The UCSD golf team, which finished its season with a tie for sixth place in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II Western Super Regional tournament on May 7, will lose to graduation this year its lone senior Blake Schneider, who will be missed as an essential player and great leader.
UCSD’s lone senior
“”Blake was one of the best players on the team,”” said head coach Mike Wydra.
Schneider competed in nearly half of the tournaments for the team this year and his best finish of the year was 22nd place, which came in the Point Loma Invitational on April 7 and April 8. Schneider achieved his best tournament score of the year with 228, 12-over-par, at the Point Loma Invitational. He placed in the top 40 in all but one of his tournaments.
“”I played for the team all four years, and it was just an awesome experience,”” Schneider said. “”I really enjoyed the camaraderie and just hanging out with the team. We all got along really well.””
Now that the season is over for Schneider, he laments that there will be no more practices, but says he will definitely be rooting for the team next year.
“”Before this season, Blake had trouble including hook or draw into his shots,”” Wydra said. “”But last summer, he learned how to move the ball left and right, and it allowed him to hit the ball about 30 to 40 yards farther and compete in the highest-quality tournaments. We will really miss his brand of competitiveness and leadership that he brought to the team.””
Schneider, who came to UCSD when it was still a Division III school, noted the difficulty that came with switching to Division II in his sophomore year. However, he was happy with how successful the team has been in the past three years, making it to regionals twice–a rare feat for a nonscholarship school.
“”Some of the best times in my four years were the road trips, just riding up to places like Davis and Bakersfield in the team van; we always had a great time as a team. Also, coming from Northern California, it was great to have an adult-like coach like Wydra down here in San Diego. He would always be there for us, even inviting players over for dinner on occasion,”” Schneider said.
Wydra had only good things to say about Schneider and recalled that at one tournament this year, Schneider offered to give up his spot in the tournament to a fellow golfer for the good of the team, something Wydra had never seen in all his years of coaching.
“”We couldn’t have accomplished anything we did this season without Blake,”” Wydra said.
