The Hillsdale College golf team has been flooded with new blood since its return to campus in 2014, having received seven of its 13 players from this year’s freshmen class.
Freshman Liam Purslowe is of particular note. Purslowe is from Perth, West Australia, and was recruited to play golf at Hillsdale by assistant coach Mike Harner.
“Coach Harner first contacted me on behalf of Hillsdale about three years ago when I was attending a university in Australia,” Purslowe said regarding how he discovered Hillsdale.
Having played golf for most of his life but struggling because Australia doesn’t offer the same division style college level golf that the United States does, Purslowe jumped at the chance to play for Hillsdale.
“Liam is a really mentally solid golfer,” freshman teammate Peter Beneteau said. “He never lets a bad round go to his head and that’s a rare thing in a golfer.”
Purslowe plans to earn an accounting major during his time at Hillsdale in addition to playing golf.
Purslowe said the differences in enrollment at his previous school and Hillsdale are drastic but welcome, saying that attending a school with tens of thousands of fellow students wasn’t to his taste.
“I’ve found that I really enjoy the community at Hillsdale.” Purslowe said. “I like all the guys on the golf team and I love the small campus.”
Purslowe says that the differences between living in the United States and Australia are not as pronounced as one might think.
“Sometimes people misunderstand the phrases I use,” he said, “but there’s no glaring differences.”
Purslowe said that the only downside he’s found to living in Michigan is the weather.
“The heat here is much more humid than in Australia, and I’ve had to buy an entirely new wardrobe in preparation for winter.”
Purslowe and the rest of the golf team are participating in the rebirth of the Chargers golf program, which had been on a nearly 10-year hiatus ending with the fall semester of 2014.
The program had faltered and was ultimately removed due to lack of funding.
Thanks to a generous donation from Dawn Potter, however, the program was rebooted last fall.
“We are very thankful to Ms. Potter for her wonderful gift,” Harner said. “We intend to establish the Dawn Potter men’s golf team as the finest in the country and we will do so with athletes who are outstanding golfers, students, and leaders.”
The Charger golf team played their first official GLIAC tournament on Sept. 18 and 19, in which two Hillsdale players finished in the top ten: Purslowe as well as fellow freshman Joel Pietila.
In the team’s most recent tournament, beginning on Monday, Purslowe placed in the top three overall and became the first member of the team to break 70 this season, with a score of 69.
“I’m looking forward to the rest of the season,” Beneteau said. “All the freshmen are solid players and I think we can make waves.”