Q&A with Golf Sophomore Jere Pelletier You lowered your scoring average from 76.0 to 74.5 this season, and finished in the top-20 at three tournaments. How did you feel like your season went? It went pretty well … a lot better than last year. To shave two strokes off your scoring average is a lot of improvement in this game. I’m very pleased. My freshman year it was kind of intimidating being around all those upperclassmen, but this year I realized that I could keep up with those guys. You and Martin Simonsen posted the two best scoring averages on the team, and you’re both sophomores. Do you feel like the future is bright for UTEP Golf? Absolutely. I feel like we can give all the incoming freshmen some good guidance, especially Martin. He has a lot of knowledge about the game. What has been the highlight from your time at UTEP so far? Definitely shooting a 66 at the Jim West Intercollegiate this season. That was an awesome round. Everything was firing on all cylinders that day. You started your UTEP career as a walk-on, and were awarded a scholarship after your freshman year. How was that experience? Just getting the chance to walk on was big. That way I could start at zero and work my way up. Nothing was handed to me, and just proving to coach that I could do it and see some reward was fun. Your uncle is UTEP women’s golf coach Jere Pelletier. What kind of a relationship do you have with him, and has he helped you at all on the golf course? We have a pretty good relationship. I rarely saw him growing up, since he was busy with the girls’ team. But he has helped me. He has talked to me about what college coaches look for and what I should be working on to play at a Division I university. You recently received a Conference USA Commissioner’s Academic Medal, and your cumulative GPA is above 3.75. How do you balance athletics and academics effectively? Just stay busy. You wake up in the morning to work out, you go practice in the afternoon and you go home and study all night. If you’re studying something that you enjoy studying, it’s not hard at all. What is it like going to college in your hometown? I’m not from this side of El Paso. I’m from a different area, so living here in the dorms is all very new to me. It just feels like a whole new experience, which is all I ever wanted from college. What would you like to tell Miner fans? Maybe we can get a few more people to come out and watch our home tournament next year. We love the support!
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