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South Range graduate Pluchinsky has been Penguins’ top player of late
By BRIAN DZENIS
It can be easy to forget that golf is only a game. Win or lose, Youngstown State senior golfer Brandon Pluchinsky is having a good time.
“If you’re getting mad in golf, it’s going downhill quick,” Pluchinsky said. “Staying positive and having fun is the key. Instead of going to class, you’re playing these crazy golf courses that everybody wishes they could be doing.”
Times have been pretty good for the South Range graduate. The Penguins’ golf team is two meets into the 2016 half of the season and so far, he’s been the team’s most consistent performer.
In seven meets, he’s been among the top-10 individual performers six times, including one first-place finish. His most recent top-10 placing was when he shot 217 to take sixth place at the Jackrabbit Invitational on March 7-8 in Primm, Nev.
His best result came in early October when he was the individual champion at the Cleveland State Invitational. In the two-day tournament, he shot 2-under par on the first round, 1-over the second and in the third, a 7-under outing put him over the top.
“It was great,” Pluchinsky said. “It was a big confidence booster, but I would have liked to have had the team do a little bit better because the team wins are always better than the individual wins.”
YSU has had a sluggish start to 2016. While the Penguins had one first-, second- and third-place result in the fall, the team took sixth and ninth in the first two meets this year. Both finishes are the lowest the team has had all season.
The Penguins have been at a disadvantage playing teams in Nevada and Georgia to start the spring season. Their opponents in warmer locales have no winter layoff.
“You’re playing teams that have been playing all year and we’ve only been outside for one week up here,” Pluchinsky said.
“We play a lot of tournaments that leave us very well-prepared. “It’s a little early, but we’re very confident so far.”
Pluchinsky would like to deliver coach Tony Joy his first Horizon League title before he graduates and he says his team has an experienced core to accomplish just that.
“We have three seniors, Bill Gaffney, D.J. Holub and myself, which is a pretty good anchor for the team and we have to fill our next two spots,” Pluchinsky said. “Usually in conference, it’s the No. 4 and 5 guy that puts you over the top because they hang around and push the team to shoot lower scores.”
Once his season ends, Pluchinsky’s time at YSU won’t be over. He’ll be going for his master’s in accounting while staying on as an assistant coach with the team. He’ll spend one more year as an amateur before turning pro.
The school and area have given him so much, Pluchinsky said he wants to give back.
“I’m from the area and I always go to the football games and everything,” Pluchinsky said. “Most of the kids on the team are local players. I’d like to help out and coach and try to continue the success we’ve had in the last few years.”
YSU is back in action Sunday-Tuesday in the Middleburg Bank Intercollegiate at the River Course at Kingsmill in Williamsburg, Va.