Bloomington’s Barger finishes prep career strong as he looks ahead to college golf future
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (BVM) — TJ Barger has had a special high school golf career. After becoming a state champion as a sophomore, Barger has continued his strong play on the course throughout the last couple of years. This season, he has finished his golf career strong at Bloomington High School (BHS), with an eye towards his collegiate golf future.
Barger has lived on a golf course his entire life, and has always been playing the sport. But he grew up playing every sport he could, and golf was never his main competition. Instead, that designation belonged to basketball, which Barger has continued to play throughout high school.
But in eighth grade, Barger’s dad signed him up to play in some golf tournaments. In one of the first 18-hole tournament rounds he played, Barger broke 80. After that tournament, the 17-year-old began rethinking his main sport, going from playing a couple times a month to playing almost everyday.
With his success in eighth grade, Barger decided to play on the golf team during his freshman year at BHS. The golf star emerged right away, with an 18-hole average near 80. Barger also impressively shot an even-par round during sectionals, and made an appearance in the IHSA boys golf state tournament.
After his outstanding freshman campaign, Barger decided golf was the sport he had a future in.
“Shooting even par at sectionals really boosted my confidence,” Barger said. “Freshman year was really when I was figuring out if I wanted golf to be my main sport or not. Basketball had always been my main sport my whole entire life and I still love it. But making it to state as a freshman was awesome.”
With his main focus now on golf, Barger began breaking out in his sophomore year. Over the summer before his second high school golf season, he began competing in some local golf tournaments and played well.
That experience paid off, as he went into the first high school tournament of his sophomore year and shot a 66. He followed that up a couple tournaments later with a career-best round of 65. Realizing he was now capable of breaking 70, Barger knew he had a chance to go far that season.
“Knowing that if I could break 70, I definitely felt I had a shot at winning state,” Barger said. “The first day we got snowed out, but the second day where you need to really give it your all, I did, and it paid off.”
Barger would end up taking home the individual title at state in 2018, and while he knew it was something he was capable of, it still came as a surprise just a couple years into his competitive golf career.
“I played really well but winning was kind of shocking,” Barger said about the state title. “I knew I could win but I wasn’t really expecting to win.”
As a junior, Barger would lack the consistency he thrived on as a sophomore. However, he would still go to state as one of the favorites looking to defend his title. Although he fell short of becoming a repeat champion, Barger still posted a lot of good scores that gave him momentum going into his senior season.
However, that senior season did not exactly go to plan due to the restrictions created by COVID-19. No state championships will be held in Illinois this fall, and for Barger to not get one last run at a state title was a tough pill to swallow.
“The pandemic screwed everything up,” Barger said. “You couldn’t really go to a course at the beginning of the year or play in many tournaments. It really sucked not having state this year because it would have been nice to win it again.”
Despite no state tournament, Barger still had a successful season, which ended recently with a playoff-loss in the sectional final. Barger enjoyed how well his team came together and played this season however, and also valued another year of being taught by coach Kiley Specht.
“She’s only been here for two years but she has taught me a lot,” Barger said about Specht. “She played at Illinois State, so when she first got here, everybody on the team knew she was going to help us. She’s a great coach and she has gotten me and the rest of the team a lot better since she got here. She’s been amazing for me and everyone at BHS.”
Despite the pandemic’s impact on the high school season, Barger did not let it play a factor into his game over the summer. Although courses were closed for a large portion of the spring, the 17-year-old continued to practice everyday on the mat and small putting green he has at home.
Barger still found some opportunities to play this summer as well, and the extra work he put in during the spring paid off. Specifically, the BHS senior placed in the top-three in three consecutive American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) tournaments he played in.
In his first AJGA round this year, Barger shot a career-best 10-under par. With his strong play combined with competing against elite players, Barger has become significantly more confident in his game through AJGA tournaments, and believes that experience will benefit him down the road.
As Barger has continued to grow in the game, he has begun to look up to professional golf stars such as Brooks Koepka to model his game after. Although he still wants to improve his putting, Barger has seen his driver and irons become razor sharp this season.
Despite being in his senior year, Barger remains undecided on where he might want to play college golf. Part of that could be due to the impact COVID-19 has had on the college recruiting process.
“The recruiting process was kind of new to me starting this spring,” Barger explained. “Visiting schools has been hard and that’s one of the reasons I’m not committed anywhere.”
However, Barger also notes that he isn’t in any rush to commit, and wants to make sure he finds the best option and right fit before making a decision. As of right now, he plans on making an official college decision in the spring, and will look to play for a Big Ten school. Ideally, Barger will go on to play for Mike Small at his dream school — the University of Illinois.
No matter where Barger lands, he wants to win multiple college golf tournaments while improving his consistency. Barger is not just placing his focus on the course either, as he hopes to succeed in the classroom as well.
Barger’s rise in the sport of golf has been a swift one. Growing up, the 17-year-old likely dreamed of playing professional basketball in the NBA. But now, with his recent success, that dream has quickly become playing professional golf.
“Right now, I do want to play professional golf,” Barger said. “To do that, I am obviously going to have to get a lot better. But I know I can because I’ve never had a swing coach and I’ve only had one lesson in my life. That’s my plan after college. That’s my goal.”
