CHATHAM, N.J. (BVM) — Up until 2016, Cole Ekert was a baseball and lacrosse player.  He started playing the two sports at a very young age and grew a great love for the games. 

 “In seventh grade, I recall having a discussion with my parents about which sport I would choose to play in high school, baseball or lacrosse,” Ekert said. “Since they are both spring sports, I was only allowed to choose one.” 

Unfortunately for Ekert, he suffered both a broken wrist and a broken collarbone later that year, which ended up sidelining him from both sports. However, golf was one of the few options for him. 

“I was able to go out and putt and chip one-handed, and I drew a real liking for it”, added Ekert.  “I played golf a bit when I was little and I would go out a couple of times a year with my dad and it was fun, but I never really committed to it early on.”  

It took Ekert about a little over a year to recover from the injuries.  

“Once I got back from my injuries, I was still playing baseball and lacrosse, but I liked golf so much, that by the time I got to high school, I decided to take it up full time.”  

Along with the injuries, Ekert suddenly became diagnosed with alopecia, a very common disease that causes hair loss to the body.  

“I started to see a few patches of bald spots and it started to get progressively worse, which became a bit of a scare for me,” Ekert said.  “As a couple of months passed by, it all started to fall out very quickly.”

Ekert was told by his doctors that this disease was very common and nothing to be worried about at all.  

“In terms of golf I don’t think it really affected me at all because it did not impede on anything physically, besides for the fact that my hats were a bit looser,” Ekert said. “Socially and mentally it was odd for the first few months, especially after rounds when I would take my hat off and shake my opponents hand.  Thankfully, after a while, it got to a point where I did not really think about it and it did not really affect me too much.”

Ekert knew that if he wanted to be successful at golf, he was going to have to put in double the amount of work of his competitors since he’s a step behind them due to having not played golf for nearly as long. He was not going to let this minor setback in his life affect his golf game.  

“My coach, Peter Chang and I would be working every day on the driving range during the summer leading up to my freshman year,” Ekert said. 

All of a sudden, in a few months span, Ekert quickly went from producing scores in the 80s, to consistent scores in the low 70s.  That summer alone, he came in first place four times on the Hurricane Junior Golf Tour with victories at the Phoenix Jr. Open, the Major Championship at the Architects, the Philadelphia Summer Shootout, and the Union County Junior Challenge. Ekert’s golf career started to take off.

Going into the spring of his freshman year in March of 2018, Ekert had high expectations for himself in regards to making his high school golf team. 

“I remember discussing with my parents and them telling me that it would be great if I made the team regardless of what position in the lineup I would be,” Ekert said.  “Although I always agreed with them, deep down I knew that I should and would be the No. 1 player on the team.”  

He did indeed prove to himself and his teammates that he deserved to play at the top position on the team as he finished the season with the best scoring average on the team with a 38.08. His sophomore season was more of the same and even better as Ekert led the Chatham Cougars with a scoring average of one-over par 37. He also added on a few more victories in individual events later that summer.

In January of 2020, Ekert committed to the University of Richmond to play Division I golf. It was a very easy decision for him to make.  

“Throughout the recruiting process, I made sure to keep my options open, but at the end of the day Richmond checked off all of the boxes for me with their strong academics and great golf program,” Ekert said. “I’m very excited to start this next chapter in my life.”

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ekert’s high school golf season was canceled in 2020. But thankfully for him, he was still able to compete in individual events in the summer.  His summer was filled with top-10 finishes including one highlight runner-up finish at the Carter Cup run by the Metropolitan Golf Association. The Richmond commit finished at a total of five under par with rounds of 69 and 70.  

“I was disappointed to not get the win, but it was pretty fun competing against many of the top junior players in the metropolitan area and I am still very pleased with the result” Ekert said.

As Ekert finishes up his high school career in golf, he is hopeful that his team will have a season in the spring. But regardless of how his high school career ends, Ekert is a name that the golfing world should quickly start to remember.

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