Nowak passes real test at Junior Masters
Golfer shoots 74 before leaving to take Regents math exam
The countdown to his Regents exam ticked down hole by hole Tuesday. But through it all, Austin Nowak insists he wasn't thinking about the sines, cosines and tangents about to blitz him on his state-mandated Math B test.
Instead, the 15-year-old from Lancaster zoned in on the 57th annual International Junior Masters.
"I just thought about what I'd do for every shot," Nowak said. "Not about the test. I'd take that later."
The tunnel vision showed. Nowak finished the first round of medal play with a 74, 3 over above par. Bradley Graham from St. Catharines, Ont., is in first place with a 70. Four players are tied at par behind him. The 82 international golfers, hailing from Colombia to Canada, will play another round this morning before the first round of match play in the afternoon. The top 32 from medal play advance into the championship bracket of match play.
Operating on only six hours of sleep, Nowak said he "ran on fumes." After waking up at 5:45 a.m., he hustled to East Aurora Country Club without eating breakfast. Nowak requested to tee off first at 7 a.m. to give himself ample time to complete 18 holes before his math test at 12:15 p.m. He bogeyed on the 12th and 13th holes but quickly rebounded with back-to-back birdies on 15 and 16.
On the 15th hole, his 6-iron off the tee landed within a foot of the cup.
"I knew I hit it pretty good," he said. "It came off nice."
Last summer, Nowak pulled the biggest upset of the week at the Junior Masters by stunning second-seeded Brent McKenzie as the 31st seed. Back then, Nowak didn't have to juggle Regents exams with the Junior Masters. Simply planning for Tuesday's whirlwind was a challenge in itself. When Nowak presented his predicament to his math teacher, she wasn't happy.
"She said, "You're going to have to miss the golf tournament. This exam is too big,'‚" Nowak recalled.
Uh no, Nowak thought. He's been looking forward to this year's Junior Masters since getting eliminated in the second round last year. Nowak told his parents what his teacher said, and after some brainstorming with Lancaster school officials, they found a solution. Nowak took the exam at nearby Iroquois High School instead of Lancaster. At Iroquois, the test was scheduled for 12:15 p.m. instead of 11:15 a.m.
The switcheroo saved an hour, a speeding ticket and any possible rushed putts down the stretch. Nowak forgot to bring a pen to the math test, but a teacher had an extra one. The test went well. Not as smoothly as his round of golf, but Nowak was satisfied.
"I was happy when it was all over because I don't like to take tests," Nowak said.
At the other extreme was Pierce Terrance. The 15-year-old from Kenmore East teed off with the last threesome to squeeze in his French Regents exam in the morning at East Aurora High School. It was tough to focus. Terrance admits his mind drifted from conjugating verbs to how he'd attack each hole at East Aurora's deceptive course. Then, "I'd snap back into it and finish up [the question]," he said.
By the time Terrance got to the golf course, administrators were already picking up balls at the range. He grabbed a handful, ripped off a few practice shots and it was time to tee off. When his day was finally over, after shooting an 87, Terrance lounged into a chair at the scoring table. He was tired, dazed and heavy bags were drooping under his eyes.
A pedal-to-the-metal first day was finally complete.
"I'm ready to crash right now," he said.
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