Former Riverview golfer dreams of Polish Olympic berth

Nicole Polivchak still isn’t used to the weather.

Last week, the Riverview High grad, now a freshman at the University of Northern Colorado, texted her father, Rodger Polivchak, a picture of snow hanging off tree branches outside her dorm window.

On Halloween, it was 29 degrees when she made the 6 a.m. trek to her golf workout.

"I have to wear layers upon layers," Polivchak said. "The weather was part of why I chose to play for Northern Colorado, though. I wanted to experience playing golf in the cold."

It’s been a big adjustment for the Florida girl, even though she has Polish blood on her mother's (Izabela Polivchak) side and visits the country often to ... well, we'll get to that in a minute. 

The weather has been frigid, but Polivchak’s game was on fire. (Sorry.) The team’s fall season came to an end in October. Polivchak was the team’s No. 2 golfer and finished with a stroke average of 75, one stroke behind sophomore leader Morgan Sahm.

She had a good feeling about the season from the jump, she said. While practicing at Ptarmigan Country Club in Fort Collins, Colo., before the Ram Classic, hosted by Colorado State University, she made her first-ever hole-in-one on the 140-yard 11th hole. Polivchak’s friends took video of her plucking her ball from the hole, a memory of a historic moment in any golfer’s career.

The transition to college golf wasn’t slippery smooth, for her, though. Weather aside, the longer holes presented Polivchak with a challenge, as did playing 36 holes in one day, which isn’t a regular occurrence but does sometimes happen.

When I moved to Sarasota 13 months ago, many things surprised me: The delicious food, the never-ending summer, the terrifying traffic. The thing that surprised me most, though, was the caliber of athletes I would get to write about. I knew high school football was popular (and talent-rich), but it’s been a joy learning about talents in less-followed sports and sharing their successes with the area.

Polivchak is one of those gems, and not just for her play at Northern Colorado. She also is one of six girls on the Polish national team. She was first noticed four years ago, when she went to Poland to visit her mother’s side of the family and happened to bring her clubs. In Poland, junior tournaments are played gender-mixed, not separately. At the tournament she happened to play on this trip, she beat everybody — the girls and the boys. 

She’s done well in international competition. In March, Polivchak finished eighth of 43 female golfers in the Curro South African Juniors International 2017 in Cape Town, South Africa, which featured top players from across the world. Her goal, like seemingly all young international athletes, is to make the 2020 Olympics.

"I love representing Poland," Polivchak said. "I'm proud to be Polish. I feel a connection with the people."

She's currently studying the Polish language to better communicate with her teammates, she said. 

I don’t see a reason she’ll fail to reach her goals. Making an Olympic roster is never easy, but it’s easier in some sports and some countries than others. Golf is still growing in Poland. It’s not as ubiquitous as it is in the United States. There’s less competition for a spot, and Polivchak should be able to use that to her advantage.

Not that she needs one. If Polivchak is this good after essentially a warm-up fall campaign of college golf, and placing top-10 at major international junior events, imagine her game in three years.