Ottumwa -- Three sophomore members of this year's Indian Hills golf team signed letters of intent to attend Division I schools after they are done competing for the Warriors next spring. Jackson Bugdalski is going to the University of Oklahoma, Jakub Bares is headed to Arkansas State University and Eric Gilpin will attend Winthrop University.
Bugdalski enjoyed a stellar freshman campaign at IHCC, winning the Phil Mickelson Award as the most outstanding freshman in NJCAA Division I, and was named to the Ping All-District team, Ping All-American 1st team, NJCAA Division I All-Freshman team and the All-Nicklaus team by the Golf Coaches Association of America. He was also a finalist for the 2016 NJCAA Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year award and was selected to the academic All-Region list. The native of Kings Langley, New South Wales, Australia had a stroke average of 71.0 for the fall season and lowered that to 70.45 for the spring while winning a total of five tournaments. This past fall, as a soph, Bugdalski fashioned a stroke average of 71.2 for nine rounds and finished in the top three in all four tourneys he played.
"I like the fact that Oklahoma is one of the top eight schools in the country for golf," the future Sooner said. "Their facilities are great and I'm definitely excited to be going to a great school for athletics and to a large university."
From Vrchlabi, Czech Republic, Bares has played in every tournament during his IHCC career. He won the Bent Tree Intercollegiate tourney in the fall as a freshman when his stroke average was 71.3. During the spring, his best finish was a runnerup in the Lindenwood Invitational and he had a stroke average of 72.95. Bares was an honorable mention All-American, a first-team All-District choice and a semifinalist for the Jack Nicklaus Player of the Year award. He also claimed a spot on the academic All-Region team. At Arkansas State, Bares will play for former IHCC coach Mike Hagen and, he says, that's one of the main reasons he chose ASU. "I wanted to find a school in the south that had good academics and good competition," Bares said. "Arkansas State has been very successful under coach Hagen and I felt really comfortable when I visited there."
Gilpin is from Bloomington, Illinois and is described by his coach, Rob Murray, as "a rock in the lineup" as he has competed in all 16 tournaments at IHCC. His stroke average was 74.7 for a dozen rounds in the fall season as a freshman, 75.3 during the spring when he had four top-seven finishes, and 73.3 in fall 2016. Gilpin placed in the top 10 in all five meets in the fall and capped the campaign with a solid third-place finish in the NJCAA Fall National Preview. As a freshman, he received the Pinnacle Award for Academic Excellence from the NJCAA for his 4.0 GPA and also made the academic All-Region list.
"I felt Winthrop was the best school that offered me a scholarship opportunity," Gilpin explained. "It's a beautiful place and I'm excited it academically and athletically. Now, Jackson and Jakub and I can focus on winning a national championship next spring with our college choices out of the way."