Bucknell University Athletics
Local trio has reunion on Bucknell golf team
3/30/2007 8:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
March 30, 2007
From the March 30 edition of The Journal News
by Brian Heyman
The competition on the "golf course" inside the Vedder Hall dorm room is intense. This is where Brian Bartow and Jeff Pike live. Their pal from two floors up, Andrew Cohen, is always there playing, too. But when it comes to this Tiger Woods PGA Tour '06 video game, Pike could win a major.
"Pike dominates that game, unfortunately," Bartow said. "I'm working on it, though."
But they all don't just play video golf. The threesome is also quite good at the real thing.
The former high school standouts from the Sound Shore area - Bartow at Rye Neck, Pike at Rye and Cohen at Mamaroneck - have staged a college reunion and are glad they did. The freshmen have just begun their spring season in the Division I golf world at Bucknell.
"It's great," Pike said. "They're my best friends here at school. We all knew each other before coming. I had played in a couple of tournaments with each of them. We went up to states together knowing that we were going to be playing together next year. So it was really nice for the transition."
The friendships really began to take off at that state tournament up at Cornell. Cohen had been the first to commit in the fall of 2005, and then Bartow and Pike followed early last year.
Cohen and Bartow actually did their official recruiting visit together out in Lewisburg, Pa.
"It was pretty much individual," Cohen said about their eventual decisions.
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"I guess it was just a perfect fit for all of us. ... We help each other a lot. We practice together and work out together. Coming home, we can practice during the summer now. We've learned each other's games, and it's been helping out a lot."
The Bison also used to have another Rye grad named Pike on the golf team who went on to become captain his senior year. That would be Tod Pike, Jeff's dad, Bucknell Class of 1977.
"While I was growing up, we visited Bucknell often, and I played golf on the course," Jeff said. "So it was always an option when deciding on a college. ... It definitely had an impact on my decision."
Bartow's dad, Rich, played his college golf at Rutgers. Brian spent his first two springs at Rye Neck playing baseball. But he knew he wanted to play golf in college, so he traded himself to the golf team. The Rye native called it "a hard switch," but he made all-state both of his seasons.
He closed by winning the Federation tournament and earning player of the year in Westchester/Putnam from The Journal News. And then he fired the round of his life last July in the MGA Junior Qualifier at Rye Golf Club, posting a 63, a course and MGA Junior record.
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"My ultimate goal is to make the PGA Tour," Bartow said. "That's the top of the golf world. If I can get there, that would be pretty cool."
Pike, a conference champ as a junior and then a Journal News second-team all-star to cap his six-season run with Rye, thinks an amateur career might be more realistic for him. And Cohen, a first-team all-star and an all-state selection in the last of his four seasons on Mamaroneck's team, said that taking a shot at a pro career "all depends on how I play in college."
His college was the preseason choice to repeat in the Patriot League after returning five of six starters. Last year's Patriot title was Bucknell's first. The team also made its first NCAA championship appearance in 45 years.
Still, the Westchester imports all got to compete in the fall season and expect to get some time in the lineup now. Their goal is prove they belong in the lineup for the Patriot League Championship April 21-22 at West Point. Coach Jim Cotner believes they just need to improve their course management and short games, that their length is already plenty good.
"We want people who we feel can be impact players right away," Cotner said. "In the case of all four of our recruits, and certainly these three, that's what we feel we have. We feel we have a group that can really push the kids who have been here, and in the meantime, everybody's game is going to get better."
