Leighton Bearchell watches a shot go down the fairway. (photo courtesy of Siera Bearchell)

2013 was an outstanding year for Moose Jaw golfer Leighton Bearchell as he capped his junior golf career with the provincial title on his home course.

That being said, Bearchell is hoping that 2014 is even better now that he's playing college golf with the Wayland Baptist Pioneers in Plainview, Texas.

His college career has gotten off to a great start as the team won three of four events during the fall portion of the schedule and were ranked No. 1 in the NAIA Men's Golf Coaches' Preseason Top-25 Poll.  They received 14 of 16 first place votes on their way to the program's first top ranking.

“It was a big deal for us,” said Bearchell.  “Me being a freshman, I don't really know any different, but with some of the veterans on the team like Anders Ellingsberg, being a senior, it's nice for him to be on this team now.”

The Pioneers opened their schedule with a second place finish at the Ryan Palmer Invitational in Amarillo, Texas.  They then rang off three straight wins at the UC Ferguson Classic, St. Mary's Fall Invitational and Northwood Fall Shootout.

The team is made up of nine golfers with five getting to play each tournament.

“We did qualifying at the start of the year, everybody qualified, and then the top-three out of the qualifying based on score go and then there's two coaches picks,” explained Bearchell.  “I've been lucky enough to go to all four events so far.”

Moose Jaw's Leighton Bearchell joins Rob Carnie on the Heartland at Noon to discuss his first year at Wayland Baptist University playing college golf.

The Wayland Baptist team is a little United Nations with just one American on the team.  Bearchell is one of three Canadians to go along with two players from South Africa, two from England, one from Norway and one from Belgium.

“It's a unique bunch of guys being from all over the world like that,” said Bearchell.

Being far from home has taken some getting use to for the Peacock Collegiate graduate, but he said he's been adjusting over the first semester.

“It's been a tough transition, but I've been fairly lucky as far as my roommate, he's also a Canadian playing on the golf team, his name is Steven Diak, he's also a freshman, so we're going through a lot of the same things as well, just being away from home,” Bearchell said.  “It makes it a lot easier having a good roommate.”

The 19-year-old got a chance to come home over the holidays, but has now made his way back to school where he's on a pretty busy schedule between athletics and his studies.

“We have practices every day, we usually go 2-5pm throughout the week, and then we will travel on Tuesday or Thursday to Amarillo or Lubbock and play a couple of courses out there,” said Bearchell.

“The fall schedule is kind of local, we went to San Antonio and Dallas, but we do travel and play more tournaments in the spring,” added Bearchell.

The tournament schedule really picks up for the Pioneers starting in February with an event almost every weekend until the SAC Conference Championship on April 20th and the NAIA National Championship starting on May 3rd in Daytona Beach, Florida.