Mars' Routhieaux to play golf at Baldwin-Wallace
Brian Routhieaux left his mark on the Mars boys golf program.
He now hopes to do the same at Baldwin-Wallace College.
The Mars graduate recently decided to continue his academic and athletic careerd at the school, which is located in Berea, Ohio, just outside of Cleveland.
"I visited there twice and it was a good experience for me," Routhieaux said. "Being able to click with the other players, that's what sold me."
Routhieaux's first season with the Planets was the fall of 2003 and he contributed right away.
"As a freshman, he was a really good golfer and was a mature kid," said Mars coach Tim Tyler. "He's the first four-year letterwinner for Mars (boys golf) that I know of.
"As he got older, he became more consistent for us. Plus, he's a really great kid."
It was that consistency that helped Routhieaux leave the Planets with two program records — scoring average for a season (36.8 in 2005) and for a career (38.1).
"Leaving with those records means a lot," said Routhieaux. "To be able to go out on the course and have the confidence of my teammates, it's humbled me."
He will be joining a Baldwin-Wallace program that is used to winning.
The Yellow Jackets, who compete in the Ohio Athletic Conference, just finished the 2007 season and were at one point ranked as high as 35th out of 422 Division III teams across the country.
The Baldwin-Wallace men's golf team has taken recent trips to compete in Phoenix and San Diego.
"We are one of the best funded (D-III) programs around," said Baldwin-Wallace coach Chris Kibler, who has led the team for the past four years. "We only keep eight or nine golfers on the team."
Kibler heard good things about Routhieaux and said he believes he will be a perfect fit for the program.
"Brian was third on our recruiting list," he said. "It seems he has a solid mind for the game. So much of golf is mental, and, from what I hear, he has the right demeanor for the game."
The jump from high school to college athletics usually isn't an easy one, and golf is no different.
"The distances to the pin are usually going to be longer and the placement of the holes on the green are much more difficult," said Kibler.
Routhieaux plans to have a double major in sports management and accounting.
