Blazers’ senior golfer, the reigning PIAA champ and LNP Golfer of the Year, earns scholarship to Division 1 program; hear audio Podcast interview of Denlinger chatting about his decision here. Click on ‘play’ button below. You can also download the Podcast and play it on your favorite mp3 device by clicking here.
JEFFREY REINHART jreinhart@LNPnews.com
One of the most decorated local junior golfers in Lancaster County has made his college decision.
Reigning PIAA champ David Denlinger is packing up his clubs and heading south.
Lancaster Mennonite’s senior, who won the Lanco Junior championship last summer, and is a multiple winner in junior circuits in and out of the county, has accepted a scholarship offer to continue his academic career and play golf for Division 1 Charleston Southern University.
CSU competes in the Big South Conference, along with Coastal Carolina, Gardner-Webb, High Point, Liberty, Presbyterian, Radford, North Carolina-Asheville, Virginia Military Institute and Winthrop.
Former Hempfield standout Shawn Hall, who now plays professionally, is a CSU grad.
And now Denlinger, another one of the young guns in Lancaster golf circles, will head to South Carolina and play for coach Mike Wilson, who recently took over as the men’s golf coach after coaching the Buccaneers’ women’s program since 2007.
Denlinger, the reigning Lancaster Newspapers Golfer of the Year, picked CSU over Liberty, one of the Buccaneers’ rivals. He said he liked both colleges because they are Division 1 programs and they are Christian schools.
In the end, Denlinger went with CSU.
“We went down for a visit right after Christmas, and I really liked what I saw,” he said. “We met with the coach and we talked for about two hours. I really liked him. And he gave us a (scholarship) offer during that meeting. It was nice to hear that.”
Denlinger did not receive a full athletic scholarship, but he said it was an offer he couldn’t refuse.
Denlinger said CSU began recruiting him the day after he won the state championship, when he posted a two-day 70-74-144 to win by a stroke over Erie Cathedral Prep’s Gregor Orlando – the defending PIAA champ — and Council Rock North’s Brandon Dalinka at Heritage Hills in York.
Denlinger holed a 10-foot par putt on the 36th hole to win the title.
“I still can’t believe I won that,” he said. “It was pretty surreal.”
Denlinger became the first Lancaster County boys’ golfer to win an individual state title since Ephrata’s Brad Hertzog won in 1988. Manheim Township’s Sara Bejgrowicz won the girls’ individual state title in 2006.
“Hopefully some of that confidence carries over into the summer and into college,” Denlinger said. “That’s something to build on.”
Denlinger had a successful senior season playing for the Blazers. He shot a sizzling 66 to win the season-opening “Big O” non-league tournament at Overlook to get his season off on the right foot. He followed that up by finishing in a tie for third place in the L-L League championship; alone in third in the District 3 championship at Briarwood in York; and alone in fifth in the Eastern Regional championship at Golden Oaks in Fleetwood before winning state gold.
Denlinger, who finished 19th in the state in his sophomore season, got to play for his dad, multiple Lanco champ Deryl Denlinger, who is Mennonite’s head coach. And he teamed with one of his best friends, Mennonite senior and multiple junior champ Matt Burkhart, to form one of the best 1-2 punches in the L-L League.
Now Denlinger will take his game to CSU.
“My goal is to make the top five,” he said. “I’d definitely like to go down there and play right away and prove myself.”
Denlinger said he might like to study business in college. And once his days at CSU are over, turning pro could be in the cards.
“That’s kind of like a dream for me,” he said of turning pro one day. “I’m a realistic kind of person. I know that if that’s in my future, I’ll have to work really hard for that in college. Whatever happens, happens. I’m going to work hard no matter what. But if my game gets to that level, it’ll definitely be an option.”
