Traveling the world to play golf on the National team is something most golfers only dream of, but for Marc Kawasoe, it is a reality.

Nicknamed by his teammates as “the stud,” for his golf skills and positive attitude, the 22-year-old communications major has shot even par in most of his matches this season.

“Marc is the best. He’s an all -around good player and great guy,” teammate Sylvester Sion said.

Although this is Kawasoe’s first semester on the golf team, he has had plenty of experience on the green.

Kawasoe began playing golf at age six, following his dad to the driving range every weekend in Singapore.

Kawasoe moved from Singapore his sophomore year of high school to attend Peninsula High School in Palos Verdes, where he joined the school golf team.

He was one of the lower ranked golfers until his senior year when he was good enough to become the team captain.

“Becoming captain of the squad was one of my biggest goals to accomplish,” Kawasoe said.

After graduating from Peninsula High, Kawasoe had to return home to Singapore to serve in the military for two and a half years.

It was in his last six months of the military that Kawasoe tried out for the national golf team and made it.

Kawasoe said he enjoyed the opportunity to leave camp to practice with the team or go play a tournament.

“If that never happened, I don’t think I would be playing as well as I am,” Kawasoe said. “We got to travel to different countries and we played with teams that were way better than we were, and I learned a lot from that,” he said.

After completing his time in the service, Kawasoe came back to California because of the wonderful weather and to continue his studies.

He enrolled in EC and during his second semester joined the golf team.

Kawasoe said he gets along well with his teammates and considers them to be like his family.

“I thought it would be hard to adapt to the guys here in college. I never expected them to be really nice,” Kawasoe said. “I’m really enjoying this (playing on the team). I feel really blessed to have teammates that are really close.”

Kawasoe said he admires golfer Tiger Woods’ work ethic and the way he brings himself out on the golf course.

According to coach Terry Titus, Kawasoe has some of the qualities that he admires in Woods.

“Marc is a very steady player and he has a marvelous attitude toward the game,” Titus said. “He remains outwardly calm regardless of what he’s feeling inside.”

“He doesn’t appear to let the game get the better of him emotionally, that’s a real positive quality for golf,” Titus said.

Kawasoe said he looks forward to every match and he doesn’t care as much about how he does, as long as the team performs well and he feels that he has worked hard to do his best.

“My ultimate goal is to play really well and to shoot consistent low scores,” Kawasoe said.

Ultimately, Kawasoe said he would love to achieve his dream of playing professional golf.

However, Kawasoe is just going to focus on his studies and his golf at EC.

“I just want to take it one step at a time and from here, at this college,” Kawasoe said. “I just hope that I can transfer into another school and continue playing golf and see what happens from there.”

“I will just continue to work hard and hopefully it will work out.” Kawasoe said.