Men’s Golf’s fall season shows promise for a strong spring

By Rory Ailor

Contributing Writer

December 7, 2021

BLACKSBURG — Virginia Tech completed its fall season last month, the second under the tenure of head coach Brian Sharp and was coming off the 2020 spring season that ended with a 10th place finish in the ACC championship.

The Hokies gained momentum in the summer months, as Hokie alum Scott Vincent finished in a tie for 16th place in the 2020 Olympic golf tournament in Tokyo, Japan. Vincent’s impressive finish at the Olympics was followed by two more wins on the Japanese Golf Tour.

“I love to see Scott play well, he’s a super talented guy”, Sharp said. “He played well in a really competitive field...and he’s moving inside the top 120 in the world rankings.”

This past fall season marks the beginning of Brian Sharp’s first full season, start to finish, since he became the head coach back in January of 2019. The pandemic shut down his first full season back in spring 2020, as well as the fall of 2020 season.

Last season was Sharp’s first ACC championship appearance as the head coach of the Hokies. Sharp was an assistant with the program for 16 years, as he returned to Virginia Tech back in 2003 after graduating in 1995.

Sharp was a standout golfer at his time at Virginia Tech before going on to play professionally on the Buy.com tour (known as the Korn Ferry Tour today), where he won his first ever professional event. Later, in 2009, he was inducted into the Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame.

Sharp took over for long-time head coach Jay Hardwick, who ran the program for 36 years. Hardwick brought home 8 conference championships, 13 NCAA regional appearances, and 5 NCAA national appearances.

“It’s the little things like giving the guys Sundays off, in general prioritizing rest,” Sharp explained when asked about how he changed some of the ways about the program when he took over. “Even guys on the professional tours aren’t practicing every day. I want our guys fresh for ACCs and regionals. I’ve focused more on managing the mini-sprints of the season as opposed to the grinding of the full season.”

With little experience as a head coach without COVID-19 restrictions, Sharp was ready to focus on what he believed was important.

“I realized at one of the tournaments this fall at Wake Forest, while sitting in the clubhouse with the team, that we haven’t even really had a meal together,” Sharp said. “We never did that once in the spring. It was always picking up your food, taking it to your hotel room, in order to preserve social distancing requirements. It was nice to finally sit down with all the guys.”

The Hokies kicked off their season in September at the Rod Myers Invitational at Duke where they finished sixth out of the fourteen teams competing. It was the first of four intercollegiate tournaments the Hokies competed in this fall.

Senior Connor Burgess shot 71-68-73 (-4), which was good enough to bag a tie for eighth place in the individual standings.

“I would undoubtedly say that he is the leader of this team. He’s a fifth-year student. He knows the drill,” Sharp said. “He is finally believing he is that good. I would love to see him win some of these tournaments, as he is more than capable of doing so. Connor has struggled with the mental side of making mistakes like bogeying the first couple holes and trying to bounce back. It’s nice to see him improving, he’s super talented.”

After a tournament was cancelled at the University of Charleston, the Hokies made their way to Winston Salem to play at Old Town Club golf course at Wake Forest. The team played well, finishing third out of 15 teams. None of the individual players stood out for the Hokies, as no one finished in the top-25.

The Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate tournament in early October wasn’t a great showing for the team as it finished 9th out of the 15 teams at the tournament.

Connor Burgess was a bright spot finishing 72-72-64, which was good enough for a tie for ninth place. Burgess’ third round 64 tied the lowest round in Virginia Tech golf history. Burgess fired off seven birdies, an eagle, and just one bogey.

The team finished strong at the final event of the year, placing third out of 15 teams at the Wolfpack Intercollegiate hosted by NC State.

The team was led by junior Daniel Azallion, who shot 70-71-69 (-6) , which was good for a tie for fourth place.

The junior is held in high regard by Sharp.

“I sing his golf praises all the time,” said Coach. “I’ll be shocked if he isn’t on the Korn Ferry Tour in a couple years. He is one of the most talented kids I have ever seen.”

While there is a significant gap between the fall and spring seasons, October through February, the season is all in one. The fall season results count the same towards the standings for the ACC championship in April as the early spring tournaments.

“That first tee shot at Duke in the fall counts the same as the last shot before the ACC tournament,” said Sharp when discussing how he views the fall season. “I wish there were more match play events in the fall. That’s how we decide the ACC champion, match play style. They’ve talked about having more Ryder Cup style formats, such as us playing against UVA in a fall tournament. We hardly ever do match play and I wish we did more of it.”

The team is set to return all its roster into the 2022 spring season. Virginia Tech will play six intercollegiate tournaments from February until the April ACC championship, followed by regionals and nationals.

Despite the ACC having eight of the top 25 teams in the country, Coach Sharp believes his squad has the ability to place highly and move onto regional championships.

“Golf is always going to be cyclical,” said Sharp when talking about getting everyone playing well at the same time. “You like to get the guys all playing at their best at the same time, but it rarely happens. We just need to get those averages better from all five guys, so our not-so-great tournaments we still place highly.”

Sharp’s team has had individuals place highly in tournaments in the fall, but many of the high individual finishes were not backed up by teammate success.

Golf’s individualistic nature places an emphasis on peaking at the correct times, at the same times as your teammates.

For the Hokies, team chemistry won’t be an issue. Many of the team lives together off campus and have great relationships with both Coach Sharp and assistant coach Todd Eckstein.

Bottom line, don’t be surprised when this team breaks through in the spring.