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Golf :
From Tandil to USA |
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by Bruno Buccolo |
My
name is Bruno Buccolo, a 20-year-old guy native from Tandil,
Argentina. I was born in Buenos Aires but my family and I
moved to Tandil when I was really young; I think it was when
I was 2. I started playing golf in Tandil when I was 10 years
old. I just went to the golf club because my dad, Juan Buccolo,
started playing this sport and I followed him. My first coach
was Eduardo Dequeli, but after a few months, I started taking
golf classes with Atilio Soto, who is still my coach today,
and above all, a really good friend.
Playing golf during High School was kind of hard, because
all my friends played soccer or rugby, but I liked golf so
much that I didn't care what they said to me. When I was 14
I started playing national tournaments. First, I used to go
to those tournaments just for fun, but after a few years I
started realizing that I could be good in Argentina, so I
started practicing really hard for that. When I was 17, I
was 3rd. in the national ranking for guys under 18 years old.
This year, I also played the Junior Golf World Cup in Japan.
After that, a new era began: playing in the real national
ranking, where all the best players in the country compete.
The first year, I didn't play that good but I finished 8th.
In the second year, I played really good and I finished third,
and I had the possibility of traveling to a couple of international
tournaments representing my country. In one of those tournaments,
I met a guy from Uruguay, Juan Liazarralde that was studying
and playing golf in a university in the United States.
Through him, I came to the United States and entered the Oklahoma
Christian University, where I'm studying now. I finished my
first year of school a couple of days ago and I'm really happy
to be here. Of course, it's hard to come to another country,
to integrate with another culture, and to leave your own friends
and family to start the university in the States, but I will
never regret what I'm doing. I have to thank God for this
possibility, because it's something that it's helping me a
lot in both ways: golf and studies.
Being here is awesome. I go to classes in the morning and
practice golf in the afternoon. We play in really good golf
courses and above all, the competition is much harder than
in Argentina. After my first year, I ranked 130 in all the
country with a score average of 73.2. I won an important tournament
and I will be qualifying for the US Open in June. I will be
here in the States until I graduate; I hope it will take only
3 more years. After that, I guess I will try to play professional
golf. This is a dream that I have always had since I started
playing golf, and I will work very hard to try to be as good
as the best players in the world.
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