Page 41 - Las Vegas Golf & Leisure Summer 2018

me to be better as much as I have pushed him. He has lowered his
stroke average each year, and that is a coach’s dream to have a player
like that. He struggled a bit early on, but now it is nice to see him have
such a great year and get better every year. He’s worked hard and is very
deserving.
“He’s gotten better in every aspect of the game,” Oda says. “From
“The biggest thing I learned from Shin is being carefree. Sometimes driving to hitting irons to wedges to putting to managing his game,
I can get a little down on myself. He’s such a happy go lucky person. He everything has improved and that translated to his scoring average of
treats everyone so nicely and he’s always smiling. Even if he has a bad 69.33, which he had late into the season.”
round he still is cheering for his teammates. Seeing him so positive all
of the time has inspired me to work on doing the same thing.” Ban felt like he was ready for a breakout season and was inspired
knowing he had one more chance to lead the Rebels.
Ban was always a very good player, but his senior year quickly blos-
somed into one of the best seasons in Rebel golf history. In addition to “Going into the season and knowing this was my final year, I really
his Mountain West Conference golfer of the year award, Ban was on wanted to do everything I could to finish well,” Ban says. “Golf is a
the watch list for the Jack Nicklaus and Ben Hogan Awards. He won the passion of mine and I love it. I want to make a career out of it. My short
conference tournament by a record nine shots. game and course management really improved this year and that was

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