I'm talking about steak, lasagna, chicken, and many more with, of course, the greatest dessert ever. After having the best dinner of my life, I knew that it will be a fun tournament for the next two days.

October 10th It was a cold morning in Marin and it was 6:15 a.m. when we woke up. The team left the hotel at 6:45 headed for the golf course. The team had a great morning breakfast in the Meadow Club Clubhouse. We then all warmed up by hitting some balls and stretching before our times were called.

It was going to be a long day, 36 holes of golf, 10 hours under the sun, but by the end of the day we all could say that we had a great day. The teams went out by tee times and went by this order, Domingo, Taylor, Kurt, Tony, and Jesse.

The significance of my round was that I got to play with an old friend from my home state (Hawaii) and during my second round I got my FIRST CAREER HOLE IN ONE!!! How great is that! I've played the game for 10 years never having a hole in ones and now during a competitive tournament I finally got it. How exciting.

By the end of the day we were tied for 14th with one round to go. Taylor and I led the way with an 2 round total of even par.

October 11th It's finally the last day of competition and it was time for the teams to make a move up the leaderboard. We teed off at about the same time as yesterday and it was the same process during the morning. It was just as cold as yesterday morning when it was freezing like.... The order was switched around a bit with Jesse going off first, then Tony, Domingo, Taylor, and myself.

It was a tough day. Pins were tucked behind many bunkers and slopes and the greens were lightning fast. It was, however, a great day for golf. Clear blue skies, no signs of thunder showers. By the end of the day, we were not happy with the way we played, but we all did have some fun out there playing the sport we dedicate our lives to.

We eventually finished the same place we started, playing against a field that was more competitive than ever. The USF golf team has the youngest team in the nation with four freshmen and it was a great accomplishment for the program. All in all, it was a great three days of golf and fun and I'm looking forward to it next year.