CyrSelectedToRepresentUSAtWorldGames

PLNU junior Sam Cyr was selected to play in the 2008 World University Games in South Africa this September as one of three NAIA golf players on Team USA. Team USA coach David Lynn, also the Oklahoma Christian University head golf coach, handpicked Cyr on Jan. 30.

NAIA coaches tapped Lynn in early January to lead the team.

“For me, once I was selected as a coach, Sam was one of the first people that came to my mind [for the team],” said Lynn.
Cyr will join Drew Chuipek of St. Ambrose University (Iowa) and Jarod Trammell of Berry College (Georgia) to represent the United States.

Cyr is a business major from Makawao, a small town on the island of Maui, Hawaii, where he was born and raised. Cyr’s father first introduced golf to Cyr at age 11. At the onset of high school, Cyr was involved with baseball, basketball, football and surfing. By his junior year, Cyr decided to “get serious” about golf. He played varsity golf on the King Kekaulike High School team coached by Bob Bangerter, father of PLNU student and former golf team member Bryan Bangerter.

“We watched each other grow up,” said Bangerter, who transferred to PLNU in 2005 and became Cyr’s teammate.

“[Cyr] has this leadership role whether he knows it or not. That doesn’t start with his skill level,” Bangerter said. “That’s just who he is.”

PLNU was the only school to which Cyr applied.

“I knew God wanted me here,” Cyr said.

Since his start on the golf team, Cyr has broken the PLNU average scoring record of 73.52 with a score of 72.28; he has placed first in four tournaments (including the Division 1 Grand Canyon Thunderbird Invitational) and, during the 2006-2007 season, has placed sixth or better in 11 out of 12 tournaments. He has won awards both locally and nationally: He was twice named first-team NAIA All-American and twice awarded the McGuire Outstanding Male Athlete Award. In 2007, Cyr placed second in the national championship. Cyr remembers having a “hard time sleeping at night” after the tournament had ended.

“I worked my butt off,” Cyr said. “I remember thinking, ‘I have to make this; I have to make this.’”

Daniel Mitchell of Oklahoma City University, one of 144 competing golfers, took first finishing with -6 to Cyr’s -3. Though the loss was devastating to Cyr, he is looking forward to the 2008 national tournament.

Cyr’s drive and dedication has taken him throughout North America, including New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Canada in one summer. He has played at USA China Friendship Cup, a competition between the United States’ and China’s top golf players, and won.

“I’m just trying to beat my own record,” Cyr said.
PLNU golf coach Ben Foster has both pushed and encouraged Cyr these past two golf seasons.

“I am very, very pleased that Sam has chosen to be a student and athlete at PLNU,” said Foster. “He is a great fit for our university in every way. He has and will continue to represent Christ and PLNU through golf as he competes around the world.”

Cyr has never been out of North America and is looking forward to his time in South Africa.

“I would love to surf J-Bay,” Cyr said, smiling as he referred to South Africa’s Jeffreys Bay, one of the top five surfing locations in the world. “I can’t wait to see the water.”

Cyr also hopes to do some sightseeing while in Africa. Not only does he want to see the wild animals, but also the different communities of South Africa.

“I want to go to a poor village and then the big city,” Cyr said. “I want to see the difference, to experience it.”

The team will be in South Africa for about seven days.
U.S. team coach Lynn hopes to both “bring back the gold” and represent the United States in a manner separating them from other countries. He expressed a deep respect for PLNU coach Ben Foster and the “quality of kids he brings in at Point Loma.”

“It’s an honor to have one of [Foster’s] kids on my team,” Lynn said.
The 2008 World University Games will be held in Sun City, South Africa, from Sept. 2-5.