Bonk snubbed from Division III Golf Championship invite
Jordan Wong
Issue date: 5/14/09 Section: Sports
Last year, after a remarkable freshman season, Max Bonk qualified for the national Division III golf championship.
Now a sophomore, his credentials are even more impressive. He won his second straight Northwest Conference Championship; won every tournament he participated in this year and led the Boxers to five tournament victories throughout the season.
When it came time for the list of players that would be playing in the national tournament this year, Bonk thought he was a shoe in to make another across the country trip to play against the leading players of the NWC Division III conference.
But when the list was announced he was shocked to find that his name was not on it.
"I was thinking, this is ridiculous," said Bonk, "so coach Warren and I tried to figure something out."
The selection process works out so that five golfers, not a part winning conference teams, are able to travel to the tournament and play solo. A committee, comprised of coaches from randomly selected teams, chooses the players. According to Bonk, criteria is based the player's individual successes during the season, such as winning percentage and scoring.
After making a phone call to the selection committee, head coach Richard Warren was told that the fifth and final spot had been between Bonk and another player, Tyler Wollberg from Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisc.
Wollberg was selected to go - even though he was ranked 58th on the national leaderboard. Bonk was ranked 26th. Not only was Bonk statistically superior to the Wollberg, he also had a better scoring average than every one of the five people selected to go.
The reason given for the committee's selection was that Wollberg played in a more competitive conference.
Athletic Director Ken Schumann will try to appeal the decision but it is highly unlikely the committee will retract the decision already made.
"Right now, the best they can let me do is come on as an alternate, which is not likely. Since the list was already announced publicly, they can't take anyone off," said Bonk.
Despite being the odd man out, Bonk won't let something like this get him down.
"I figured I can't do anything about it so I'm going to forget it because I have a tournament to play when I get home," he said.
When he returns home to Hilo, Hawaii, Bonk will be defending his Kona Open title from May 23rd-24th. He will then try to qualify for the US open on May 25th.
Now a sophomore, his credentials are even more impressive. He won his second straight Northwest Conference Championship; won every tournament he participated in this year and led the Boxers to five tournament victories throughout the season.
When it came time for the list of players that would be playing in the national tournament this year, Bonk thought he was a shoe in to make another across the country trip to play against the leading players of the NWC Division III conference.
But when the list was announced he was shocked to find that his name was not on it.
"I was thinking, this is ridiculous," said Bonk, "so coach Warren and I tried to figure something out."
The selection process works out so that five golfers, not a part winning conference teams, are able to travel to the tournament and play solo. A committee, comprised of coaches from randomly selected teams, chooses the players. According to Bonk, criteria is based the player's individual successes during the season, such as winning percentage and scoring.
After making a phone call to the selection committee, head coach Richard Warren was told that the fifth and final spot had been between Bonk and another player, Tyler Wollberg from Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisc.
Wollberg was selected to go - even though he was ranked 58th on the national leaderboard. Bonk was ranked 26th. Not only was Bonk statistically superior to the Wollberg, he also had a better scoring average than every one of the five people selected to go.
The reason given for the committee's selection was that Wollberg played in a more competitive conference.
Athletic Director Ken Schumann will try to appeal the decision but it is highly unlikely the committee will retract the decision already made.
"Right now, the best they can let me do is come on as an alternate, which is not likely. Since the list was already announced publicly, they can't take anyone off," said Bonk.
Despite being the odd man out, Bonk won't let something like this get him down.
"I figured I can't do anything about it so I'm going to forget it because I have a tournament to play when I get home," he said.
When he returns home to Hilo, Hawaii, Bonk will be defending his Kona Open title from May 23rd-24th. He will then try to qualify for the US open on May 25th.
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