He didn’t know it then, but Andres Barraza’s path to stardom on the Bucknell men’s golf team was rooted in a fun summer event on the East Coast of Florida in July of 2019.
Andres had just finished up his freshman year at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida and was just starting to break out as one of the area’s top junior golfers. That summer he was invited to play in the BallenIsles Junior Cup at the famed BallenIsles Country Club in Palm Beach Gardens, the site of Jack Nicklaus’ 1971 PGA Championship victory. The two-day, Ryder Cup-style event features the area’s top male and female players under the age of 18, and Andres was slotted on the West Team. It was at the pairings party on the eve of the event where he met his four-ball partner, an older kid who had recently moved to Florida from California and who would soon be heading north to start his college golf career. His partner was Jack Gardner, a 2023 Bucknell graduate who wrapped up an outstanding four-year career for the Bison last spring.
Andres recalls that, despite the age difference, he and Jack hit it off right away. It might have helped that Jack carried the pair to a one-sided 6-and-4 win in their match, but the two kept in touch after their chance meeting.
“I got paired up with Jack, and that’s the first time I had ever heard about Bucknell,” Andres recalls. “We played great, and I loved hanging out with him. Two years later I ran into him at a golf course where he was working during COVID, and we started talking about Bucknell and he put me in contact with Coach [Mike] Binney. I ended up coming to Bucknell, and last year was really fun because we got to play one year together when I was a freshman and he was a senior. He kind of took me under his wing and we had a great time. He lives in Florida now, so I still see him a lot.”
Binney recalls meeting Andres at an American Junior Golf Association event in New Jersey, and he and his mother and sister visited Bucknell shortly after the tournament. The Bison coach was quickly impressed by what he saw from Andres both on and off the golf course, and he also held a lot of trust in Jack Gardner’s recommendation.
“Jack Gardner is one of the most level-headed players I’ve ever coached,” said Binney. “When he says something, he really means it. So I very much trusted his opinion. The recruitment didn’t take long. It was a perfect match.”
Andres’ golf journey actually began in Monterrey, Mexico, where he was born and raised until the age of six. That’s when his parents, Luis and Dinorah, moved with their three children to South Florida. Luis works in IT sales with Qualtrics, older sister Paola is a senior at William & Mary and will be headed to graduate school at Columbia next year, and younger brother Daniel is a high school senior who will be attending UCF in the fall.
Andres recalls picking up a golf club for the first time in Mexico, tagging along with his dad on his weekend rounds.
“In Mexico we belonged to a country club and my dad played on the weekends. He took me – or I guess I should say my mom made him take me – every now and then and I would hit balls on the range. Then when we moved to Florida, there are so many golf courses there, and all of the kids play golf. I started playing in tournaments around nine or 10 years old and just started picking it up more and more.”
While many top golfers were prodigies at a young age, Andres admits that it took time for his game to develop.
“I was not that good as a junior, honestly. I remember in middle school, a lot of my friends were way better than me. They were winning everything. But I just kept practicing because I wanted to catch up to them. I kept improving little by little, and then it wasn’t until high school that I really started to play well. I won a couple of tournaments, and that’s when I realized that I might be able to play in college.”
Andres was a two-time Florida Junior Tour champion and he finished second and third at the South Florida Junior PGA in 2021 and 2022. Andres was in eighth grade when the tragic mass shooting occurred around the corner at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, and a few years later he helped lead the Eagles to two district championships while qualifying for the state tournament.
“I don’t think I had that much natural talent per se, but I like to practice a lot, and all of my best friends played golf. So my mom would drop me off at the course at 8 a.m. and I’d stay there all day. We had a fun time just playing golf all day.”
There are many reasons to love golf. The camaraderie; enjoying the outdoors on a pretty day; the endless pursuit of that perfect round. For Andres, it’s all of the above.
“I think golf is different from most other sports. It’s more of an art in a way. You have to think about a lot of different factors on every shot. And you don’t have to be the biggest, strongest guy to be successful. I’m not that big myself, but I can think my way around the course. There’s nothing better than playing with your friends, when there’s no other place to be and no one bothers you out on the golf course.”
Andres made an immediate impact on his arrival at Bucknell. He compiled a strong 73.9 scoring average during his freshman year, posted a couple of under-par rounds, and made the six-man team for the 2023 Patriot League Championship, where he finished 22nd.
As a sophomore, Andres has advanced his game to where he is now considered one of the Patriot League’s top players and a title contender at next week’s championship at Saucon Valley Country Club. He is in the midst of a sensational spring season, where he has recorded top-10 finishes in three of his last four starts and shot under par in seven of his last 12 rounds. He is a combined 11-under-par in those 12 rounds.
Andres set a school 54-hole record with a 10-under par showing (71-67-68) in a sixth-place finish at the Loyola Invitational in Arizona in February, and he followed that up with another sixth-place effort at the Bash at the Beach with rounds of 71-67-70 (-4). He shot 68-73-69 to finish T-7th at the Highland Meadows Intercollegiate earlier this week in Ohio, which earned him the Patriot League Golfer of the Week award.
“What makes Andres so good is his even-keeled, deliberate style on the golf course,” said Binney. “His temperament never changes. His approach shots set him apart as well. Most college players are big with the driver these days, but Andres has the ability to get the ball close to the hole, which allows him to make a lot of birdies.”
“I don’t really know how to explain it,” andres said about his improvement. “Just being more comfortable in the environment has helped a lot. Last year, the four seniors really pushed us to get better. We have a great facility, so if you really want to improve your game you have all the resources you need.”
Bucknell’s Bachman Golf Center was recently outfitted with TrackMan technology, which gives players loads of data on every swing, such as clubhead speed, attack and face angles, club path, and flight distance. Some players are more in tune with their numbers than others, and Andres admits to being a “TrackMan junkie”.
“I love TrackMan and use it all the time. If I’m hitting outside I put the tracker out there and have the iPad set up. We have a big stats program, and I’m always checking out my numbers. I’m a little bit analytical in that way, but it’s great having that technology.”
Andres and fellow sophomore Flordian James Key have known each other since their teenage years on the junior circuit, and now they are two of the young players who will be looking to lead the Bison into championship contention next week. There are no seniors on the current team, and junior Michael Rudnick will be the veteran in a Patriot League lineup that will lean heavily on sophomores and freshmen.
“We definitely have a young team, but we’re a tight-knit group of guys. If we can all play well at the same time we have a chance. Everybody on the team is capable of shooting low scores, but we just need four in the same round instead of one or two.”
Andres and the team will be heading to Saucon Valley for a practice round on Sunday, and then the championship runs next Friday through Sunday.
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