In three spring meets, the Washburn Ichabods golf team has claimed two first place finishes alongside a ninth place finish at the tough Las Vegas Desert Classic. It has been a complete team effort getting off to such a great start but one individual who stands out is junior Andrew Beckler.

Beckler is a homegrown Topeka guy who has lived here his entire life. His parents are Tony and Karla Beckler. Tony is a dentist who owns the Topeka Smiles dentist office. Karla works for Tony doing various jobs around the office. Andrew is the middle child with two sisters, Brooke and Darci, on either side of him.

He attended Washburn Rural High School, who is known for being a dominate team in the Centennial League as well as the entire 6A classification.

As a sophomore Beckler was crowned as the individual Kansas 6A State Champion. In his career he won three individual city championships in the city of Topeka. Not all of his success was individually however. During his four years in high school, he helped extend Washburn Rural’s team Centennial League championship streak to seven consecutive years.

In addition to his success playing for Washburn Rural, he also placed highly in several other Junior and Amateur tournaments that he competed in individually.

Beckler’s college career began at Kansas State where he played two seasons before redshirting during his junior year. In his time at K-State, he recorded one top-20 finish at the Big 12 Championships and finished his freshman year with the team’s third best stroke average at 73.68.

Eventually, Beckler decided that he needed to make some changes and made the choice to come back to his hometown.

“I just didn’t really see my place on the team at K-State anymore,” said Beckler. “It just wasn’t a good fit for me and I knew that I had Coach Stromgren here, who coached me my freshman year of high school, so I knew this would be a good fit for me if I came here.”

The Big 12 has some of the best college golf in the country with the likes of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State routinely competing for national titles, and the experience Beckler gained playing in that conference has helped some of his new teammates at Washburn.

“His big time tournament experience helps not only his own confidence but also the rest of our team,” said senior teammate Nathan Roy. “He can definitely play under pressure.”

Beckler feels the pressure not only on the golf course but also in his studies. He is currently working on a double major in finance and marketing and coupled with being a collegiate athlete, there isn’t much time to spare.

Eventually, Beckler sees himself being a financial advisor for personal finances and helping people with their retirement plans. He recently completed an internship with CFG Retirement Advisors Inc. in Topeka and said he really enjoyed that experience and will look to pursue something similar after college.

The game of golf has always been bred into Beckler’s life. His father is a huge golf fan and coincidently Andrew was born on the same day that Tiger Woods won his first Masters Championship.

“My dad has always put golf into my life,” said Beckler. “He’s put other sports in my life as well, but that’s what I chose and that’s what I’ve loved since day one.”

Beckler was a golf-only athlete in high school and chose it over other sports for one specific reason.

“I like the individual aspect,” said Beckler. “It’s all on you. You can’t blame teammates. You can’t blame refs. You can’t blame coaches. It’s just you and the golf ball; can you get the ball in the hole and beat the golf course?”

The bond that Beckler and his father share through golf is a special one. Many of Beckler’s best memories in life and future goals center around the game of golf.

Since the time Beckler was five years old, he and his dad have been vacationing to Tucson, Arizona. On every trip they make they always play the same golf course that is a favorite between the two.

“Every trip we take out there is kind of a special memory for me and him,” said Beckler.

The top destination on both Andrew and his father’s bucket list right now is making a trip to Augusta, Georgia together to watch the prestigious Masters Championship. Beckler claims if he gets to make that trip that he will die a happy man.

In the meantime, Beckler will be on the course himself trying to help the Ichabods finish out the spring season strong and bring home an MIAA Championship trophy and beyond.