University of Minnesota Athletics
Get to Know: William Leaf
3/11/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
March 11, 2015
GS: As a Minnesota native, how does it feel to represent the Maroon and Gold?
GS: You went on the first two road trips of the spring season. What was it like being at the Big Ten Match Play and Puerto Rico Classic?
GS: Did the team get to do anything fun in Puerto Rico when you weren't on the course?
GS: Which Twin Cities area courses are your favorite to play?
GS: With the lineup changing so often this season, has practice been pretty competitive?
GS: Do you have any favorite pro players to follow?
GS: What do you like to do off the course?
GS: You set some 3-point shooting records in high school. Do you like to throw up some long-range shots when you get in the gym?
GS: Will you fill out an NCAA Tournament bracket on Selection Sunday?
GS: What are you looking forward to the rest of your first season with the Gophers?
William Leaf (Winona, Minn.) started his college career at SIU Edwardsville before transferring back to his home state for his sophomore year. We caught up with him after his first two road trips with the team.
GopherSports: How did you decide to transfer to the U of M?
William Leaf: Playing at Minnesota has been something I have always wanted, and to compete at the Big Ten level was an opportunity I saw to help myself grow as a player.
GS: As a Minnesota native, how does it feel to represent the Maroon and Gold?
WL: It's a dream come true. Growing up playing this game in Minnesota, it's always been vision and goal of mine.
GS: You went on the first two road trips of the spring season. What was it like being at the Big Ten Match Play and Puerto Rico Classic?
WL: It was a lot of fun. It was a great experience--good to get the nerves going again. Standing on that first tee kind of makes it a reality for you that you're there and it's time to compete. It was a great feeling.
GS: Did the team get to do anything fun in Puerto Rico when you weren't on the course?
WL: We got to spend a lot of time on the beach. I'd never been to Puerto Rico before, so that was a great experience, especially being in February. We're very lucky to be able to do that and play in such a great tournament in Puerto Rico.
GS: Which Twin Cities area courses are your favorite to play?
WL: There's a lot of great courses. I love our home course where we have the Gopher Invitational, Windsong Farm. I really like Minneapolis Golf Club. I'd say those are my two favorites so far.
WL: They're great. They give us a ton of opportunities. The experience that they give us overall is great. Going down to Puerto Rico, they made the experience something that I'll never forget. College golf with them is definitely a privilege, and it's an honor to be able to represent them every time we tee it up.
GS: With the lineup changing so often this season, has practice been pretty competitive?
WL: It is, with our young team, and we have a lot of talent. It's very competitive in the qualifiers. We're all kind of fighting to solidify spots, and it's great for us. We can already have that competition in practice transitioning into tournaments. It's really good for us.
GS: Do you have any favorite pro players to follow?
WL: Mine's pretty unique. I love Angel Cabrera. I love that he kind of just shows up in the big tournaments when he needs to. He shows his competitiveness, and I love his demeanor on the golf course.
GS: What do you like to do off the course?
WL: I love basketball. I love to shoot hoops. I love to watch sports, especially now coming up on March Madness. I'm big into that, and I love to watch golf. Outside of that, I love hanging with the teammates and just relaxing.
GS: You set some 3-point shooting records in high school. Do you like to throw up some long-range shots when you get in the gym?
WL: I do. Some guys and I go downstairs (in Bierman) and shoot around for a little bit.
GS: Will you fill out an NCAA Tournament bracket on Selection Sunday?
WL: Yes. Of course. That's big. I do it every year. I fill out a lot of them. We do some fun things with my family, too. We just see who can have the best one, and probably some of the guys on the team will compete on that. We're all competitive.
GS: What are you looking forward to the rest of your first season with the Gophers?
WL: We're going to have a really strong finish. We're all getting to where we want to be now. Like I said earlier, we're young, but I think that's starting to kind of wear off and we're really seeing our games come around now that we're getting outside more and the rust is coming off from the winter. We're looking to produce a really good finish.
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