WPGA College Connection: Turowski carrying strong West Penn summer to WVU
By Josh Rowntree, Director of Communications • October 17, 2024
Following his victory at this summer’s West Penn Junior Championship, Nick Turowski shared his mentality towards competitive golf.
“You either win, or you learn,” said Turowski who, on that day, was able to accomplish both.
A couple of months later and Turowski, now a freshman at West Virginia, is still using that approach to handle the ups and downs presented by the game — particularly to a young player.
In just the second competition of his collegiate career, Turowski was thrust into the Mountaineers’ starting lineup at West Virginia’s Nemacolin Collegiate Invitational.
Turowski shot 21-over in the three-round competition, placing 61st.
The next day, the realities of being a freshman in high level college golf set in. He was out of the lineup as West Virginia got ready to compete in the Big 12 Match Play Championship in Hockley, Texas.
“There were emotions with being in your first lineup,” said Turowski. “And then, pretty quickly, in Big 12 Match Play, I was back out of the lineup. It went from a nice feeling to, the next day, I’m out of the lineup and being sent to Sunnehanna.”
Turowski couldn’t complain too much. There are worse places to play a secondary competition than Sunnehanna Country Club in Johnstown — one of the region’s most beloved courses — as it hosted Saint Francis University’s Red Flash Invitational.
The result for Turowski? A 1-under score, a four-shot victory — his first as a collegiate player — and the perfect way to ease the disappointment from falling out of the lineup.
“That was very, very special,” he said. “I kind of had to take a step back and take myself out of the situation and be like, ‘what would a good player learn from this?’ I had to take advantage of the opportunity I was given to play.”
Turowski isn’t exactly a stranger to success in 2024. He took the WPGA Junior title in June with a four-stroke victory at Shannopin. He tied for fifth in the 124th West Penn Amateur Championship and was the top qualifier at Quicksilver Golf Course in the U.S. Junior Amateur sectional qualifying round.
“My play in the summer was very important leading into college golf,” Turowski said. “I played in a lot of tournaments this summer. Playing a lot of summer golf got me ready for college golf. In qualifying for tournaments, I felt very well prepared."
But, as he experienced at Nemacolin, progress can be a winding road at times. After cruising through the Quicksilver qualifier, Turowski struggled at Oakland Hills in the U.S. Junior Amateur, shooting 162 over the two rounds. Still, he found a way to take a lesson out of the disappointment.
“I learned that sometimes this game isn’t as easy as it feels some days,” Turowski said. “At Quicksilver, I was bogey free, had seven birdies, shot a 65. I was like, ‘oh, golf is easy.’ I qualify, go to the tournament and shoot a pair of 81’s.
“I felt like I wasn’t really doing anything that different. But I learned that golf is a crazy game, and I have to ride with the highs and the lows. I can’t put all my purpose into one round of golf. I have to look at it on a much bigger scale.”
Now that he’s in Morgantown, perspective has become an important word for the Penn-Trafford graduate. He’s on a team competing at the highest level of college golf, and he’s soaking in every experience in hopes to achieve some lofty goals.
“I’m learning a lot from the seniors here at WVU,” he said. “I knew some of them when they were freshmen and now they’re the seniors and I’m learning from them. I’m seeing how their maturity levels have changed and how their golf games are right now.
“Junior golf, there’s levels. Same with college golf, professional golf, amateur golf. But, at the end of the day, it’s still just golf. I’m playing 18 holes. I’m trying to get the ball in the hole in the least amount of tries.”
Looking ahead, Turowksi will continue to work on his craft as he progresses into the off-time between the fall and spring portions of the season, while also settling into early life as a college student. He’ll do so having learned several valuable lessons, both through his successes on Western Pennsylvania courses in 2024, and through the learning that he values so much.
“In that first event at Nemacolin, I was in the lineup and thought it was something bigger,” he said. “But it’s just golf at the end of the day. I’m just learning a lot from the older guys here. And I’m excited to see how good I can get.”
For media inquiries, please contact WPGA Director of Communications Josh Rowntree.
About the WPGA
Founded in 1899, the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association is the steward of amateur golf in the region. Started by five Member Clubs, the association now has nearly 200 Member Clubs and 34,000 members. The WPGA conducts 14 individual competitions and 10 team events, and administers the WPGA Scholarship Fund and Western Pennsylvania Golf Hall of Fame.