| | Published June 8th, 2011
| Freshman Golfer is One to Watch
| | By Marissa Harnett |  | | Photo provided
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Imagine watching a five year old boy practice chip shots out of a bunker for five and a half hours while his sister plays in a golf tournament. Child prodigy or just bored? While the latter may contain some truth, the former is likely closer to the truth in the case of Will Breuckner. A freshman at Acalanes High School, he recalls playing golf ever since he could walk. "I always had a club in my hand" he remembers.
By the time he was eight, he was playing in tournaments. Now at age fourteen, tournament play is routine. Unless its winter and he's taking a break to play basketball, Breuckner devotes his time to golf and summer is the biggest tournament season. There isn't much about golf that he doesn't love. "You meet great people...It's new every time... you get to play in a beautiful setting."
Looking at Breuckner's record he has little reason not to love his chosen sport. Just this year as a mere freshman, he captured the DFAL title followed by the NCS qualifier and then went on to win the NCS title. He was named MVP of DFAL and was identified as one of the top 100 athletes of the East Bay.
He has enjoyed high school play. "(It was) just incredibly great. Tim Scott is the best coach in northern California...the Acalanes team is (both) hilarious and supportive." He added that it "felt awesome" to have such an impact at such a young age at the high school level. He doesn't feel a lot of pressure since he's "just" a freshman.
Breuckner says he's never had a bad experience playing golf. For many, golf can be extremely frustrating when one's game just isn't up to, well, par. Even when pressed, though, he maintains that he never gets frustrated. "Golf is a fun life."
Breuckner aims to continue the fun at the college level perhaps in golf mecca North Carolina. He hopes to capture a scholarship before going on to play on the PGA tour. That would be his ideal life, but if a pro career doesn't materialize, Breuckner would at least like to have a career relating to golf in some way.
If Breuckner's coach, Tim Scott, can see the future, he will be playing on the PGA tour someday. "He's quite the golfer. He's just absolutely one of the best golfers, I think, in the state of California." Scott says simply. In his twenty four years coaching at Acalanes, Scott says, he's never seen anyone as good as Brueckner; let alone a freshman. Along with a "super supportive" family, Scott attributes Brueckner's dedication, tremendous work ethic, and great hand-eye coordination for his success. "He works all the time very hard on his game." Breuckner agrees that, although much of golf comes naturally, he still has to work on it everyday especially because he is still growing requiring him to make necessary adjustments to his game.
Without hesitation Breuckner declared his favorite place to play as Cypress Point in Pebble Beach - the 16th hole with its island green to be exact. But he has his sights set on Augusta National - home of the elite Masters tournament - as a future dream course to play. And from the sounds of it, the world may even see his name on the leader board, and perhaps, see him practice his chip shots.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA