Canadian Amateurs Shine At U.S. Colleges

The Royal Canadian Golf Association's Futures Tour and other groups like the Optimists' Junior Linksters Tour, the Canadian Junior Golf Tour and the Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour, and to some extend even the Vancouver Golf Tour, can stand proudly for the job they have all done in helping to develop players that are now bringing honour to the Canadian and American Universities and Colleges that regularly recruited our top Canadian amateurs.

We need look no further than our immediate neighbors to the south to hear what they are saying these days at the University of Washington.

By Travis Sherer
University of Washington, Athletic Communications

As the University of Washington has been turning heads in collegiate golf so far this season, the contributions to the Husky men's success made by Canadian players are hard to ignore. After placing second at a Hawai'i-Hilo Intercollegiate that featured six of the top 11 teams in the United States, the Huskies are ranked No. 5 by Golfweek.

One needs to look no further than team captain Nick Taylor this year to see what a large impact Canadian golfers have left on Washington golf. Taylor, who was the 2008 runner-up for the NCAA Individual Championship, is just one of a trio of Canadian players on the University of Washington. Taylor, has won medalist honors at the CordeValle Collegiate in November 2008 and the Hawai'i-Hilo Invitational this past week. An Abbotsford native with a record of success in both the states and his homeland, in 2006 Taylor was the Canadian Junior Champion and the Canadian Men's Amateur champion in 2007. He was a runner-up at the 2008 World Amateur Team Championship in Sydney, Australia, as a member of the Canadian team.

"Our Canadian players are a crucial part of the fabric of our program's history and our team's current success. Both James Lepp and Nick Taylor have been amazing players and even better team leaders," said UW coach Matt Thurmond. "Their teams have followed their example. Guys like Gordy Scutt, Scott Kral, Darren Wallace, and Kevin Spooner have all left their own great mark on our program too. Because of them, I'm more and more interested in recruiting Canadians all the time. They've been great players, students, and people."

It is Thurmond's ability to bring in and foster the development of Canadian players that has helped him achieve the success in a seven-year period that few coaches see in any NCAA sport - let alone, any 33-year-old coach. The Washington Huskies have made the NCAA Championship tournament six out of the past seven years and placed inside the top 10 in four out of the past five years. Because of the success with Canadian players, and the relative close proximity to the University of Washington, Thurmond has made it a point to look for possible scholarship players up north.

"It isn't good to generalize geographically, but I can say that all the Canadians we've had in our program have been hard workers, team players, and committed students," Thurmond said. "They have tended to be a little less spoiled and a little more hungry. Those are great attributes for development as a person and player."

In fact, one of the program's most decorated players hails from Canada, Abbotsford's James Lepp. In 2005, Lepp became UW's first NCAA Individual Champion. He was also a four-year All-American and recorded the third-lowest scoring average in school history with a 71.5 in 2005. Lepp was also the 2005 U.S. Amateur Medalist.

"Washington has proven to be a great place for top Canadian players to come and have great success as a team and individual," Thurmond said. "They've enjoyed being on the team with fellow Canadians and being close to home. I plan to only spend more time recruiting in Canada in the future."

This fall, Thurmond announced that he signed another Canadian recruit, Maple Ridge's Charlie Hughes, to the 2009 class.

For more information on Matt Thurmond and UW golf, contact Travis Sherer. UW Athletic Communications (206) 543-2230 - tsherer@u.washington.edu