Whitworth to tee off against best

In past years, the Bucs stopped here.

But this spring, thanks to the NCAA’s decision to expand the field for its Division III golf tournament to 35 teams and award one of those coveted berths to the champions of the Northwest Conference, the Whitworth Pirates will play on.

Fueled by the splendid play of sophomore Steven Johnson, the Bucs breezed to their third consecutive NWC title earlier this week at Tokatee Golf Course in Blue River, Ore., and earned a chance to test themselves against the best D-III teams in the country next month in Indiana.

“It feels really fulfilling because of all the hard work we’ve put in to get there,” junior Andrew Parrott said of the Pirates’ initial venture onto the national stage. “Now we finally get to prove ourselves against the best in the country, which is huge for us.”

There could be a tendency among those who follow college golf to write off the Bucs’ chances for a variety of logical reasons that range from the late start they usually get because of the Pacific Northwest’s cold, to wet springs to the traditional dominance of schools from warm-weather states like California and Texas.

But to do so might be a mistake, considering how well the Pirates have been playing of late.

“We always start out behind those teams down south,” admitted coach Warren Friedrichs, who took over the Whitworth men’s and women’s programs four years ago. “But we’ve really been catching up to folks the last month, because we’ve been able to get out and play almost every day.

“The scores for our practice rounds have been getting better, and we’re playing much more consistent golf.”

The Pirates’ dominance in the NWC tournament at the par-71 Tokatee Golf Course was stunning.

With Johnson putting together rounds of 69-73-76 – 218 to claim medalist honors, the well-balanced Bucs finished with an overall three-round score of 870, which was the second-lowest ever recorded in the event, 19 strokes clear of runner-up Pacific Lutheran and 34 ahead of third-place Linfield.

The Pirates placed five golfers among the top eight individuals, with Parrott (221) finishing fourth, junior Sean Thompson and freshman Patrick Dorsing (222) tying for fifth and junior Jordan Carter finishing eighth.

“What did it for us was our depth,” said Friedrichs, noting that Johnson went into the tournament as the Bucs’ No. 5 golfer. “Jordan and Andrew have consistently had the lowest scores for us, but that next group of five or six you can throw a blanket over because they’re all that close.”

Johnson, from Marysville, Wash., credits much of his team’s success to the camaraderie that has developed among the seven golfers on Friedrich’s roster.

“We joke around a lot and really have a good time together,” he explained. “We have a lot of different personalities, but I love the dynamics, team-wise. James (Dykes) is kind of the sparkplug and gets everybody going, Bobby (Elder) is just hilarious and Sean, one of our three juniors, is one of our solid, steadying kinds of guys.”

Parrott, who grew up in Scottsdale, Ariz., but ended up at Whitworth after deciding on a “change of scenery,” also likes the closeness of the team.

“We hang out together after practice and do of lot of activities together,” he said. “We’re more than just teammates. We’re good friends, we care about each other and we’re interested in what’s going on in each others’ lives.”

And they can all play a little, as well.

“Everyone on the team has the potential to go low on any given day,” Parrott said. “It’s not just a couple of guys pulling through every time and getting a couple of low scores. Everyone, I think, is pretty equal, talent-wise, and capable of rising to the occasion when necessary.

“I’d say we’re pretty stacked.”

Friedrichs has already determined that Johnson, Parrott, Thompson and Carter will fill four of the five spots on the team he takes to the national tournament, which will play out May 15-18 at Hawthorn County Club and Prarie View Golf Club on the outskirts of Indianapolis.

The fifth and final spot will be determined by 36 holes of qualifying by Dorsing, Dykes and Elder next week.

“The players all thought that was pretty fair,” Friedrichs said, noting that Parrott, Thompson and Carter have been among his most consistent players all spring, while Johnson won the NWC tournament. “They’ve all said, ‘We want the best team to go. If it’s me, great, but if it’s somebody else, that’s OK, too.’ “

And the Pirates are planning on doing more than just showing up for the national tournament.

Johnson, who played what he called “the best golf I’ve ever played” during the NWC tournament, has been checking out scores from other teams that qualified for nationals on the Internet and doesn’t feel the least bit intimidated.

“We definitely have a chance to do well,” he said. “We played awesome at conference. As a team, that was by far the best we’ve played. And if we can play like that again, we can compete with anybody.”

Thompson, a former member of the Central Valley High School team and the only local player on Whitworth’s roster, isn’t sure what to expect once play starts at the NCAA tournament.

“It will be a cool opportunity to see how we stack up, nationally,” he said. “I hope nerves don’t play too much of a factor, but they probably will.

“I’ve been looking at some past scores and stuff, and I can tell you that we’re not going to be satisfied to just go to the tournament. We’re going to try to make some noise while we’re there.”

“It’ll be fun to see how we do against national competition outside of the Northwest,” added Carter. “All we’ve known is this little kind of bubble we’re in – Oregon, California and Washington, but now we have a chance to test ourselves against the best.

“This should let us know real quick just how good we are.”