By Jesse Welte
Terrance Williams, Brian Brohm, Derek Fathauer—chances are of the three names, many students will only recognize the first two. However, all three are big time sports players at the University of Louisville.
Fathauer is a senior on U of L men’s golf team. He has excelled in his sport for the past three years, helping the golf team reach new heights the university has never seen before while setting records along the way.
While both T-Will and Brohm receive mass amounts of national fanfare and attention, few sports fans at U of L even know who Fathauer is. This lack of attention would bother many athletes, but Fathauer doesn’t let it affect his mind set, or his game play.
“It is no big deal,” Fathauer said. “You wouldn’t expect anyone to be a big star on the golf team. It doesn’t matter to me. My friends and family know how I’m doing and that’s all I care about.”
As a freshman, Fathauer was ranked No. 6 newcomer in the country and led the team in stroke average. He posted six top 10 finishes. As a sophomore, he was named a PING All-Region selection and to the first team All-Big East. Fathauer collected seven more top 10 finishes and once again led the team in stroke average.
This season, Fathauer advanced to the quarterfinals at the U.S. Amateur tournament which took place in August. In the season opener, his 10th place finish helped the team to a fifth place finish at the Inverness Intercollegiate tournament in Toledo, Ohio. His twin brother Daryl finished in 50th place overall.
What is unique about Derek is he is able to share in his success with Daryl. Both played together at Martin County High School in Florida. They both feed off each other’s competitiveness to play at a high level of play, so it only made sense for both of them to attend U of L to play golf at the collegiate level.
“It’s the same as it was in high school, except now we’re away from home,” Derek said. “We can do what we want and we have to pay the bills, but everything is the same as it was when we were growing up together.”
“I have seen the two blonde twins and I know they play golf, but I don’t know their names,” junior marketing major Sid Clevinger said. “My question is not if they’ll play on the tour, but if they will be the first twins to play on the tour at the same time.”
With both Fathauer’s competing, the golf team has a very realistic chance of finishing as one of the top programs in the country this year.
Derek Fathauer is definitely focused on the season and is ready to help carry U of L to the top.
“I want to get to the national championship,” Derek said. “We’re getting better every year and I think we have a good enough team. Maybe we’ll win it.”
Hopefully, Derek can help the team reach its full potential and great success. However, there are bright things in this young golfer’s future. With his determination and hard work, it is very possible for Derek to become a successful golfer at the professional level, something he definitely wants.
“We’ll see how everything goes,” Derek said. “On October 23-25, me and my brother are playing in our first PGA tournament.”
