Phil Gieseker is a born-again Bobcat.
After beginning his collegiate career at Ohio his freshman season, he transferred to Oakland University the following year because of personal reasons, where his unquestioned success left him as one of the most successful golfers in the school’s history, behind alumni such as PGA Tour member Brian Stuard.
Yet, Gieseker is a Bobcat anew following another change of heart and returned as a veteran redshirt senior to Ohio this fall.
“I was surprised, but there wasn’t really anything I could do,” said Coach Bob Cooley regarding Gieseker’s initial transfer.
Senior Brad Lucas is the lone Bobcat remaining from Gieseker’s first stint at Ohio and he also felt as hopeless as Cooley did when Gieseker transferred to become a Golden Grizzly.
“Obviously, when he left, it was rough for me because I absolutely lost a friend going (to Oakland), but he was also a good asset to our team,” Lucas said.
After a flip-flop move that returned Gieseker to Ohio, one would assume it would be nothing but a bumpy passage back to Athens, but that wasn’t the case.
“It’s been kind of a seamless transition for me,” Gieseker said. “I’ve always had a good relationship with the people in the (Ohio) athletic department. I’ve always thought the way they do things here at Ohio has always been second-to-none and a lot of the guys understood and respected why I left (for Oakland). It’s been a lot of fun coming back here.”
While at Oakland during his sophomore season, Gieseker accumulated the eighth-best scoring average (74.33) in program history.
During the fall of 2010, Geiseker fired the second-lowest single round score in the program’s history with a six-under-par score of 66 at the Austin Peay State University Intercollegiate. He went on to finish his sophomore campaign with five top 20 finishes — two of which were top-five finishes.
Gieseker’s success carried into the fall of 2011, when he again finished ninth in the All-Summit League scoring average (73.50), as he also paced the Golden Grizzlies’ with the team-best average.
Yet, he did not to play collegiate golf in 2012, citing differences with the athletic department and the coaching staff at Oakland.
This time last year, Gieseker was a fulltime student at Ohio, but because of NCAA transfer rules, he was not eligible to compete until the spring of 2013.
“If I had returned last year in the spring, I would have been only been able to play half a season and it was also going to take me five years for switching majors, so it worked out better to play a full season (this year),” Geiseker said.
With an extended break in his back pocket, Gieseker hopes to rally from the rust in his game; in the only event he has competed in this season at the Marshall Invitational, Gieseker finished T49 at 11-over par, and failed to qualify for the Wolf Run Invitational two weekends ago.
“I hope he starts playing better, because he is struggling with his golf swing,” Cooley said. “The talent is there, he is just going through a little slump right now and I expect him to be one of our top players.”
ch115710@ohiou.edu
@ColinHanner
