The men’s golf team won its ninth national championship since 2001 last year.
A pair of brothers will do all they can to add to that total this year.
James and Anthony Marchesani came to OCU from Rosebud, Victoria, Australia. James, a senior, and Anthony, a sophomore, both began playing competitively at age 10 after their father, a professional Australian Rules football player, introduced them to the sport.
The Marchesanis continued golfing in high school. They also took after their father, winning awards for their Australian Rules football play. When James moved to America to play golf for OCU, Anthony followed suit.
Coach Kyle Blaser, now in the NAIA Golf Hall of Fame, approached James after he arrived in the states. The decision to come to OCU was a simple one for James.
“At the time, OCU had just won their seventh championship and won nine out of the last 11 tournaments,” James said. “It was a pretty easy choice to come to a highly competitive team and a great business school.”
For James, the easy choice was the right choice. In his freshman year, he earned First Team GCAA All-American, First Team All-American honors and the Phil Mickelson Award for top freshman of the year.
The following year, James helped OCU to its eighth national title, gaining All-SAC, All-NAIA Central Region First Team, All-American and GCAA All-American awards.
James found the transition from Australia to America easy, except for one crucial difference.
“Back home, we live about five minutes from the beach, and as we all know, there isn’t exactly a beach close by here,” James said.
Anthony also had a fairly easy transition – his brother already was waiting for him in the states.
“The hard bit for me was realizing friends and family weren’t going to be just around the corner anymore,” Anthony said.
Anthony joined James on the team and quickly made his mark last season. In the NAIA tournament, Anthony and James placed sixth and seventh, respectively, to power the Stars to victory. Both made the All-NAIA tournament team, and Anthony, like James two years before, earned the Phil Mickelson award.
It was a fairy tale ending to a phenomenal year for the Marchesani brothers.
“Mum and Dad were able to watch us receive our awards online, which was pretty cool as they couldn’t make it over to watch,” James said.
Anthony was proud to finally join his brother at OCU.
“It was a great experience for me having watched James do it the year before, and to then be a part of it was pretty cool,” Anthony said.
This season will be the last that both Marchesani brothers will play. They would like to earn one more national title together before James graduates.
“To end it off this year with another championship together would be a great end to it all,” Anthony said.
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