The Barometer Online

Issue date: 4/7/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Photo File Junior Diego Velasquez won the 63rd Annual Western Intercollegiate in Santa Cruz, Calif. on March 31.

Few NCAA golfers have been able to relish such enormous success during their short tenures in college as Oregon State University junior Diego Velasquez, but for this player from Bogota, Colombia, college golf is just another chapter in the long, fruitful career he looks to enjoy in the sport.

Known to his teammates simply as "D," the young, impressive golfer has been one of the chief reasons for the success that the OSU men's golf program has been enjoying recently.

Velasquez wasted little time in getting his career in sports underway, as he picked up golf from his father at a young age in Colombia.

"I think it really was a family thing," Velasquez said. "My dad and my grandfather got me into playing it back in the day, and I loved it. I played soccer also, but I decided to come to golf instead."

The decision to stick with golf was rapidly rewarded, as he started to see success as early as the high school level. He graduated from Bogota's Gimnasio Los Caobos in 2006, where he received Athlete of the Year honors in both of his years there. The world traveler lived in London, England for an additional two years before landing in Granbury, Texas, where he qualified for the state championships in just his freshman year in Granbury High School.

It has become commonplace for such immediate success to spoil the attitudes of many of today's rising sports stars, but the opposite remains true for Velasquez. In searching for a college to attend, he not only looked to satisfy his desire to continue on in golf, but also made a priority of landing in a place where he could enjoy the people, atmosphere and environment outside the realm of sports. Fortunately for OSU athletics, Velasquez chose to play here in Corvallis.

"I like the coaching staff, I like the family atmosphere," Velasquez said. "I felt that when I came on my visiting trip that the guys were really nice. I actually did like the campus and how compact it is. But more than myself liking it, my parents loved it, so that influenced me a lot."

Throughout his young career, Velasquez has received an enormous amount of support from his family members who remain in Colombia. They are enjoying every moment of his success here in the United States, where Velasquez has made a new home, but Colombia will always be what feels most like home for the flourishing golfer.

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