The moment and the various opportunities it represented weren't lost on Connor Bennink in last week's NCAA Division II Men's Golf Championship at TPC Michigan, a Jack Nicklaus-designed course near Detroit.
It marked his team's second NCAA championship appearance in a row, on another prestigious course he likely never would have been able to play on outside of college golf — last year's being on PGA National in Florida.
A finance and accounting major with a 4.0 GPA, Bennink was named the event's Elite 90 winner last week. The award is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA's championships.
In the coming weeks, he will start a summer internship with Baker Tilly, a large international accounting firm.
It's all part of a rare experience the Pennsylvania native is trying to make the most of.
"It's certainly not an easy thing to find where you can play in events like this, NCAA championships … while also getting a degree, or in my case two degrees, and also working full time over the summer," he said. "Being able to balance those three things is something I'm very grateful for. I'm really grateful that Gannon has given me that opportunity, as well as my coach (Dustin Coleman) being flexible with practice and what I'm doing over the summer and trusting me to do what I need to do and still be able to pursue all the things I want to pursue."
Bennink knows how close his college experience was to being much different, too.
A multisport athlete in high school, he said he didn't have a lot of options to play golf and pursue the level of academics he wanted to at the college level. Even Gannon didn't enter the picture until the fall of his senior year of high school.
"I was not a highly recruited kid out of high school. Everything (with Gannon) kind of fell into place really fast, and I thought, 'This is great. I can get an education and play golf at a high level,'" he said. "But really I didn't have many other options to play golf and do what I wanted to do academically."
It's worked out better than he ever imagined. The Elite 90 recognition is the latest proof of it.
"It represents just a lot of time and effort and sacrifice of things that maybe a lot of other college kids go through or experience," he said. "Sometimes you don't always get the instant gratification of studying or practicing a little bit more, but awards like this definitely go a long way to kind of satisfy all the time and effort that went into it."
Bennink noted that juggling golf, two majors and a full-time summer internship has come with a lot of support from Gannon. This extends well beyond his coach's flexibility and trust.
"My professors are great. Whether I'm missing class or catching up on certain assignments, they've been super supportive. Really, every step of the way I haven't faced a situation where I didn't get the support that I needed," he said. "Gannon has been great, and I certainly feel a lot of gratitude toward them for everything they've provided me."
While successfully managing all his commitments certainly requires a level of sacrifice in other areas, Bennink said it doesn't feel like it because of the passion he holds for each of them.
"(There's) not a lot of free time, which I don't mind because I'm doing things I love to do," he said. "For me, going out to practice my short game or hitting on the range doesn't really feel like work. It would go into the category of hours I put into my golf game, but that's what I'd do for fun if I wasn't playing golf competitively. That really helps."
Personally, Bennink said having multiple passions also naturally helps him balance everything that comes with them. When one becomes overwhelming or stressful, he can escape it completely through the other.
"Like if I'm really stressed out with something I'm doing at school, playing nine holes after class on a beautiful evening is something that takes me out of that space and clears my mind and allows me to fully commit my mental energy into school," he said. "And vice versa, if I had a tough tournament or we were traveling, I come back and the last thing I want to deal with is golf, I can kind of dive into my schoolwork."
As Bennink dives into this summer's internship, an opportunity he hopes affirms his desire to get into public accounting after school, he's working on appreciating it all one step at a time. He's seen seniors graduate and move on with life. Only halfway through his college golfing career, he wants to make sure to soak it all in while he can.
"One thing that's setting in is appreciating the moment, trying to live in the present and realize the group of guys we have and the opportunities we have to play aren't going to last forever and aren't going to be there forever," he said. "As I've seen guys move on … it kind of is a real lesson that nothing is guaranteed and anything could happen at any given time."
Bennink, a sophomore, finished 69th in the individual stroke play in his second NCAA championship event in as many years.
