When Alex Mikhail first heard the idea to do a golf tournament for the first full-day intramural sports tournament of the school year, he was “a little hesitant.” He worried about how many people would show up.
Mikhail, a junior political science major, volunteers as one of the intramural sports coordinators at Wheaton College. He got the proposal from Zach Orange, a senior economics major, to host a golf tournament on Sept. 2 at nearby Village Links of Glen Ellyn, about 4 miles southeast of campus.
Orange and Mikhail chose golf because they wanted to play while the weather was still warm, and to give players time to get equipment from home, if needed. They promoted the event on Instagram and through word of mouth for three weeks before, but Mikhail said he didn’t expect the eventual turnout.
By the time the tournament rolled around, nine teams showed up to Village Links, with 36 players in total. Most were students, with a small team of faculty and staff members including professor of political science Bryan McGraw.
Players paid $35 each to play, not counting the cost of renting equipment for those who did not own their own clubs. Tee times were every 10 minutes from 10:10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
In the end, the faculty team tied for first place with a team of four students: junior Jonah Swartz, senior Luke Engstrom, senior James Pelletier and junior James Scott. Swartz also plays on the varsity men’s golf team, where his individual success landed the team in sixth place at the CCIW Preview meet last September. For the intramural tournament, only one varsity player was allowed per team, and teams with a current or former varsity player had a 3-stroke handicap entering the tournament.
The Record spent the day at the golf tournament and spoke to Mikhail about the tournament. Watch our first-ever video story here:
Video by Josiah Rood. Text by Helen Huiskes. Donovan Michel contributed filming.