Transfer student leads QU club golf to national contention in inaugural season

In just its first year in existence, the Quinnipiac club golf team surpassed No. 39 Fairfield and No. 75 UConn to represent the Metro Region in the NCCGA National Championship.

Junior transfer student Tyler Woodward led the way, shooting a 73 in the first round and a 75 in Round Two, leaving him just four strokes back of the national champion. Quinnipiac finished 21st out of 27 schools but was extremely proud of the progress made throughout the season.

“I’m just too competitive to not play to win,” Woodward said. “After the first day, I was right in it. I probably left four shots out there just in terms of putting. The second day I was missing greens left and right but I was making every single 10-footer, every single six-footer.”

Woodward competed with York College in Pennsylvania his freshman year in 2019-20, but opted to transfer closer to home due to COVID. He joined the golf team just prior to the fall season looking to compete for the first time in two years.

Tyler Woodward secures top-5 spot at Nationals

Senior Matthew Miller showed out as well, finishing in the top-100 at nationals after battling an ankle injury throughout the season. His performance in addition to the team’s seasonal improvement moved Quinnipiac up to the No. 27 spot in the national rankings.

“F*****g Miller goes off, this whole season he’s had on and off injuries but that didn’t prevent him from going to nationals to compete,” Woodward said. “He didn’t let anyone down. He was playing right behind me and there was a good four or five holes where we’re walking off the green and I see a ball get stuck to like four-feet, six-feet, 10-feet, and I look at who’s on the tee and it’s Miller.”

Matthew Miller sinks a putt for par at Hot Springs, AR

Quinnipiac had entered the spring season ranked 118th out of 195 schools in the country with expectations of competitive progress amid a tight budget and limited access to train and face other schools. Despite only having access to 18 holes per week for each team member, the newly formed squad maintained a neck-and-neck standing for the top of the region.

After jostling with Fairfield during the Oronoque Country Club Regional Tournament in late March falling short by just two strokes, Quinnipiac stormed into first place beating the Stags by 23 strokes. Woodward took home the first-place prize with Quinnipiac securing four of the top-five spots to send the team to nationals.

“To finish how we did as a first-year (program), we’re just trying to make a name for ourselves and now I think we’re a household name,” Miller said. “There were only two schools that didn’t get a practice round at either course, and we were one of them. But once again, we made it to nationals.”

The team’s budget affected the decision on whether or not it would send six players to Hot Springs, Arkansas for the tournament. In order to make the trip, Quinnipiac needed to spend roughly $3000 for hotel stay, transportation and each individual round of golf.

However, the team only had a budget of $5,500 to work with for the semester so the only option was to have a fundraiser. The team decided on a putting raffle outside of the Quinnipiac student center. After raising over $2,200 in four days, Quinnipiac was able to afford the trip to Arkansas, but the six athletes needed to pay for airfare out of pocket.

Woodward and Miller both view this year as a remarkable and unexpected success. They both anticipate that the spring season will turn into higher recognition from the school’s athletics leading to a larger budget, more frequent competitions and potentially a bigger roster size.

As of now, the team can send two teams for tournaments, consisting of eight members maximum for each. A tight budget inhibits how often rostered players can compete per semester, and with 23 team members, not everyone can participate at each event.

“As much as you want to take 40-50 kids, not all of them are going to be able to compete in a semester,” Miller said. “There’s only two a semester because it gets cold here fast. At most, only 32 can compete.”

In a recent budget meeting with the university athletic program, the golf team’s E-board proposed a budget of $14,000 for next year, which is a $5,000 increase from the prior calendar year.

The final decision won’t be made until July 1, but the team only received a $300 increase from last year in the newest submission from athletics.

“There’s only so much that we can do, and yeah it sucks that we’re getting not even half of what we were asking for,” Woodward said. “But that’s life. The final decision isn’t made yet so we’re hoping it gets bumped up. We’ll see come July.”