Success drives demand for Echuca's D'Arcy Whyte
D’Arcy Whyte’s excellent adventure in the US collegiate system is about to take a whole new direction.
After his first year with North East College in Nebraska, he is now expecting to sign with NCAA Division 1 college Western Illinois – a big step up but with big opportunities.
D’Arcy has spent the past fortnight negotiating with colleges keen to get his signature but the chance to play in the highest tier of the US system has proved too strong.
And as much as his parents might like to say it is his academic achievements making him so popular – he currently has a perfect GPA of 4.0 in his business administration course – it is his golf which had most of those schools salivating at the thought of signing him.
Now 20 years old, the former Echuca College student is home for the US summer holidays, which climatically is a bit of a raw deal.
D’Arcy says in Nebraska the worst day he can recall was -20C – but with a ‘feels like’ reading of -30C.
“Obviously, that’s when we do a lot of golf inside on the simulators,” he laughs.
But having been home for a few weeks now, he has sufficiently acclimatised to rate Echuca-Moama’s current run of single digit mornings, and little better in the afternoons, as “bloody freezing”.
“I’ve almost done a full 12 months in America, but I have completed a full academic/sporting year,” D’Arcy says.
D’Arcy says coping with tertiary education and the demands of a dedicated sporting program are off the chart.
He says it was like taking his previous life of Year 12 and playing pennant golf at both Rich River Golf Club here and Commonwealth in Melbourne and putting it on steroids – a lot of steroids.
There is no latitude for laziness – you have to cover all your classes, and you have to commit to the team.
“Because we have tournaments coming up, one after the other, with a fair bit of travel involved as well, you find yourself cramming four days of classes and homework into two – and that’s on a good week,” he says.
“So when you are not in the gym, with the coaches, on the road or on the course, you are on the books bigtime.”
But it’s the golf that made D’Arcy move around the world.
He says it’s as close as you can get to being on the tour – you’re literally surrounded by golf.
“The beauty of it is you are constantly practicing, travelling and playing and that really alters your mindset – your whole focus is on the game,” D’Arcy adds.
“Since starting in the US my average scores have kept improving, I have got physically stronger with the gym and fitness programs.”
The boy from Echuca certainly hit the US with a bang – within months of starting his team played in the Battle for the Mississippi tournament on the Jack Nicklaus designed Fyre Lake course at Sherrard in Illinois – a course he described as beautiful but with a lot of water and some seriously challenging rough.
Not only did his school win the tournament, but D’Arcy was also the individual winner.
“I had shot one over after the first round, which put me in equal sixth, and then went one better with par in the second round of the 36-hole tournament,” D’Arcy says.
“After the first round I was three shots behind the leaders, but it was a good position to be as I was within range – although it wasn’t until the 14th hole of the second round our coach told me I was in the mix to win the event,” he adds.
“I had started strong in the first five holes on the second day, where I felt I had hit some really good shots into hard holes but there’s no doubt my best hole for the tournament was the 18th on that second day,” he grins.
“I got off the tee with a well-placed shot on this 400m dog leg hole, and my pitching wedge left me just a few metres from the pin. When I sank the putt for a birdie it was the shot which won me the tournament.”
He hasn’t exactly been holidaying since returning to Echuca.
Playing at his home track at Rich River Golf Club (where he became club champion in the season before he headed overseas) he was back here in time to be the number one in the club’s victorious pennant side, taking out the Western Riverina District crown. Last month he also collected the Kyabram Par 3 open title (having previously won it as a junior) and next is Sydney for a 54-hole tournament – racing back the second it finishes to play in the RRGC Open. He is also down for a big tournament at Portsea, where the field will be selected by handicap – so he’s hoping his current +2.7 will get him a start.
“I’ve got a tiered list of where I want to go, and obviously playing golf is on its own at the top. Working my way down that list still involves golf at every level, whether it is teaching, maybe managing, you can even be a golf architect. That’s my Plan A, B, C and all the rest of the alphabet – so long as it is golf.”
