Barcelona-native Tomas Millet is almost halfway through his freshman year as a business major. In that time, he’s also held his own on the men’s golf team. After a bit of a bumpy start at his first event in September, Millet came back in the Golfrank Invitational and tied for seventh on a 72-player field. At the Copperhead Championship, he tied for 12th.
Why did you choose business?
“I really like numbers and I really like that it’s a very big college [major]. My sister told me it would be a good fit for me because I really like to do math and to work with selling.”
What do you want to do after you graduate?
“Turn pro, probably. If I can.”
How did you start golfing? What got you interested in the sport?
“My parents. My dad played and he used to take us to the golf course. So, I liked the game [ever] since I was little.”
What age were you when you started playing?
“The first time I went to a golf course and played I was like three. But I started competitive golf when I was 8-years-old. So, very young.
That’s a very young age. Did you find it difficult to keep up with golf and schooling?
“No [not with golf and school], but I also like to play soccer and it was very difficult to play soccer and golf. It takes a lot of time to play golf — like a weekend. If there’s a tournament on the weekend, it takes all weekend to play and a soccer match is just an hour and you’re done. So, when I was 12, I needed to say which one I liked more.”
What about golf made you like it more?
“I like soccer a lot, but I just think about golf all day. Soccer I think [about] but not [to] play. I really like it and watching it on a T.V. — I’m a Barca fan and I don’t miss a match or anything they do. But at a golf event… I want to play all the events I can. I really like to play [golf] and soccer not as much.”
What brought you to NSU?
“I knew that there were a lot of Spanish-speakers here and golfers too. They told me it was great and they are very good at golfing so I thought it a great opportunity to come here. I talked to Coach and he said he was interested in me and made it happen.”
Are there any differences playing golf in the United States than over in Spain?
“Yeah.”
What are they?
“Level. Like the level in our tournaments here is very good, the scores [it takes to win are] good. In Spain, there are a lot of good players, but to be an average player here is much more difficult than to be an average player in Spain. I think playing here, you have to really practice very hard to compete in the high level.”
So, have you changed your training at all coming here?
“Yeah, here we train a little bit more and with the the heat here – it’s so warm – it’s much more difficult. I get tired when I’m three hours in the putting green or three hours hitting balls and back home I could be [out for] two hours and it was okay. The weather was much nicer.”
But you’ve been doing very well this year.
“Yes, and I’m very happy about that.”
So, do you have any secrets to that? Is it just training?
“Yeah, training and the assistant coach and coach really helped me to make a practice plan. I played not my best in my first tournament. It wasn’t very bad but they still helped me and [helped] better me for the next event. Because of that I [owe] them a lot. They help me so much. Also, our psychologist, Dr. Rob, helped me a lot for my second event. I was a little bit nervous [because] I didn’t expect to not do so well in the first one. So, to coming to a not very good event to my second event [being] very good. It was a big change.”
Were you nervous playing in Spain? Is that a normal part of your process or is that a new experience for you?
“It’s obvious you’re always nervous, it means that you really care. But I’m good when I’m nervous, but you know I had a feeling in the first event that things weren’t really [right]. My parents were telling me ‘you need to stay calm, it’s your first event in your college career.’ But I trained so hard; I wanted to make it good so changing to seventh [position in my second tournament] was a big change.”
You have a tournament coming up. Do you have any hopes for that event?
“As a team, yes. I think we are doing very well and I think we can win. I really hope we can finish the fall with a win. And as an individual, as my assistant coach tells me, just to change my strategy in the game. Now, I play ‘easy golf,’ as he says.”
