In sports, experience matters. In golf, which tests mental endurance even more than physical endurance, experience matters even more. So when a freshman, playing in only his second college event, holds the lead going into the final round of a two-day tournament, upper-class students from the other schools might not worry. They might just think that this new competitor will not be able to maintain his mental focus for two rounds and hold off an entire field of more experienced opponents.
Ian Bangor, however, has a different lesson in mind as he steps up to the first tee on that second day. A CMU freshman, Bangor leads the field after shooting two under par on the first day. “I think everyone else thought that, as a freshman, I was not going to hold it together,” he recalls later. Defying their expectations but not his own, he shoots under par again to gain his first collegiate victory. Yes, the lesson on this day is how to put yourself in the position to win and then close the door. Today, the junior computational finance major considers that tournament his most memorable, which is saying something because he is already the university’s all-time wins leader with seven.
Bangor says that after earning his degree, he is contemplating a professional career in golf, which he considers “one of the best jobs in the world.” That path may come through the sectional and regional qualifiers, which, for the winners, lead to a spot in the U.S. Open and a chance to compete against the world’s best golfers. Bangor played in his first sectional at the age of 14 and plans to try again this spring.
One might wonder why such a skilled golfer would not head to a more temperate climate for his college years, but Bangor says he was drawn to CMU for what he calls an ideal balance of superior academics and a golf program that is active throughout the year. Although Pittsburgh winters are a bit tougher than those at Pebble Beach, the university provides the golf team with indoor practice facilities and even a new state-of-the-art golf simulator. At the same time, Bangor finds that the CMU classroom experience, like golf, builds focus and self-discipline, and he realizes that upon graduation he will have plenty of professional options beyond golf.
His discipline has a family history, and he learned a few tough lessons before he began garnering wins at the college level. His father, Paul, also played for CMU some 30 years ago and introduced Bangor to the game before he even entered kindergarten. With a grandfather and uncle who also play, Bangor never lacks playing partners or friendly family rivalry. With a smile, he recounts a different tournament, where he held the lead as play entered the final round, but that story has quite a different ending. A three-shot lead at his home course evaporates at the hands of someone with a bit more experience: his father. Lesson learned.
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