Five years ago, head coach Tim Grogan knew he had something special when he signed two-time Wisconsin State Golf Association Boys' Player of the Year Nathan Colson to play at Marquette. However, Grogan did not realize in the spring of 2001 that the recruit would have a ripple effect on the entire program.
"He was really the first really big player to come to Marquette," Grogan said, "and we've felt the effect ever since. Great players attract other great players."
As Colson is entering the final tournament of his collegiate career, the Big East Championship in Dade City, Fla., this upcoming Monday and Tuesday, Grogan reflected on the effect he has had on Marquette golf.
"The highest compliment I can pay a college athlete is 'Did he leave the program better than he found it?' and Nathan certainly has done that," Grogan said.
Grogan attributed the signings of such high profile players as Mike Van Sickle and Ted Gray in part to Colson's presence and performance at Marquette. But Colson has had a more than impressive career himself.
Colson has set record after record during his Marquette career, leading the team in scoring average during his first three seasons and accumulating an impressive collegiate record.
"He's arguably been the best golfer in Marquette history," Grogan said. "We've never had a player like him before."
Colson red-shirted last year in order to pursue a full-time internship and to play a season in the Big East with a Marquette team able to make a run at a conference title. Now, on the eve of the biggest tournament of his collegiate career, Colson sees the team's goal becoming a reality.
"We've all got our games together. No one is hoping that they will play well, because everyone already is," Colson said. "The favorite in the conference is probably Louisville, and we got a lot of confidence, we beat them (at the Cardinal Intercollegiate on Louisville's home course) and we are all getting back into form."
This season has been mostly highs with a few lows for Colson. In the beginning of the fall, he quickly put up a couple of top-ten performances as he and Van Sickle each got off to scorching starts. In the middle of the fall, however, he saw his scores rise as he finished in the middle of the pack in Marquette's tournaments.
Determined to make the most out of his last season, he came out firing in the spring, leading an inconsistent Marquette team to respectable finishes.
"I did not do anything special," Colson said, but he has rebounded from a winter off "so many times that I'm used to it."
Although he had a mediocre 38th-place finish at Marquette's last tournament, The Marshall Invitational, the Marquette team seemed to regain some of its early season form, just in time to make a run at a conference title. If the team wins its conference tournament, they will qualify for the NCAA Regionals for the first time in team history.
Although Colson, an accounting major receiving his degree this May, plans to work with the Wisconsin PGA this fall instead of pursuing a professional golf career, he still has plenty to be proud of both on and off the course in his time here at Maruquette.
"He is what the NCAA means when they say 'student athlete,'" Grogan said, "he's always had his academic priorities in place and he's been a wonderful leader by example for the whole program."