University of Minnesota Athletics
Longbella Tees Off on a New Test
12/15/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Golf is in Thomas Longbella’s blood.
He first picked up a club when he was three and played around with his family. His brother, Andrew, played golf at St. John’s University and his father was a golf coach at a local high school.
“I followed in my brother’s path,” Longbella said. “I grew up playing. My whole family played golf.”
As Longbella grew up, he started competing more and more with his dad and brother. One of his biggest goals as child was simple: beat his dad.
“It used to be really competitive when I was about 10,” he said
Longbella continued to grow as a competitor and eventually, he accomplished his goal.
“I was about 11 when I beat my dad,” he said. “Once I beat my dad, he hasn’t really beat me since. Every once in a while he would get close but he never beat me.”
The duo continued to duel on the golf course but his next rival proved to be just as big a challenge; his brother Andrew. St. John’s won a national championship with Andrew’s help. Fresh off his senior year, Andrew played some amateur tournaments and his game remained in good shape.
“I was 13 and I remember vividly beating him by one shot,” Thomas said. “I was so happy. I didn’t say anything to him. He didn’t even notice. I was keeping track of his score and my score because I wanted to beat him. He didn’t play very well that day and I shot 39. He shot 40. That was a big day in my career.”
After conquering his two biggest challenges, Longbella turned his attention to high school golf.
“It was a pretty easy transition. There were two other guys in my conference who went on to play Division I golf,” he said. “It was really just us three who would take the top three spots in tournaments.”
Longbella finished up high school and arrived at the University of Minnesota to face his biggest challenge yet. This time, he did not have to tackle the test of college golf alone.
“For me to be on a competitive golf team and consistently practice with good guys is a huge benefit to my game,” he said. “Having somebody there to beat me makes me want to get better and I never really had that in high school. Every single day, somebody is there to beat you and they have the ability to.”
In high school, Longbella was the top competitor, hardest worker and the man to beat each week. But now that he is playing on another level, his teammates are there to motivate him.
“I have guys who do more than I do,” Longbella said. “I always have people to motivate me.”
Longbella has shown this motivation through his performance on the course, quickly becoming one of the Gophers top players. He finished the fall season pacing the team in scoring average at 71.33 and placed in the top 20 three times.
Perhaps the pinnacle of his season came in Hawai’i at the Ka’anapali Classic. He shot the second-lowest score in Minnesota history, a bogey-free 63.
“I would like to say it was an amazing round,” he said. “I never thought I was having the day of my life. It was just one of those days where everything went right. I got down to the last three holes and realized I was 6 under and could shoot a pretty good round. It was just a fun round all day.”
Going into the spring, Longbella knows the team has a lot of work to do.
“Our expectations are pretty high as a team,” the freshman said. “I think we really have a chance to boost or ranking and prove that we have a solid 14 guys on our team.”
Players Mentioned
