Sports > February 14, 2008

By Allison Lange | Sports editor

Brendan Gielow may only be a sophomore, but he plays golf like a senior leader. Gielow led the men’s golf team to tie in sixth place at the Gator Inviational. Gielow shot a 208 overall, which translates into a two under par and placed him individually in ninth place overall.

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Last year as a freshman, Gielow finished second on the team in scoring, averaging 73.76 strokes, only behind then junior leader Webb Simpson. This summer Gielow qualified for the U.S. Amateur and finished 59th in stroke play with a seven over par. The Old Gold & Black’s sports editor, Allison Lange, sat down with Gielow to talk about playing a round of golf with anyone, his favorite class at Wake Forest and his goals for this season.

On why he started playing golf:

I think I started playing golf when I was about two.

My dad played, so he’d just take me out to the course with him.

On team goals for this year:

Well obviously, our team goal is to win the NCAAs.

On no longer being a freshman:

As a sophomore, I don’t know if I have a different role on the team this year.

However, I have played a lot of the courses so I feel like I’m a lot more prepared for each tournament this year.

I think that’s the biggest difference from last year for me.

On playing any course in the world:

I’d have to choose two courses.

The first would be Augusta National where they play the masters, of course.

And then the old course at St. Andrews in Scotland would also be on my list.

On his favorite class at Wake:

My favorite class would definitely be Islam with Dr. Kimball.

I’m going to be a religion minor and its just a pretty cool and interesting class.

On playing a round with anyone:

If I had to pick three other people to play with, my dream foursome would probably be me, my dad, probably Jack Nicholas and Ernie Els.

On why he picked Wake Forest:

A lot of reasons.

It was mainly golf. That’s why I came down south for college, to play golf.

Coach Haas is just awesome.

The courses we get to play at are great.

I like Wake because its a small school and then the academics are great too.

On personal goals for this year:

I just want to be in contention to win each tournament that I’m in.

As always, I want to continue to play better and improve upon my skills.