Matt Hill may not be up for giving lessons anytime soon with his busy schedule. But during the fall season, the sophomore from Brights Grove, Ontario, did some schooling of his own. Hill posted a 69.4 average score, earning himself the NCAA’s no. 1 ranking.
“I had a good fall — our team did pretty well at the same time, so I was just really pleased with the way it went,” Hill said. “I was really happy to see that I was number one.”
After finishing last season with the lowest stroke average on the team, Hill had some pretty lofty goals for his sophomore campaign. But even he was taken aback by the national ranking.
“I was a little surprised at the start,” Hill said. “I knew coming in I had some pretty high goals of being first team All-American, but being no. 1 right now is pretty cool.”
Coach Richard Sykes attributed much of Hill’s success to some of the intangible aspects of golf.
“He’s a very mature player,” Sykes said. “He’s very accurate. He does a lot of things that young players don’t do. He hits the ball the right distance, and he’s in pretty good control of his emotions, which are some things that usually take time to develop. So he’s a little more mature than most of the college players starting out, but he’s a very talented player.”
In the off-season, Hill adjusted some minor details in his golf game but credited his success this fall to a new level of confidence in his game and a higher degree of comfort with the program.
“I worked with my coach on some more specific things in my swing,” Hill said. “Since last year I’ve gotten a lot more confident in my game. I know what I’m doing, and I just know where I am. Last year I didn’t really know what to expect, and this year I do and I know some of the courses a little bit better.”
Although Hill is in the limelight of the golf nation, he is very excited to see what the team is capable of doing this year and hopes to help make the team more competitive. He said one of the main focuses for the team is to make match play at the NCAA tournament, something that last year’s team failed to do.
“We work pretty hard,” Hill said. “We have a good time. We have a lot of talent on our team. I really think we can do big things this year and we have another really good recruit coming in next year. So, I think our team is going to be really good for the next three or four years from what I’ve seen. It’s really exciting.”
