SCC GOLFER QUALIFIES FOR NATIONAL TOURNAMENT By SHANNON WOODWORTH 5/6/09 ULLIN — Logan Loftus was having trouble with his short game when his coach came along and reached out to him. “To say that he changed my game overnight, I would have to agree,” Loftus said of his coach, D.W. Davis. “It is amazing how much I improved.” Going into the Regional 24 Tournament, held at the Lockhaven Country Club in Godfrey last week, Loftus was not a favorite. He had shot poorly at the Rend Lake Invitation often faltering on chips and putts. Two other players on his Shawnee Community College golf team, in fact, were being closely watched. Curtis Mitchell and Anthony Dempsey had been in the spotlight all season. But using the tricks his coach had taught him the night before, Loftus emerged in the top six and qualified for the NJCAA Division II National Tournament. “I only made it because Coach Davis had recognized some mistakes I was making and corrected them for me,” Loftus said. “He had me feeling very good about my game.” To explain how important qualifying for nationals is to Loftus, as a high school golfer in Hopkinsville, Ky., he missed the state tournament by a single stroke. A missed putt knocked him out of the tournament. “That was a big bummer, so to accomplish a trip to the national tournament as a college golfer, what a great feeling,” Loftus said. The day before the regional tournament, Davis called Loftus and instructed him to meet him at the Gambit Golf Course in Vienna. “He said, ‘we are working on your short game,’” Loftus said. Davis, admired by many in southern Illinois as a legendary golfer himself, offered advice that amounted to only a minor adjustment. It became a major improvement the next day. Loftus said now he is simply staying focused for the national tournament. “I just try not to worry too much; I learned in the past that worrying about big games leads to bad things,” he said. Loftus said his father, Kenny, put a golf club in his hands at age six. “I love to compete against my father,” Loftus said. “It is fun to have a parent to compete with.” The national tournament will be played next week at the Goose Pond Colony Golf Course in Scottsboro, Ala. Loftus, in the meanwhile, hopes the change in his game is the golden egg he needs to win. webpage with a friend via e-mail or text message.

2009 SCC Catalog