Virginia Golfer May / Jun 2020 | Page 25

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 23