The Met Golfer - August/September 2010

Mike Miller, David Pastore and Cameron Wilson have all had successful amateur and junior careers, and now look ahead to the beginning steps of their collegiate lives, on and off the golf course. The new “Big Three” in sports may be Bosh, Wade and James, but the Met Area’s own teenage Big Three carved their own paths, and will now take their talents to some of the best golf programs and academic institutions in the country.

The Stanford University-bound Wilson, who plays out of Shorehaven Golf Club in Norwalk, Conn., is one of the top-ranked junior golfers in the country. He was the standout player of any age in the Met Area in 2009,

“Stanford was the only place I wanted to be.
It had everything I wanted—the best weather,
best facility, and is a great school.” —Cameron Wilson

as he won the Carter Cup, Met Amateur and was named the MGA Player of the Year. From an early age, Wilson had caught the eyes and the attention of coaches from around the country, but according to him, only one school stood out. “From the beginning,” Wilson says, “Stanford was the only place I wanted to be. It had everything I wanted— the best weather, best facility, and is a great school. There were no other schools in contention.”

Q: Have you started shopping for college?

Cameron: No.

Mike: Oh man, my mom has bought everything. I already have three blankets that say Penn State.

Dave: I haven’t gotten anything.

College Life: Q&A with the Big Three

The recruiting process for Wilson picked
up in the fall of his junior year at St. Luke’s in
New Canaan, Conn., when college coaches
were able to contact players directly. This led
to a visit to Palo Alto that November, and, after
another visit in March of 2009, he was ready
to commit. Wilson made a verbal commitment
by May, and in November of that same year,
he signed his national letter of intent. “I’m
really looking forward to the weather,” says
Wilson, who would spend Met Area winters
playing on his high school squash team. “I
don’t want to see snow, and Stanford is a place
where I can wear shorts all year, and not just
for golf. It’s going to be awesome.”
Wilson will join a Cardinal golf program
that finished fourth in the Golfweek/Sagarin
Ratings for 2010 and is a perennial contender
for a national championship. Not to mention,
an alumni group led by golfing greats such as
Tom Watson and Tiger Woods, and locally,
Friar’s Head owner Ken Bakst, who talked with
Wilson about Stanford during the 2008 Met
Amateur at the Long Island club. And who
knows, in twenty years there may very well be
a triumvirate of alumni Cardinal “W’s” with
major championship W’s.

Similar to Wilson, Pastore, the 2010 Carter Cup and two-time Met Junior champion who plays out of Griff Harris in Greenwich, Conn., had one school on his radar for a long time. “Bowen Sargent, the University of Virginia coach, was the first coach to contact me.”

Q: Are you guys ready for dorm life?
Cameron: I would rather have my own
bathroom, but it’s not that big of a
problem, I’m middle of the road when it
comes to cleanliness.
Mike: I’m a neat freak, so I don’t know; we
will see how it goes. On my recruiting trip
my host had a two-week old bowl of
cereal sitting in the corner of the room.
Dave: I like to have things in order but I’m
not too much of a neat freak.

Dave: I’m bringing my Xbox.

Mike: Really? My mom won’t let me.

Q: Do you play video games? Mike and Dave: Xbox Live, Call of Duty. Cameron: I don’t play video games; I won’t have time for them.

Q: Do you have an idea of what you
may want to major in?
Cameron: Good question [smiles].
Mike: I was looking toward business, but
now I’m leaning towards Liberal Arts with
a business minor.
Dave: I am interested in business but may
do graduate school for business; we will
see where things go.

Q: What about dining hall food? Cameron: I am looking forward to the dessert buffet and all you can eat dessert. Dave: They have an athletic cafeteria in the John Paul Jones arena where Gatorade is on tap.