By: Tim Rogers
Is the game of golf truly a thinking man’s game as many believe, citing the 90 percent mental and 10 percent ratio?
Chi Chi Rodriquez was probably the first to say it and the gear Jack Nicklaus suggested it numerous times. Undoubtedly, countless golfers would not argue.
Mount Union junior Brian Myers is one of them.
“I definitely feel there is a correlation between the two,” said Myers, who could serve as the poster boy for such thinking. “I think there is a correlation between doing well in school and then doing well on the golf course. I agree that the game is 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical.”
Myers, from Wadsworth, is a both a golfer and a thinking man. There is plenty of proof. Athletic and academic honors have rolled in following a successful year on the course and in the classroom.
Athletically, he is coming off a third straight outstanding season. He led the Raiders to the university’s first Ohio Athletic Conference championship – and a spot in the NCAA Division III national tournament – since 2011.
Individually, Myers was voted as the co-OAC Golfer of the Year after averaging 73.5 strokes over 26 rounds. He won four events and posted nearly one dozen top-10 finishes. First Team honors on the all-conference team for a third straight year were a given.
His POTY award, voted on for the first time by the OAC coaches, was a reward for his dedication to the game. And to himself.
“It was kind of wild but very rewarding,” he said. “I’ve been chasing the OAC title since I was a freshman “I have put a lot of pressure on myself and still didn’t win it. But being named as the player-of-the-year showed my hard work has paid off.”
Myers finished second as a freshman and third as a sophomore but slipped to sixth in 2026.
“I didn’t play my best,” he admits.
Coach Jenna Lisic, whose young, 20-player roster contained 11 sophomores and five freshmen but still put together a championship season, has watched Myers develop into a well-rounded student-athlete.
“It has been fun watching him mature, not only as a player but as a person,” said Lisic, who was named as OAC Coach-of-the-Year. “He had a great season. He is looked up to by his younger teammates. And, he has shown genuine concern for all those around him. He is very mature for who and where he is.”
Academic honors followed the athletic success.
Holding a 3.79 GPA in exercise science, Myers was named as the OAC’s Scholar Athlete of the Month and last week was named as one of six Mount student-athletes to be named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District At-Large team. The opportunity to become a NCAA Academic All-American came with it.
“I value academics and I take it very seriously,” he said. “I always have. In that regard I have absolutely no regrets about attending Mount Union. I think our academics are great.”
While Myers does not have his sights set on a career in professional golf his long-range goal is to work with athletes as a physical therapist. He feels his athletic career – he played most sports as an adolescent before focusing on golf – will be a solid advantage.
“My goal is to work with athletes, and it would be ideal to be able to work with golfers,” he said. “As a golfer I can relate to the issues they may have.”
Golf is a hard game. So, too, is getting into the sports medicine game. Myers recognizes and accepts both.
“I realize I won’t be able to do that right away unless I get lucky,” he said of the crowded sports medicine industry. “I’ll have to have an opportunity.”
First, Myers plans on attending grad school after completing his academic requirements at Mount Union.
Balancing highly-competitive sports against an equally as competitive academic environment is not an easy path to negotiate for many. Not for Myers. He has traversed it efficiently and proficiently. And, he has one more year to win the elusive OAC Tournament title. Now, that is something a thinking man would think about.