A SUDDEN END
COURTESY PHOTOS
Morgan is able to practice every day
through his job at Princess Anne Country
Club, while Gasperini, Burgess and other
golfers from Radford and Virginia Tech
have gotten together to play rounds at the
Pete Dye River Course of Virginia Tech.
The group has included Mark Lawrence
Jr. and Drew Brockwell from Tech
and Nicholas Taliaferro, Parker See and
Andrew Kennedy from Radford.
“I’ve been playing a lot of golf because
it’s pretty much all there is to do. Me and a
couple of my buddies here and there, with
keeping social distancing intact, we’ve
been playing almost every day because
there’s nothing else to do,” Gasperini said.
“It’s always nice when you get to play
with guys that are good golfers,” he added.
“It’s pretty easy because we’re all good
buddies and we do play with each other a
decent amount. When we’re out there, it’s
just nice to hang out with friends and it
just happens to be a bonus we’re all pretty
decent at golf.”
BACK TO NORMAL ONE DAY
Hetzel said the practice rounds, time on
the driving range and doing chipping and
putting drills can’t replace the teaching
and growth from playing in tournaments
against top-notch competition.
Her team, though, is in a unique situation
as five of the six players are from
different countries and are now spread out
across the globe.
Anika Bolcikova (Slovakia) and Jana
Melichova (Czech Republic) were forced
to quarantine upon returning home; Noemie
Sudron is from Rouen, France, and
the town is on lockdown to prevent the
spread of the virus; Leah Onosato recently
returned home to Japan; and Pilar
Muguruza is staying with family friends
in Miami because her home country of
Argentina has kept its borders closed.
“There’s a lot of unknowns, and I think
that it’s scary for a lot of people,” Hetzel
said. “I just felt like the quicker we could
get them to be with their families, the
better. Obviously, now they’ve gone to
online classes, so they’re able to manage
their schoolwork from, really, wherever.
“They’re resilient, as a lot of people
are through this, and I can’t wait to get
them back. It seems like it’s forever away,
but I really look forward to going back to
normal one day.”
Sordelett covers college sports and local
golf for the Lynchburg News & Advance.
SOCIALLY DISTANCED GOLF
Though COVID-19 has disrupted their season, it hasn’t
kept college golfers from hitting the courses. The
players below play socially distanced rounds at the
Pete Dye River Course of Virginia Tech.
CONNOR BURGESS
MARK LAWRENCE, JR.
DREW BROCKWELL
PETER GASPERINI
NICHOLAS TALIAFERRO
PARKER SEE
ANDREW KENNEDY
VIRGINIA
TECH
RADFORD
UNIVERSITY
vsga.org
M AY/J UNE 2020 | V IRGINIA G OLFER
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