This is the fourth piece in a multi-part series on Hillsdale College student-athletes in spring sports that lost their senior season in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and chose to take advantage of the extra eligibility granted by the NCAA waiver after the cancellation of the 2020 spring season to return to Hillsdale for an additional year. Look for more entries in the series on Wednesdays throughout the next two months.
Between a canceled season and a canceled internship, George Roberts decided to take advantage of an extra year of eligibility with the Hillsdale College golf team.
Roberts was on the road with his team in March when news came down that his senior season had been brought to a premature end by the Covid-19 pandemic
"It was confusing, very confusing," Roberts said. "At the time we were in Pinehurst, North Carolina and five of us were traveling through Kentucky for a tournament. Then Coach Thompson got a call that we had to travel back to Hillsdale."
When he and his teammates returned, they quarantined together for two weeks before leaving campus for the semester. For Roberts, he thought he'd be leaving campus for good.
"I thought, 'You know what, I've had a good four years here, I'm not sure if I'm going to come back," he said. "There were a lot of mixed emotions. We didn't know what was going on in the world, let alone with the golf team."
To add to Roberts' confusion, his post-graduation plans began to crumble as well. As an international student from Hampshire, England, he wasn't even sure which country he would end up in long-term.
"I had an internship and a few leads in America. My internship was in the Metro Detroit area, but that all got canceled in March. After that, it was like my summer was wide open," he said. "I stayed with Drew [Gandy] at his house in Midland, Michigan, until the end of May. Then I went home and spent just under three months there."
By mid-April, Roberts began to reconsider his options.
"I seriously started thinking about it. The boys were throwing it around as soon as we went into quarantine," Roberts said. "I had countless conversations with (Hillsdale College about) financial aid and (with) my coaches, and they kind of wanted me back."
And that's just what he did.
"There was nothing set in stone as far as a job goes. Graduation itself wasn't looking like it was going to take place either," he said. "I came to the realization that that wasn't how I wanted my college career to come to an end."
Roberts returned this fall with a hunger for improvement and some big goals. He said he wasn't satisfied with how he performed last season, at least what he had of it, and would like to be able to help his team more.
"I didn't finish too strong last year, so that's given me more will-power to not want to leave any shots left on the course," he said. "I'd like to get a tournament win, that'd be a nice thing to achieve that I didn't achieve in my four years. And I'd like to help really bring the team up and see us reach regionals and nationals."
Roberts got a taste of what it's like to make it to the regional level during his junior year (the 2018-19 season), which was the first time in the program's history. He'd like to get back to that and even beyond.
So far, things have been playing out exactly as Roberts had hoped. In four events during the fall portion of Hillsdale's schedule, Roberts has earned three top-10 finishes, with two of those finishes in the top-five, including a runner-up finish at the Kyle Ryman Memorial Invite on Oct. 5 and 6 in Tiffin, OH.
That's a huge breakthrough for Roberts, who's been a key part of the Hillsdale lineup for several seasons but had never consistently put himself near the top of the leaderboard individually before this season. As a team, the Chargers also finished third or better in all four events and look like a strong contender in the Midwest Region when play resumes in the spring.
Off the course, Roberts is striving for just as much. He, like many of his other fellow fifth-year seniors, is making the most of this extra time and adding more to his degree.
"I'm a finance major with a math minor. Now I'm adding an accounting minor," he said. "I want to go in to investment banking and anything in the active financial side of things."
With the added minor and extra classes, Roberts said things don't feel too different. He's still challenged in the classroom and is working toward becoming an even more well-rounded student.
"Honestly, I don't really think about it until I actually think about it," he said of being here for an extra year. "I just do my normal routine, go to class, study in the library, and practice golf. And we're basically the same golf team. With Ryan [Zetwick] being here, it just feels like another year."
Zetwick is a classmate of Roberts', so the team only graduated one member from the class of 2020 last year, Sutton Dunwoodie. Because of this familiar team setting, Roberts said he doesn't feel like the dynamic has changed, but he just wants to keep helping the team succeed.
"I don't really feel like I'm taking any more leadership on the team, I'm just trying to offer my golfing abilities," Roberts said.
Written by Calli Townsend