PVCC Puma Press: April 2006

Drive for show and putt for dough. This famous maxim is strictly upheld by the men’s golf team at PVCC as their season comes to an end. They know it will be consistent scoring, not huge drives, that will ultimately help them advance on to the National Junior College Athletic Association tournament.

According to Coach Nick Candrea, the goal of the regular season is to win as many matches as possible for seeding in the regional tournament. Once there, the aim is to qualify in the top two of the regional tournament in order to be invited on to the NJCAA national tournament.

Now, with a full squad of 11 players—seven of which compete in events—these Pumas have a chance for the big show compared to three years ago when the team was only one individual player. Freshmen Clint Oleson and Brant Kummerfeld, the first- and second-ranked players respectively, shoot around par consistently and will return next year giving a two-year window for success with the team’s top talent.

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	Men's Golf tees off with top GPA in Puma Athletics
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The Paradise Valley Men’s Golf team sports the top GPA of any Puma athletic team with a 3.8 GPA. Sophomore golfer, Josh Brox, is one of our athletes on profile this month as a result of his Academic All American status. Coach Candrea is in his 3rd year, and while most of his focus has been academics, rebuilding a program that fielded only six players in his first year finishes a close second.

Candrea explained what his major difficulties were in the success of the program, and he said what all of the other Puma coaches have said, “Recruiting is the key.” Unfortunately, recruiting for a community college is a process which has many obstacles to overcome.

“First of all, we can only offer scholarships to students who graduated from a Maricopa County High School.” This means that after all of the Division I and II schools have skimmed the top talent; you have only a small, select pool of athletes to choose from. Not to mention, the available scholarships are limited to either $500 a year per student, or $250 per semester per student.

This is troubling to Candrea because each student is limited to only two years of eligibility once they have competed in community college. This year, three of the top seven players are sophomores. This means that next year will begin with more experience than Coach Candrea has yet had at his disposal.

If this season is proof of anything, it is progress. Past the midpoint of the season the team is in sixth place and still has to play Mesa and Scottsdale to finish the regular season. Expect a team with grit to finish strong and be in contention at Regionals. They play Mesa at Dobson Golf Course April 12-13, and they play Scottsdale at McCormick Ranch Course April 24-25. Regionals are May 6-8 in Tucson.