By Harrison Leone
Sports Assignment Editor
Golf is a sport built on the foundation of individual performance. There are no assists, no intricately coordinated plays and no one to rely on but yourself and your driver. Even in such a personal, even isolated, sport, there is the same sense of unity and common purpose on the golf course as there would be in the locker room of a more conventional team sport.
For Darren Simons, this rapport among golfers is one of the best parts of his sport.
“I like going to the tournaments and being with all of my friends on the team. The camaraderie is the best part about it,” Simons said. “The weekends when you have a tournament, we all go and stay in a hotel and get to play together, it’s really nice.”
This sense of togetherness is also what makes St. Bonaventure a hospitable environment for the redshirt sophomore. Simons spent his first year of collegiate eligibility at the University of Maryland, an atmosphere about as foreign from St. Bonaventure as one can imagine. With an undergraduate population approaching 30,000 and located a stone’s throw from several major metropolitan centers, Simons’ brief life as a Terrapin bore little resemblance to his tenure with the Brown and White.
“Being so close to cities and being in a larger place, you always had something to do,” Simons said of his time at College Park. “It’s a significant difference. I liked being in a bigger city. That was a lot of fun. But coming here, I’m able to be close to home. I like the community feeling here as well.”
Simons originally chose to attend Maryland because of the connections he had with its golf program. After the program underwent personnel changes, however, Simons no longer felt the situation was to his liking.
“My old high school knew the coach at Maryland really well, so I was looking to go there at first. The Maryland coach actually came up to watch me play in high school, and I really liked him,” Simons said. “I committed there, and two months before I was about to go there, he resigned. I went for a year and stuck it out. I didn’t really like the new coach too much, though.”
Maryland’s loss was the Bonnies’ gain, as Simons found his way to St. Bonaventure a year later through a hometown friend who was considering attending SBU.
“One of my friends who was a year behind me was looking to come here,” Simons said. “We were talking and thinking maybe we should both come here. He wound up not choosing St. Bonaventure, but I stuck it out. I’ve been happy with that choice so far.”
Playing golf at the college level has been part of Simons’ plan since adolescence, and the game has been a part of his life since early childhood. Like many college athletes, the sport was a family affair, as Simons had a brother who played golf at Robert Morris University.
“I’ve been golfing since I was five years old. Most of my family members play,” Simons said. “I started playing in tournaments when I was 10. Once I started having success in the smaller tournaments and then working my way up to bigger ones was when I started to think I could play golf in college.”
The stress and strain of time management that often plagues college athletes has not been a problem for Simons. Despite daily practices and classwork, Simons has been able to navigate these obstacles with ease.
“I would say we’re out there three hours a day practicing, and even more on the weekends,” Simons said. “I don’t really find it too difficult to balance social life, school work and practice, though. I find it pretty easy, I would say.”
Simons’ play on the links this season has reflected the confidence he has in his abilities to be an effective college athlete. Simons was named Atlantic 10 Golfer of the Week on Oct. 3, an honor fueled by his medalist performance at the Little Three Invitational.
“Obviously, I was very excited about (the award),” Simons said. “I haven’t been playing that great for the past few weeks. I played pretty decent last fall, but last spring I didn’t play as well. Coming into this fall, I was able to find things and things started to click, and I’ve been playing much better. Hopefully I can build on that.”
With Simons’ improved play, coupled with consistent standout sophomore Josh Stauffer and the promising freshman Trent McPherson, the future of St. Bonaventure stands to be one of growth and progress.
Simons credits the strength of the recruiting process under Coach John Powers, supplemented by player networking, as one of the most promising elements of the SBU golf program.
“I’d say we’re in an upward trajectory,” Simons said. “We’re doing a good job of recruiting. Coach has brought some good kids in since he’s been here. The kids that come here kind of recruit kids to come themselves. It’s not all on coach. Getting good players in here in that way is important to our success, and we’re doing that pretty well right now.”
