TALENTED United States-based Zimbabwean amateur golfer Sean Crocker made his collegiate golf debut a memorable one after an impressive display for the University of Southern California (USC) at the season-opening Southwestern Intercollegiate tournament in California.
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The 18-year-old freshman, who was born in the capital before relocating to the US, finished tied for second place at five-under at the North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village on Tuesday.
Crocker’s solid performance steered USC to a commendable second place finish as they combined for a three-round 11-over 863 (288-292-283), finishing 15 back of winner Stanford University.
Crocker, who is the son of former Zimbabwe Test cricketer Gary won the praises of the USC golf team coach Chris Zambri after his solid display.
“Although we don’t like finishing second, there were a lot of positives this week,” Zambri said on the USC website.
“The play of Crocker would be the first to mention. He put up three solid rounds for us. Eric Sugimoto played a nice final round and showed that this year could be a big one for him. Stanford looks to be solid once again. We’ll need more great play from everyone in the lineup if we are to beat them the next time we see them.”
On his way to his second-place standing, Crocker shot seven birdies in his first round and finished the final ten holes of his second round at 2-under before shooting a 3-under in the final round of the tournament.
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Crocker, who recently graduated from the junior golf ranks, comes to USC with a lot of experience under his belt, having competed in the California State Amateur each of the past two years.
His success at the course this week might be partially attributed to the fact that he moved to Westlake Village when he was young and attended high school there after relocating from Zimbabwe with his parents in 2002.
The young golfer recently showed his class by reaching the quarterfinals of the 2014 U.S. Junior Amateur after tying for first in the 36-hole stroke play. Crocker is part of a growing list of young Zimbabwean amateur golfers playing on the US collegiate golf circuit.
His senior compatriot Scott Vincent is bracing for his fourth season at Virginia Tech University after a memorable 2013-2014 season in which he became the university’s first-ever first team All-American.
