Svajlen represents Cameron, Slovakia at World Cup
CAPE TOWN, South Africa – Most casual and amateur golfers reach their golfing nirvana if they are lucky enough to get to play a round at a legendary course such as Pebble Beach or Augusta. But for most, the high-point in one’s golfing career comes if they are able to finish a round without losing a single ball, or if they chip one in from the bunker.
Imagine being flown to beautiful Cape Town, South Africa, to play golf at some of the most beautiful courses in the entire world, for your country…
This dream is actually being realized by Cameron’s own Peter Svajlen, a sophomore on the Cameron Aggie Men’s Golf team. Svajlen, a native of Slovakia, will be competing in the 2006 World Amateur Men’s Team Golf Championship for his country this weekend. The event is played every two years and is amateur golf’s biggest and most prestigious international event.
The WATC is golf’s version of the Olympics and is put on by the International Golf Federation. It is affiliated with the International Olympic Committee and features four-man teams (three players, one captain) from over seventy countries all vying for the coveted Eisenhower Trophy. This year’s event will be played at the De Zalze Golf Club (Par 72, 6,966 yards) and the Stellenbosch Golf Club (Par 72, 6,835 yards), located in the Stellenbosch wine-growing region at the foot of the picturesque Stellenbosch Mountains.
In the event, each participant plays a round of stroke play for four straight days. The two lowest scores from each team are recorded for the team score, and the four-day total is the team’s final score for the championship. Each player must be an amateur golfer and a citizen of the country they are representing.
The United States has won the last three championships. The very first WATC was played in 1958 at St. Andrews and has since featured golfers such as Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson, and Tiger Woods. The 25th biennial event will be played in Adelaide, Australia in 2008.
Svajlen competed for Slovakia at the last event (2004, Puerto Rico) while still in high school and helped his team to a No. 30 overall finish. “I definitely think I have improved since last time. I was pretty stressed out about it and had a really bad first round,” Svajlen said. “My final two rounds were as good as I could play at the time, but not as good as I can play now.”
After playing in his hometown of Bratislava over the summer, and for Cameron all fall, Svajlen vows to do better at this year’s event. “Playing for your country makes you want to play even better,” Svajlen said. “I believe I am the best every time I go out there, but will try and see this one as just another tournament. There will be a lot of tough competition.”
Cameron men’s golf head coach Jerry Hrnciar echoed Svajlen’s sentiments and expects big things this weekend. “I think Peter will represent his country quite well,” he said. “He has developed enough to where he can play almost any course very well.”
Svajlen has been one of the more dominant players on Coach Hrnciar’s team this season. “Peter has developed tremendously from last year to this year,” Coach Hrnciar said. “He is a little bit longer and more consistent with his game. He is much more poised on the golf course, whereas before it was more of a feeling out process. He is definitely much more comfortable.” Svajlen finished the fall season with only one round over par.
Coming to Cameron just two summers ago, Svajlen was never guaranteed a roster spot. “I knew I wanted to play in the United States, and ended up picking Cameron over Ole Miss and Northern Alabama,” Svajlen said. Without even visiting the campus or the city of Lawton, Svajlen chose Cameron because of academics and Coach Hrnciar’s reputation as one of the more esteemed golf coaches in the country.
“Normally I don’t recruit international students,” Coach Hrnciar said. “He (Svajlen) contacted me when he was a foreign exchange student living in Tennessee, and I told him that if he proved himself to me we would get him on scholarship.” Svaljen was awarded a scholarship to Cameron in his second semester on the team.
Svajlen is a business management student at Cameron, and enjoys playing volleyball and soccer when not out at the driving range.
Stay up to date on Svajlen’s progress at the 2006 WATC by visiting goaggies.cameron.edu or worldamateur2006.org. The Cameron men’s golf team has concluded their fall season, and will resume play on February 18th in the St. Edward’s Invitational in Austin, Texas.
