FARMVILLE, Va. -- Longwood University junior men’s golf standout Blake Carter/Bassett is this week’s Longwood Male Athlete of the Week. He posted a collegiate-low round of 66 (tied fourth-best all-time) to lead the Lancers to a new school record team round of 273 during the final day of the Old Dominion/OBX Collegiate on October 22 at the Kilmarlic Golf Course in Powells Point, North Carolina. Carter tied for 23rd individually with his 75-75-66--216, the third-lowest 54-hole score of his career. Through the five fall events, he led Longwood with his collegiate-low average of 71.86, including three rounds in the 60s among seven rounds of par or better.
Question and Answer Session with Blake Carter and Ashley Robbins
Editor's Note: This interview conducted prior to the final round effort at the OBX tournament.
AR: Talk about the Donald Ross Intercollegiate where you set a new collegiate-best 54 hole score (210). Why do you think you performed so well there?
BC: Well, we went there for the first time last year, and for some reason I really enjoy playing old Donald Ross courses. I don't remember that I played too well last year, and I went down this year with the mindset of trying to make 54 pars, and be happy. Donald Ross courses look really easy, but get very hard when you start missing greens. I really think I played so well because I hit an awful lot of greens, and never played overly aggressive.
AR: Talk about your family ties with Longwood Golf. Is that one of the main reasons why you chose Longwood?
BC: Yes, Longwood has been very good to my family. Kam was here for my first two years, which was awesome. Being new to the college thing, it was weird not having anyone checking up on me constantly, so Kameron was always very good to help me with anything. This year, Haley joined me up here and so far it’s been great. It’s always nice to have family close by, and Kameron being here was a huge factor in my choosing Longwood.
AR: Do you and your sisters ever swap advice?
BC: We do, but it’s never really about golf. We all have different playing styles, so it’s usually more life advice. Kameron was always really good to help me with schoolwork, which helped me transition into college a little easier. With Haley its a bit different because she is newer to golf, I will always help her with any golf related thing she might ask for, but Coach Wright knows the golf swing well enough that I think Haley will be fine, a lot like Kameron.
AR: Do the three of you play a lot together? Who wins?
BC: We do try to play a lot. Kameron being at Iowa now makes it a bit harder, and I know we’re already planning to play over Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks, which I am really looking forward to. I haven't gotten to play with Haley in a while, the team has been gone a lot, but I’m looking forward to that too. And in terms of winning, Kameron and I usually split the wins 50/50.
AR: Who do you consider to be a role model in life?
BC: My role models are my mom and dad, easily. They come to every tournament, dad helps me with my golf game any way he can, and he basically taught me everything I know about the game of golf. They have just been so good to my sisters and I; it’s hard not to give them the credit.
AR: What piece of advice would you give to a student aspiring to play at the Division I level someday?
BC: Never come to college with the mindset that you're going to be an athlete-student, always be a student-athlete. There are times when it’s awesome to walk off the course after playing well, and just relaxing. But the schoolwork always comes first because if you don't do the schoolwork, you never get the opportunity to play, and that is the worst thing an athlete can face.
AR: Did you play any other sports growing up? Why did you stick with golf?
BC: I actually was terrible at every sport growing up, even golf. But I always played whatever sport Kameron did to try to beat her. I guess I really chose golf at about age 13. I was done with the rest of the sports. Golf was always a fun way to waste a day, which I did a lot in high school. I just really loved the sport, and I loved playing with my family. In all honesty though, I picked golf because it was the sport I was least bad at.
AR: If you could swap places with a teammate for a day, who would it be and why?
BC: I’d probably have to go with Dylan. I’ve known him for years now, and some of the things he says are just ridiculous. But that’s why I would choose him, to just one day go around saying whatever pops into my head and nobody question it. The conversations in the van and at practice are quite funny.
AR: Do you have any pre-tournament rituals/superstitions when playing?
BC: It’s really weird that my ‘ritual’ is this specific, but it doesn't really change like the warm-up does. I always clean my golf shoes before I put them on outside of the van, and I always listen to the same rotation of songs, and those never change.
AR: Favorites: Band/artist? Food? Movie? Book?
BC: My favorite artist right now is probably either Stevie Ray Vaughan or Albert King. Favorite food will always be any type of seafood. My favorite movie is Caddyshack without a doubt, and I hate to say it, but I never read for fun.
