Editor's note: NNUSports.com will be running Senior Spotlights on all the spring sports seniors who have elected not to come back for another year of eligibility.
 
Henry Bernard
Men's golfer from Meridian, Idaho
Major: Public Relations
 
Henry Bernard was a late comer to the world of golf.

Bernard, a senior at Northwest Nazarene University, played baseball, football and hockey growing up. One day, though, he was in line for a youth league baseball draft when he decided he didn't want to play anymore.

"My dad said, 'You aren't going to sit on your butt all spring and summer,'" Bernard said. "So, I chose golf. I have no idea why."

That was in sixth grade. Since then, Bernard has worked extremely hard and it has shown.

The left-handed hitting golfer became NNU's best men's golfer during his career.

"I came in with a goal at NNU that I want to play college golf and not just be a good player at NNU, but in the conference and the region," he said. "I started off slow, but over the past two and a half years, my game has really picked up. I was able to be competitive with a lot of the best players in the region and able to go toe-to-toe with the best guys."

Bernard's spring season ended after just one event as the COVID-19 pandemic canceled spring sports. He did get a full fall season, but the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships are played in the spring so that was a tournament missed.

Bernard is turning down the opportunity to come back to NNU next year after the NCAA ruled that all spring sports seniors have the option of an extra year of eligibility.

Instead, Bernard has been hired as the assistant golf professional at BanBury Golf Course in Eagle, Idaho.

"I've always had the idea of playing professionally, but as we got closer down the road it is very hard to do unless you are a world beater," he said. "Teaching professionally is another way for me to compete and grow in the golf community and be in the golf industry, which is something I've wanted to do ever since I picked up a club."

Bernard earned GNAC all-conference second team honors as a junior and a senior. In his final event for the Nighthawks, he shot a 1-under-par 71 to finish ninth at the NDNU Invitational.

"I'm happy with the career I had here," he said. "I think it helped propel me into a start of a professional career in teaching and playing."
 
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