This week, The Tartan sat down with two golf athletes to talk about their experiences on the women’s and men’s golf teams, respectively.
Alexis Sudjianto, master’s student in Mechanical Engineering, is ranked fifth in the country in her sport. She has been selected for the UAA All-American First team three times during her career at Carnegie Mellon, which, as she explains, is like being in the top 10 players in the country. She was the first player at Carnegie Mellon to be named to this team, which she did for the first time as a first-year. She holds the 18-hole school record as well as the record for Carnegie Mellon’s first hole-in-one in a tournament. She holds two college wins, and has been named UAA MVP and Rookie of the Year. She has been playing golf competitively for 10 years, and her team at Carnegie Mellon has placed second at their National Championship and is ranked No. 1 in the country. She’s passionate about her sport as well as her academics, and has pursued both past her undergraduate graduation here.
Brian Xu, a senior studying business administration who proudly wears his Championship ring, was part of the team that won the National Championship last spring. It was the first UAA win for the men’s golf team in 15 years, and with a 6-shot win over the 2nd place team. He scored top 10 in the National Championship — 65 final, 7 under par, hole out eagle on 18 — and was honored by a visit to the White House with other members of his team. He has also been selected for the UAA All-American Honorable Mention team during his time at Carnegie Mellon. He has been playing competitive golf for 14 years, and plans to continue playing after graduation; he is hoping to pursue a master’s and play for a Division I team to improve his skills. Xu shares a strong sense of camaraderie and community with his team and a dedication to his academic work as well.
Both Sudjianto and Xu expressed that, while they’ve enjoyed being part of the golf team, things aren’t always easy. They typically travel for their tournaments, usually for five days at a time. They fly and drive all over the country and spend hours practicing. While they’re doing that, their classes are still going on.
Sudjianto and Xu shared that finding a balance with academic work is extra challenging with their travel commitments. Navigating exams, projects, and studying while away is stressful, and relies heavily on coordination with professors. “I don’t know how to explain that I’m going to be on a plane for half of this weekend, and I’m going to be on a golf course for the other half of this weekend,” said Xu, explaining that professors often insist that he use his semester drops rather than granting extension. “It would be nice if I could take a couple extra days to actually do the assignment.”
Sudjianto agreed, attributing the frequent inflexibility of faculty to a lack of awareness about the work that athletes do outside of class. “On the syllabus, they always say, ‘Take care of yourself.’ But then the moment you need to take care of yourself, they’re like, ‘Actually, you should have been more prepared for this,’” she said. She expressed gratitude for Josh Centor, the associate vice president of student affairs and the director of athletics, physical education, and recreation for supporting athletes through academic conflicts.
“The most I can do is just accept the fact that I’m going to take a little bit of a hit in other areas of my life in order to keep my athletics up to par,” Xu said “It took me a while to come to terms with that, because I still wanted to be a good student, I still wanted to be a good friend. It’s been a long learning process.” Since the golf teams play throughout the academic year, there are few chances for athletes to rest. They often play during both fall and spring break, as well as during Carnival. They compete in the National Championships after spring finals have ended. In between tournaments, they are always practicing, traveling to their home course about 20 minutes off campus, which Sudjianto says is like a “mental reset.” “That time outside, away from campus is a huge stress reliever for me,” she says. Both agreed that being student athletes has pushed them to develop excellent time management skills, grit, and perseverance against adversity.
As a graduate student, Sudjianto has a history of balancing life, academics, and athletics. “I don’t really know any other way,” she says. Even her graduation was impacted by golf — when the National Championship during her senior year was scheduled, she realized she would not be able to walk at Commencement. “I was really disappointed just because I felt like, through my years, I sacrificed time with friends, I sacrificed time with family — like all I wanted to do was walk across the stage and get handed my diploma,” she says. She recounted how, after realizing she would not be able to be at graduation, Josh Centor and others in athletics worked with Carnegie Mellon to get her diploma released to her early. “They got all my stoles, they got my medal, and they brought it down to Florida. Right after the trophy ceremony,
the assistant athletic director, Kim Kelly, presented me with my diploma, and I just burst out in tears,” she recalls, “They worked really hard to make sure that I still felt special.”
Both Xu and Sudjianto shared an appreciation for the support provided by their coach, Dan Rodgers. Rodgers founded the women’s team nearly 10 years ago, and has been supporting both teams ever since he became the men’s team coach in 2017. Rodgers was named Division III National Coach of the Year once for each team. “He’s wonderful,” Sudjianto said. “He does a really good job managing us and really seeing us as people, and not just as athletes. I think he’s a huge reason for why the program is successful.”
According to Xu, the men’s and women’s teams have a strong relationship with each other and often practice and travel in the same spaces. “We push each other to become better,” he says, “Being close with them motivates us.”
“We’re each other’s biggest fans,” Sudjianto said.
When it comes to the rest of campus, though, both athletes feel that their efforts often go unrecognized by students and faculty. Because the golf teams rarely play in Pittsburgh or at all on campus, other students don’t have the opportunity to watch them play. Some students might not even know that we have a golf team, yet both teams have earned national recognition and are highly ranked in their division.
Xu recounted his team’s return to campus after winning the national championship. “It was one in the morning… and it was two weeks after school ended. The only person who came to meet us when we got to campus was Josh Centor.”
Our culture at Carnegie Mellon is geared away from any focus on college sports. For student athletes, a lack of visibility and engagement with the community can feel demoralizing, and like a denial of the hard work they put in to make themselves better every day. At the same time, many Division III athletes choose schools like Carnegie Mellon precisely because of our strong academic programs. Behind the scenes, they are putting in extra hours to fulfill both their academic and athletic passions. Xu and Sudjianto are incredible examples of students working to excel in all areas of their lives, despite their non-traditional college experience.
“I absolutely am so grateful to be on this team and I could not imagine my experience without this team,” Sudijanto said. “I just can’t imagine it.”
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