Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Jason Millard to represent USA in World University Games in August
1/31/2011 6:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Middle Tennessee golfer Jason Millard has represented the Blue Raiders in tournaments all over the United States, including the NCAA Championships, and now he will carry the red, white, and blue of the United States into the World University Games in China this August.
Millard, a senior, has been one of the best collegiate golfers in the country since he arrived at Middle Tennessee three years ago. A former star at Murfreesboro's Riverdale High School, he has now been chosen as one of six to represent his country against the best collegiate golfers in the world.
"To be honest with you, I am really shocked," said Millard after learning of his selection. "I've had a good career, but I didn't expect this. This would be anyone's dream to play for their country. This is a great way to end my college career. I don't know but one of the other players selected, but I'm sure all of them are really good. I am anxious for the opportunity to compete on such a grand stage."
The World University Games will take place in sites all over China, August 12-23. The golf competition will be held at Mission Hills Golf Resort in Shenzhen, China, August 17th- 20th. The format will be stroke play, 18 holes a day for four days. Mission Hills is the no. 1 rated golf resort in the world, and has hosted the World Cup pro tournament for the past two years.
Wyn Norwood, golf coach at University of Arkansas-Little Rock, will coach the team, and says it is an incredible opportunity for the six Americans.
"These guys have represented their high schools, their hometowns, their states and their universities, and now they have a chance to represent their country," said Norwood. "I have seen pictures of Mission Hills, and it looks like something out of a space station."
Norwood's hand-picked team will consist of three seniors and three sophomores, and it will be the first time any of them have represented the U.S. in international competition.
"I picked six guys who are in or right around the top 100 collegiate players in the country. When you get to that level, they are all very equal. Any one of them can win any tournament on any given day. Jason fits that mold," noted Norwood. "I also wanted six guys who had never had the experience of representing their country in international competition. It is something very few people get to do, and I wanted it to be new to them."
Norwood talked to other coaches as well as persons knowledgeable on collegiate golf about a variety of skills and traits he was looking for in his selections. He said another coach might have picked six different players for six different reasons, but he knew what he wanted.
"We wanted a team that was of good character, one that would get along with each other easily. When you are spending two weeks with six players who don't really know each other, they have to be compatible.
"I picked Jason for all of those reasons. If he is not the best, he is certainly one of the best golfers in the Sun Belt Conference, and he has NCAA experience."
Millard appreciates Norwood's emphasis on compatibility. "I think I can pretty much get along with anybody. I know that everybody is different, but I've learned over the years to be friends with everybody, especially on a team that represents your country. If there is any controversy on the team, it affects the whole team."
Blue Raider golf coach Whit Turnbow, who recruited Millard to Middle Tennessee, was happy and proud for Jason and the opportunity that is ahead.
"For Jason, it's a culmination of a lot of different things, hard work, maturity, a lot of different aspects have come together for him in the last 3-6 months," Turnbow said. "He deserves everything he's getting, he deserves all of this.
"Jason is so laid-back and easy to get along with that he won't have any problem co-existing with the entire team. I'm sure Coach Norwood weighed that out. I'm sure it wasn't the most important part of it, but it was a piece of it. Jason is a good teammate, and he does what he is supposed to do.
"I also think, after Coach Norwood looked at the make-up of how his team might look, with three sophomores, he wanted some stability, some guys that had kind of been there and done that, at a high level, for an extended period of time.
"When you look at Jason over the last four years, he's accomplished just about everything that a guy can accomplish. He's won golf tournaments, he's an All-American, he's been all-league, he's done all of that sort of stuff. I guarantee that was a piece of it when Norwood was putting his team together.
"You are not going into another state, you are going into another country, on the other side of the world, and the pressure of representing your country on a stage like that is something that Jason won't have any problem dealing with. He can handle it."
Turnbow pointed out that Millard has faced about everything that he can face at every level; he's played in a lot of U.S. Amateurs and a lot of other things.
Can he win this international tournament? "Absolutely he can," declared Turnbow.
Millard is not the first from Middle Tennessee to be part of the World University Game. Legendary Track Coach Dean Hayes coached two teams, one in 1981 in Romania and the other in 1985 in Japan. Also two Blue Raider baseball players Dewon Brazelton in 2000 and Bryce Brentz in 2009, have participated on the USA National Team in international competition.
Millard leads the team with a Sun Belt-best 70.9 stroke average after the fall schedule, which is 1.6 strokes lower than any of his first three seasons. He changed the way he putted over last summer, and has turned in some great rounds since then. He feels that one reason he was chosen was his strong showing in the Dixie Amateur tournament in Miami in December.
"I finished tied for third in a field of 350 golfers, and lost by two strokes to Peter Uihlein, the No. 1 ranked amateur in the world," said Millard. " I had rounds of 74-67-65, and played really well the last two days."
Turnbow hopes that Millard can keep up that type of play thru the Blue Raider's spring schedule, and perhaps help his team win another SBC title and trip to the NCAA. Middle Tennessee will open the spring portion of the 2011 schedule at the Mobile Bay Intercollegiate in Mobile, Ala., on February 21-22.
