Drew Fockler is the Arizona Daily Sun's High School Golfer of the Year. (Josh Biggs/Arizona Daily Sun)
Josh BiggsEven though this is his second straight Boys Golfer Athlete of the Year award and he's only a sophomore, it will be his last.
Drew Fockler, the leader of the Coconino Panthers boys fall golf squad, is moving to California to take advantage of the better golfing weather.
But he's still excited to be picked for the award for a second straight year.
"It's awesome and I feel so honored to get it again," he said. "I have to thank my teammates and parents for encouraging me and telling me I can always do it and for helping me follow my dreams."
Following his dreams means leaving Flagstaff, where playing golf in the winter is tough -- as is keeping up with his Valley competitors who can play year round.
Fockler's coach Bruce Bartley said the Panthers -- the only northern Arizona school to make the state playoffs as an entire team -- will have to find other players to step up to fill Fockler's soon to be empty shoes.
"We had no seniors this year and next year we'll have four," Bartley said. "We'll be counting on those guys to step up."
The team was down to its last two matches of the season and needed a pair of qualifying scores to reach the state tournament, and Fockler said he went into those last matches knowing he needed to shoot the scores to give the team a chance.
"That's what I did. I played very well in those last couple of matches to help our team get to the state tournament," Fockler said.
As an individual, Fockler finished 17th in the state, and had his personal qualifiers early enough to be able to play with his game a bit during the season.
"Going 5-for-5 in the first five matches was awesome," he said. "I didn't have to stress out and the rest of the matches were about working on my game and getting everything in order to get ready for the state tournament."
Bartley said Fockler's example helped push the team to be its best and added he was a big reason the Panthers got to state as a team.
"The other kids played well but we had no other individual qualifiers with five scores, while Drew had 11," Bartley said. "The next closest player had four."
Fockler said the move to California will help him make leaps and bounds as a golfer, as he wants to continue on to college golf once high school is over.
He won't play in any tournaments for about a month, but after that he'll be back in junior tournaments and playing golf every day to improve his game.
"The move will make it easy to practice and play compared to being in Flagstaff during the winter. It'll be great to get out on the course every day instead of hitting half-shots in my garage and putting on a 7-foot mat," he said.
Bartley added Fockler has a work ethic and dedication that are second to none in high school golf in Flagstaff.
"He's always playing and he's very focused on what he needs to work on," Bartley said. "Any coach would be happy to have him."
Bill Harris can be reached at bharris@azdailysun.com or 556-2251.
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