Rocket Spotlight On...Palmer Yenrick

Palmer Yenrick enters his fifth season as a Rocket and graduated last spring with a finance degree. He ranked second on the team last year with a career-best 73.3 stroke average and tied for eighth at the MAC Championships. An Oregon, Ohio native, he has played in the last two U.S. Amateurs.

On the opportunity to play for your hometown school
It's been awesome to meet new people who support Toledo. I've worked at different golf courses around the area. They have been really receptive of me being there, and the relationships I've built during this time have been amazing.

On what attracted you to come to Toledo
I always wanted to go to Toledo because it's always been a university in my backyard. My mom went to Bowling Green so that's been a little weird. But my dad went to Toledo and my sister played softball here. It's been an awesome experience. The atmosphere, people and the support it has were what drove me to it.

On having the world-renowned Inverness Club as your home course
Being able to develop my golf game by through practicing and playing at Inverness has been a challenge and rewarding at the same time. Inverness is set up and manicured similarly to the best golf courses around the world and it really tests you. Playing at Inverness allows you to replicate course conditions for our upcoming tournaments and that's really helpful.

On the team's culture established by Head Coach Jeff Roope
Coach Roope puts a lot of responsibility on us to push each other. He gets us to the point where we are team-reliant and can count on others to help when needed. It's like if me or one of the seniors see someone on the team not practicing well or putting up bad scores, we will say get your stuff together and get it done.

On having MAC Golfer of Year Barend Botha as a teammate
Barend's consistent and plays well a lot of the time. If our team doesn't come in a good spot in a tournament we're playing in, it's usually not his fault. It's usually because we're not consistent. It's good having him push us to finish higher up on the leaderboard and help us get going with our game.

On the opportunity to play in U.S. Amateurs each of last two years
It was a big learning experience. Being able to show my talents and what I've worked for in a tournament that's on a bigger stage was awesome. I was able to see where I ranked against some of the world's best amateurs with most of them being elite college players. That pushes you more, just like Barend pushes us every day.

On making the transition to golf after playing baseball growing up
It's been a fun challenge and is still a work in progress. You really have to rely on yourself and your whole mental game in golf to get you through a round when you're having a bad day. In baseball, I could rely on my teammates to play well and make you feel good. Sometimes I think it might be easier to hit a golf ball because it's stationery, but other times I'm like, "I hate this game."

On life as a walk-on in his first two years as a Rocket
It was difficult. I definitely had to earn my way to getting a scholarship and earning a spot in the lineup for tournaments. It's been a huge honor. Just experiencing that struggle of knowing where my game was at and knowing where it needs to be was stressful. It was a great learning experience.

On traveling to different parts of the country with the program's schedule
At the beginning when I started traveling, it was really cool. I hadn't been to Florida that much growing up and we've gone there a bunch of times. It's been interesting to see all the different kinds of grass they have on courses. Now I'm kind of numb to it but there definitely have been some eye-opening experiences with what it's like in different parts of the country.

Players Mentioned

Barend Botha

Palmer Yenrick

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