Peters emerges for Husky men

For as long as he can remember Evan Peters has been playing golf.

His parents own a resort golf course back in his hometown and he picked up the game at a young age.

Nowadays his golf is played for the Huskies and they are glad to have his services on the course.

“We weren’t expecting Evan to play this well and I don’t know that his teammates were either,” said SCSU head golf coach Judi Larkin.

“That is pushing everybody, and we are feeling very grateful that he is, because we haven’t been playing to our potential and he’s filling a very big plug for us.”

Peters, a senior, has led the Huskies in the last two tournaments capturing medalist honors at the home Husky Invite and taking runner-up honors at the RMAC/NSIC crossover tournament last weekend.

On Tuesday Sept. 22, following the Husky Invite, Peters was named NSIC player of the week.

“He’s always Calm and confident on the golf course,” teammate and roommate Beau Anderson said. “We help each other out; we both work together on our games.”

So far this season Peters has averaged 73.8 strokes per 18 holes in his first three tournaments, which is just fewer than two over par per round on most courses.

It is a vast improvement from last season where he averaged 78 per 18 holes. The turnaround may have come in the regional tournament last spring. There Peters led the Huskies with a six over par score of 219 on the par 71 course.

“The hardest thing is the spring, at regions, its one of my favorite things to go to, but you miss finals week and you have to make all that stuff up, and you have to study for it while you are on the trip, it’s also a lot of fun, so it’s a lot of give and take,” Peters said.

As a senior, Peters is a natural leader and helps out the younger players on the team when he can.

“If they ask questions about their swings, I can help give them advice,” Peters said.

“Evan didn’t play top five for along time, he worked hard on his game and I think the younger kids realize that they can do the same,” Larkin said.

Added Anderson: “He is considered our captain, because he is the only senior that plays, he helps us out with our games.”

When Peters came to SCSU he didn’t immediately have a spot on the team he had to earn it.

“I guess I’ve been kind of the guy who has just been proving it over the years. I came in from a smaller town, I wasn’t highly recruited or anything. I just kept practicing and got better every year. I got to play more and more, and it’s paying off now,” Peters said.

Peters’ success stems from a lot of hard work and a love for practice.

“Practice is a lot of fun for me,” Peters said. “You have to find the right things to work on, and then keep working on them, grinding it out.”

Added Larkin: “H is putting himself in situations where he has got to perform, whether he playing against his teammates, or in some bigger tournaments over the summer and has been doing well.”

Peters offers some advice to other golfers who aren’t sure they can play at the collegiate level as well.

“Get advice from people who know what they are talking about, keep practicing, practice is what makes you good,” Peters said. “Play your own game, no matter what the conditions are you got to play to your strengths, when you are playing with other players, you cant focus on what they are doing if you are playing well your scores talk for you.”

Whatever the case, Peters will have to lead the Husky the rest of this fall and into the spring season.

“He hits the ball well; hits lots of fairways lots of greens,” Anderson said. “He’s probably the best ball striker on the team.”

Peters and the Huskies started yesterday at the fall half of the NSIC championship in Hastings and finish up that half today. The other half is played in the spring.

“Evan is going to have to play a very critical role, so far this fall he has been very consistent,” Larkin said. “He got off to a rough start in his first round at Bemidji when he wasn’t feeling well, but ever since then he has been very steady in that low 70 range, if we just keep that contingency going it will be a nice year.”