AUBURN, Ala. — Auburn Golfer Carson Bacha is making a rapid ascent in the college golf world. After taking a redshirt season his first year, he capped a solid freshman campaign with a 20th place finish at the NCAA Championships. He recorded several wins on the summer amateur circuit and is now back with the Tigers for his sophomore season.
We caught up to Bacha on our trip to Auburn to cover Penn State's football game against the Tigers. He won the PIAA 3A Individual Championship for Central York. We talked about his transition from a decorated champion in high school to college and his future plans as an amateur and eventually as a professional. The following is a transcript of the segment that aired on FOX43's Sunday Sports Frenzy:
(Sports Director Todd Sadowski)
"Grade me your progress from high school to now, the transition, what has that transition been like for you and talk about your growth as a golfer since you got here."
(Carson Bacha)
"Absolutely, college golf is a completely different animal than junior golf really. In junior golf, courses are a lot more shorter, you're dealing with a lot more wedges in. In junior golf and in high school golf, you're just making a ton of birdies and it's kind of stress free golf. You get to college and you're playing on really tough courses that have really tough set ups, you'll get thru an entire round here where the pin isn't more than three feet off the edge of a green."
(Todd Sadowski)
"The confidence of it, so much of golf is just feeling like you belong right? You see your name on the leaderboard at the NCAA Championships, you see where guys are going when they are done, what does that say to you to reinforce what you are doing out there?"
(Carson Bacha)
"It really just shows myself that I can compete with the best. The National Championship was an awesome experience out there at Grayhawk. I played that course in the Thunderbird in junior golf and it played so much harder in the national championships, it was unreal, it really was like a different golf course. I was really happy with the showing I had at nationals, finished 20th. Definitely could have been better, I made a few bogeys down the stretch that hurt a little bit but it was a great learning experience. Like I said, I got to play with some of the best players in the country there, and I got to compare my game and realize that I'm on the right track and I'm not far enough from where I want to be."
(Todd Sadowski)
"The Walker Cup is in your future potentially, you mention LIV Golf, you mention PGA, you're checking off some items here slowly and surely, what are your targets as you move forward, you have some growth yet to get there but what are you thinking, what are your plans for the future?"
(Carson Bacha)
"Yeah, I mean, my ultimate thing after I'm done in college is I will turn pro. Up until then, the Walker Cup is huge. We actually, our assistant coach did play on a Walker Cup team, so it's really cool to be able to talk to him about that experience. He was the number one ranked amateur player in the world at one time, Chris Williams, so he's been a great guy to talk to so he's kind of planted some of that in my dreams. Representing the U-S in a Walker Cup is something that would be amazing. Still, I need to put in a lot of work and post some good results to have that opportunity but that would certainly be a goal. Like I said, post college, when I go to turn pro, it will really be based on what's going on with PGA Tour U and LIV Golf, but my dream has been to play professional golf so I'm real excited to have that opportunity when the time is right, until then, I'm just trusting the process and putting in as much work as I can."