While many collegiate athletes view their college career as the culmination of years of hard work and practice, men's golfer junior Jason Buha hopes that his college playing years will just be a start for the future. Buha realizes the difficulty involved in becoming a professional golfer, but would still like to take a shot at becoming the next champion.
"I don't think it's easy," Buha said. "It's not an easy life when you're starting out. You play a lot, and you starve, and I think that turns a lot of guys off. Instant success just doesn't happen.
"I'd love to do it, but we'll see. I'll just go day by day."
While Buha currently wouldn't turn heads on the PGA tour, it's evident that the talent and potential are there. Buha is currently in second place on the team in stroke average with a 74.6 per round. He is also second on the team in top-20 finishes with high results in four out of the six tournaments the team has played in this year. Despite that, his teammates don't even think that Buha is playing at his best right now.
"I think for Jason, he didn't even have that great of a fall," teammate Joe Ogilvie said. "We expect some great things out of him this spring."
The one thing Buha may be missing is consistency, at least a different kind of consistency than the one he has achieved right now. Buha has had at least one round that was sub-par or within a stroke of par every tournament this fall. He has also had either a round of 78 or 79 in five out of the six tournaments from the fall. The one he didn't? The Northwestern Windon Memorial where he had his highest finish of the year in sixth place.
Currently he is about one round away from becoming one of the top golfers in the region and the nation.
"I think Jason is at the point where he has to start thinking about All-American," Ogilvie said. "He has to start thinking about another level this spring and being in tournaments in the top five and maybe even win a tournament."
Buha's recent success has come from the fact that he has devoted much of his life to improving his golf game. Buha first picked up golf around the age of seven when he would hit buckets of balls at a driving range with his father and older brother. Like most children, he played a variety of sports until he neared high school when he then began to really concentrate on golf.
This concentration paid off as he was an All-American his sophomore, junior and senior years. This would help define his path in later years, as it was through invitational national tournaments that he met seniors Ogilvie and Justin Kline, who would later be instrumental in bringing Buha to Duke over his other top choice of North Carolina State.
"I choose [Duke] because there were just too many advantages with things like the great academics," Buha said. "Also I knew some guys on the team, and I knew that we had the capability and potential to be a really good team, so that's what really swayed my decision."
Buha is still pleased with the decision he made, even though it means that he has to split much of his time between studying and golf, instead of just concentrating on his game.
"It's hard," Buha said. "One way or the other, something is going to have to give. I try not to let either one of them give, but if you want to dedicate yourself to really play golf and really develop a game, some of the study time that you'll want isn't going to be there."
Buha makes up for this split in time in the summer when he gets the chance to concentrate more on golf. Just as many college freshmen and sophomores find internships in hospitals and law offices, Buha finds his on the golf course. The improvement he experiences every year can be directly related to the time he has put in during the summer.
"I thought he had an excellent summer," head coach Rod Myers said. "He came back this fall and his game had elevated to a new level."
Many Duke players have made attempts at the next level of golf, and Buha would like to follow their steps. But Myers believes that he may be able to surpass the success of those players because of all the different skills Buha possesses.
"So much of a player's chance for success depends on his love of the game," Myers said. "And I think that he has that. All of those players have the talent, but unless you love to play the game day in and day out, it's hard to make it. I think he has the talent and the love of the game. I definitely think it would be worth his time to try."
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