Indiana golfer Noah Gillard attempts to read the break on a putt.
Daily Journal file photo
The No. 3 player in Indiana University’s men’s golf lineup could have formulated a better story for how he fractured his right elbow in April.
Instead, Noah Gillard steeled himself, stuck to the truth and prepared for any fallout.
“I fractured it falling off a scooter on campus,” said Gillard, a 2018 Center Grove graduate. “I was riding back from a class and going to my apartment, and there was a big, old pothole by some construction.”
“It was just very uneven, and I wasn’t paying attention.”
Gillard’s 6-foot-8, 200-pound frame hitting the pavement how and when it did was a four-putt in terms of timing. The Hoosiers were three days from participating in the Kepler Intercollegiate in Columbus, Ohio.
The senior’s 18-hole scoring average to that point was 73.63, behind only teammates Drew Salyers and Mitch Davis.
Coach Mike Mayer’s squad marched onward, finishing ninth at the Big Ten Championships on the Pete Dye Course in French Lick. IU concluded the spring portion of its season with a 12th-place effort at the NCAA Palm Beach Gardens Regional.
Gillard’s absence created a void.
“Truthfully, without Noah it left us in a pretty tough situation,” said Mayer, the IU men’s golf coach since the 1998-99 school year. “We brought him in early this summer and had a really good discussion about goals, and Noah has really lived up to that.”
Surgery wasn’t required to repair Gillard’s fractured elbow; his right arm was in a sling for three weeks, and he was able to slowly regain a full range of motion on his golf swing.
Gillard’s smooth form, and the confidence that comes with it, were approaching pre-scooter levels by the time he teed off in the Indiana Amateur Championship at the aforementioned Pete Dye Course on June 20.
Respective first- and second-round scores of 69 and 71 positioned Gillard atop the leaderboard with 18 holes to play. An uncharacteristic 79 dropped him into a five-way tie for third.
“My putting let me down, and I wasn’t striking the ball well,” Gillard said. “Everything was kind of off.”
Gillard then played in the Trans-Mississippi Amateur Championship in Denver his totals of 70 and 75 not warranting him making the cut.
Later this week, he’ll be in Chesterton for the Northern Amateur. Gillard closes his summer schedule in Chattanooga, Tennessee, at the annual Choo Choo Invitational.
In-between competitions, Gillard, who’ll be a senior at Indiana, tests the Steve Smyers-Fuzzy Zoeller-designed Pfau course at IU every day, weather permitting, with rounds against Davis.
Iron — not irons, though maybe that applies, too — sharpening iron.
“I understand their frustration with me (about the injury), but just taking time away from golf, it made me better. It gave me a greater appreciation for the game,” said Gillard, who turned 23 in May. “Golf has provided me a lot in my life.
“I didn’t realize before my injury how much golf meant to me.”
Indiana begins its fall season at the Fighting Irish Classic, to be played at Notre Dame’s Warren Golf Course.
His fractured elbow a thing of the past, Gillard senses a productive senior season.
“Golfers are pretty tidy. They don’t make too many moves without calculating it,” Mayer said. “Noah was kind of a free spirit, and you don’t want to take all of that away from him. We just wanted to tighten up those loose ends a little bit.”
Indiana graduated two players, one being Gillard’s longtime friend and teammate Ethan Shepherd, a 2017 Center Grove alumnus.
However, the returning core of talent is impressive.
“We’ll have the same top four back, and we feel like we underachieved this season,” Gillard said. “Our goal this year is to make the national championship, and we definitely have the potential to do that.”
