The Spire

Aiden Konold ’27

Staff Writer

This past spring, the Holy Cross men’s golf team graduated three seniors: Christian Emmerich, Henry Horgan, and Juan Suau. This year’s team is led by juniors Grant Passi, Nolan Schuerman, and team captain Owen Egan, the team’s three eldest members. Each has played a huge role in developing the underclassmen on the team. 

“It’s super weird — going from last year we had three seniors, and then all of a sudden I’m a junior, but I’m basically a senior on the team because we’re upperclassmen,” Egan said. “It definitely felt a little different when we got here.” 

Egan, who began his college golf career at Holy Cross two years ago, grew up with little connection to the game. Growing up, Egan played baseball and soccer, even playing soccer over golf his freshman year at Winchester High School in Winchester, Massachusetts. It wasn’t until one of Egan’s friends, who was a great junior golfer and now plays college golf at the University of Connecticut, introduced him to the game that his interest in pursuing the sport further really took off.  

The summer after his freshman year, Egan got hooked, playing in a lot of junior golf tournaments over the summer. By his junior year of high school in 2019, Egan earned a fourth-place finish in the Massachusetts Division II State Golf Championship, leading Winchester High School to win states. In 2020, Egan became the youngest to ever win the 2020 Men’s Championship at Winchester Country Club. In a list of accomplishments, Egan’s final swing of his high school golf career resulted in a hole-in-one. 

Egan’s game attracted the attention of several college programs, including Trinity and Williams, though his sights were quickly set on Holy Cross after speaking to a Holy Cross golf alum who plays at his home course in Winchester.

“I asked him questions about it. It seemed right up my alley — it’s only an hour away from my house in Winchester,” Egan said. “I wanted somewhere close and it’s a great academic school, so it fit the criteria pretty well.”

Upon setting foot on Mount Saint James to begin his freshman year two falls ago, Egan made an immediate impact on and off the course. In his freshman season, Egan finished tenth in the Patriot League Championships. Over the course of his freshman and sophomore years, he played in forty-eight of fifty-seven possible rounds and was selected to the Patriot League Honor Roll. 

This summer, the Holy Cross Director of Golf, Steve Napoli, named Egan the golf team’s captain. “Since arriving at Holy Cross as a freshman, Owen Egan has been a leader on the golf course, in the classroom, and for his teammates,” Napoli said. “He thrives under pressure, has a calm demeanor, and possesses wisdom beyond his years. Though he will captain a young team, he has earned the respect of our returning players and will have a positive influence on our incoming freshmen.” 

As a team captain, Egan strives to create an environment in which other members of the team feel comfortable coming to him with any questions they may have. “I like showing them the ropes when it comes to trying to balance academics with golf,” Egan said, “so kind of showing them and taking that leadership role is important.” 

Egan’s classroom where he teaches the underclassmen is on the golf course. On the final day at the UConn Invitational at Great Horse, Egan sat in a tie for thirty-second place, shooting 152 (+8) over the first two days. In his third round, though, he played exceptionally well, shooting a 68 (-4), which led him to finish in a tie for twelfth place. “I was hitting the ball pretty good the three days. I think the second day I actually hit the ball the best,” Egan said. “My putts were close, but they weren’t going in. The last day, I felt like every putt I looked at was going in, which is a super good feeling because then you don’t have to rely on ball striking as much and you can kind of let your short game do the work. [It] was pretty cool, and to be able to put a good round together and help my team out on the final day was really important.” 

One week later, Holy Cross finished sixth out of the nineteen teams at the Bucknell Invitational. “The freshman class — they’re super good golfers,” Egan said. “They all had really good summers, so we knew we were going to be really competitive [this year]. They’re super talented, and they’re going to do some pretty special things over the next three years.” 

Led by Passi, Schuerman, and Egan, as well as aided by the exceptional play of the underclassmen, the Holy Cross Men’s golf team will be a force to be reckoned with for years to come.