Jon Turcott doesn’t walk around campus seeing fellow students wear his jersey like other UW athletes such as Brooks Bollinger, Lee Evans or Kirk Penney. Chances are, many UW students do not have a clue as to who Jon Turcott is.
To bring you up to par, Turcott is a senior on the UW men’s golf team. And when it comes to the media, glamour and fame, Turcott isn’t asking for it. He just wants to play golf.
“I’m not worried about it too much. The golfers in [Madison] keep track of us. We have our fans,” said Turcott.
In his college career, Jon has a myriad of honors and feats. As a sophomore, he finished second on the team with a scoring average of 74.38 and was the top Badger golfer in three tournaments. In his junior campaign, Turcott maintained the highest scoring average on the UW team at 73.87. He was the top UW golfer in 8 of 10 tournaments he played in.
While Jon’s game continued on an upswing entering his senior year, he chose to redshirt the year, working even harder to become a better golfer. “It was [going to] take me five years to graduate anyway. I’m taking a year off to get an extra year of practice and instruction,” said Turcott.
One of Turcott’s biggest fans is his father. At the age of four, his father introduced him to the game of golf. By age 11, Jon scored in the 70s. At age 14, he broke the 60s for the first time. It seemed Turcott was destined for success in a sport he had grown to love.
In high school, Jon was a three-time first-team all-state selection at Middleton. He was the WIAA state golf champion as a sophomore and finished sixth overall in the 1999 Wisconsin State Amateur Tournament. Deciding to stay close to home, Turcott chose to attend UW to play golf and major in agricultural business management.
For the past three seasons, Turcott has been a major part of the UW golf program under the guidance of Coach Dennis Tiziani. According to Turcott, the veteran head coach has had a tremendous impact on his game and also serves as a large influence on his life.
“He’s such a good instructor and great guy. You can just go to him, even if it’s not about golf. We’re friends,” said Turcott.
Without Turcott in the lineup, the UW golf team is extremely young. Tiziani’s squad includes just one senior, a junior, six sophomores and two freshmen. Despite the inexperienced team, Turcott remains optimistic about this season.
“They’re all getting experience now, which is good,” he said. “Our team’s pretty young. But next year, we’ll be a pretty good team.”
Although Turcott is primarily focused on academics and golf, he considers himself a normal college student. Besides golf, Turcott enjoys fishing, hunting and playing tennis. In addition, he is a video-game guru, and his favorite game is, unsurprisingly, Tiger Woods golf.
Even though Turcott enjoys the virtual-reality opportunity to beat Tiger Woods, it’s not something he is satisfied with as a golfer himself. Rather, when asked who his favorite professional golfer was, Turcott answered, “Well, Tiger [Woods], of course. It’s not so much liking Tiger. It’s more that I want to beat him.”
Turcott’s dream of one day beating the No. 1 golfer in the world is a long-term goal that he knows will be extremely difficult. The journey to the PGA Tour presents an uncertain path where scores of aspiring golfers like Turcott have fallen short, yielding disappointment and grief. However, Turcott is certain of one thing: He has one more year of eligibility left at UW, where he plans to improve upon his weaknesses and prepare himself for the world after college.
For Turcott, golf has been the main constant in his life. Making it to the PGA Tour may seem far away, but for Turcott, he’s just taking one day at a time, one round of golf at a time.
