Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Men's Golf senior Drew Novara perseveres through injuries
04/22/2016 | 12:00:00 | Men's Golf
By Tom Weber
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Saluki men's golfer Drew Novara knows a thing or two about bad breaks. The senior from nearby Murphysboro has experienced his share of adversity, but after four years at Southern Illinois, will finish as one of the most accomplished players in school history.
His dad, Len Novara, is the athletic director at Murphysboro High School, so sports have always been a major part of Drew's life.
"As soon as I was able to walk, I had some kind of ball in my hand -- basketball, baseball, football," he recalled.
Novara wanted to be a three-sport athlete in high school, but those dreams were shattered when he suffered two freak injuries, a year apart, in which he broke both ankles. His right ankle snapped while playing second base in 7th grade, when a baserunner slid into his leg while he was turning a double play. The following year, he broke his left ankle playing AAU basketball. Doctors suggested he take up golf, a sport with which Novara was only casually acquainted.
So with a hand-me-down set of clubs he played his freshman year at Murphysboro, where he recalls averaging around 90 strokes per round.
"I wasn't that good," he laughed. "I could maybe shoot bogey golf. My high school coach suggested I take lessons."
Novara trained under Nick Mills at The Golf Complex in Paducah and shaved about 10 strokes off his game as a sophomore. He fell in love with the sport, and with some help from former Saluki women's golfer Molly Hudgins at the Future College Golf Association, was able to play in some key tournaments where he was discovered by college coaches.
Among the schools that were interested in Novara were Cincinnati, SIUE and Southern Illinois. SIU head coach Leroy Newton saw him at a tournament and offered him a scholarship.
"It was an opportunity to stay close to home, and I really liked the guys on the team," Novara said. "Jake Erickson was a phenomenal leader my freshman year."
Novara quickly earned a spot in the five-man rotation and has been a rock ever since. He began his senior year with the eighth-best stroke average in school history, and when his career ends later this spring, he will have played the third-most rounds of any golfer at SIU.
Last year, Novara finished second on the team in stroke average (74.50) and was named All-Academic First-Team by the Missouri Valley Conference. He tied the record for best round in school history with a 64 during the final round of the APSU Intercollegiate and was named MVC Men's Golfer of the Week and MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Week. On the year, he recorded three top-10 finishes and shot nine rounds of par-or-better golf.
All signs pointed toward an even better senior year. Novara was crushing the ball last summer. Everything changed one day in August when he was playing a round at Hickory Ridge Golf Course in Carbondale. A golfer launched an errant tee shot that hit Novara's hand, which was resting on the steering wheel of his golf cart, breaking his pinkie finger.
The injury sidelined him for about six weeks and forced him to miss the team's season-opening tournament at Illinois State. When Novara returned to the lineup at the Golfweek Conference Challenge in Iowa in late September, he finished 11-over par and tied for 58th place out of 75 golfers. For a player who was used to finishing in the top 10 or 20 at most tournaments, it was not the type of result he expected. His subsequent performances were up and down, with a solid 13th place at the prestigious LSU David Toms Intercollegiate, but a 57th place showing at the Arizona Intercollegiate.
"In the fall, I think I made a few too many excuses for myself," Novara acknowledged. "If I hit a bad shot, I'd say, `well, if I didn't break my hand, I wouldn't have hit that shot.'"
Novara's highlight of the season so far came in March when he shot a 6-under par to finish tied for third place out of 73 golfers a the UT-Martin Grover Page Classic. He carded back-to-back 68s in the final two rounds for the team's best individual tournament performance of the year so far.
As he looks ahead to next week's MVC Championship in Hutchinson, Kan., Novara reflected on how much he's grown during four years at Southern.
"When I came in as a freshman, I had a bit of a temper," he said. "I used to in high school get mad at officials and blame them for things. With golf, I've learned that you have to grow up and do a reality check, look at yourself and ask what could I have done differently to change the outcome? If you don't want to be stuck behind a tree, don't hit it there. No referee said you have to hit it from behind a tree, while this guy gets to hit it from the middle of the fairway. You can get some tough breaks sometimes, but when you think about it, I hit that shot and there's no one you can blame. You want to blame somebody, but deep down you know there's only one person you can. From a maturity level, I haven't mastered it by any means, but I can recognize a mistake that's on me, and now how do I go forward and turn this around?"
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All nine MVC men's teams will convene in Hutchinson, Kan., for the MVC Men's Golf Championship on Monday-Tuesday, April 25-26. The 54-hole championship will be played at Prairie Dunes Country Club, and the champion will represent the Conference in the NCAA Regionals.The Saluki lineup will feature Novara, Peyton Wilhoit, Brandon Carlson, Matt Greenfield and Luke Gannon. SIU was picked fourth in the pre-tournament poll.
Pre-Tournament Poll
1. Wichita State (9) 81
2. Missouri State 65
3. Illinois State 63
4. Southern Illinois 54
5. Bradley 45
6. UNI 36
7. Evansville 25
8. Drake 24
9. Loyola 12
Players Mentioned
