SECTION 4 BOYS' GOLF: HORSEHEADS' PRINTUP COMES BACK FROM INJURY TO QUALIFY FOR STATES (10 PHOTOS) (2022-05-21)

By Brian Fees
Southern Tier Sports Report
ELMIRA —Matt Printup had always dreamed of making it to the New York State Golf Championships, but when he got hurt in September it seemed that dream was fading away.

Surgery in November had a return in time for the Section 4 Medalist Tournament in doubt, and Printup had to think about how maybe his dream wasn’t going to come true.

“That thought did cross my mind,” Printup said. “I definitely thought this might not be what it’s meant to be, but I”m just glad it worked out.”

Worked out is just what happened for Printup. He was cleared a week before this week’s state qualifying tournament, and on Saturday he shot an 80 at Mark Twain, to follow up Thursday’s 82, placing him seventh overall in the tournament with a 162. The top nine finishers earn a place in states.

“It feels great,” Printup said. “I just kind of went out there and did the best I could and it turns out it was enough. I’m just thankful I got the opportunity to be here.”

Getting the chance to be here seemed like a lock when the fall started and Printup was one of the best players in Section 4. But, an injury in September put everything in doubt.

“I dislocated my shoulder and tore my labrum and had to have a surgery to repair that and had some anchors put onto my shoulder and they just kind of stitched the ligament back together and six months of rehab and here I am.”

The process back was a long one. It started with waiting for a chance to get the surgery.

“It was about two months after my injury,” Printup said. “Fairly standard, but I would have liked to have had it a little bit sooner, but I just got cleared like last week so it was good timing for this event.”

Printup had the concerns that maybe he wouldn’t make it back in time for this week, but he also just felt confident that if it was meant to be it would happen.

“It was pretty scary,” Printup said. “But, I knew that it was in the right hands and whatever was meant to happen was going to happen and I just feel really blessed to be here.”

When Printup was a freshman he just missed making states. At that point the Horseheads standout figured he’d have plenty of chances to get back. But, Covid cost him his sophomore year, and it wiped out the state tournament a year ago.

So, this year turned out to be Printup’s next chance since his freshman year to get to states, and to qualify is the perfect cap to his career.

“It’s a pretty surreal experience, because I haven’t been able to attend for three years in a row and now to finally finish up my high school career getting a chance to make it feels great,” Printup said.

For Printup it’s been a long fight back to this point.

“It was tough, my last day swinging a club was Sept. 29, the day of my injury, and then I didn’t full swing a club until late April, early may, and even that was just short half swings,” Printup said. “It was pretty hard. I never really go the whole winter without taking any swings at all, so that was definitely tough. But, I had two weeks-ish to prepare and that was enough I guess.”

As he started to get back into hitting drives and playing golf last week there wasn’t any real pain, but there was a little discomfort at times. A lot of it for Printup was just getting past the mental barrier of coming back from the injury.

“There wasn’t really any pain, it was more discomfort,” Printup said. “But, my physical therapist and my doctor  assured me it was normal, it was just the shoulder getting back to a healthy status. Nothing was out of the ordinary, my recovery went well and I actually got cleared a few weeks early.

“It was a little nerve-wracking trying to get past the mental barriers of trying to be able to swing the club as fast again, especially with the driver. But, after the first couple of holes the nerves kind of go away and the brain kind of takes over and I go back to muscle memory and it just works out.”

There hasn’t been a lot of full rounds of golf in the past week for Printup, so there was some rust to shake off, and it’s getting better each round.

“It was only my third round of 18 holes this year today,” Printup said. “But, definitely after the first round I felt better. Not feeling any pain, it feels great. Nice and loose, I think I’ll be good to go at the state tournament.”

The key for Printup was just the consistency between the two rounds, shooting both rounds within two shots of each other and sitting right in the top nine throughout the two days.

“I started off a little better today than I did the previous day,” Printup said. “I think the weather just got to me a little bit. But, I pretty much stayed where I was at and that was just enough to get it done.”

The state tournament will be held right back at Mark Twain, which is special for Printup.

“It’s pretty nice that it’s so close,” Printup said. “It definitely does feel better that it’s pretty much in my backyard. I only live a couple minutes away. It does feel pretty good it’s on a course I grew up playing and now I’m here.”

The state meet will wrap up Printup’s high school career, and then it’s onto college where he’ll play Division III golf at Norwich University next year.

For the Horseheads senior the state tournament is a good way to start preparing for college.

“This is definitely a good way to prepare,” Printup said. “I have a couple more tournaments coming up this summer that I think should help me prepare, but this is definitely a good start.”
——
IN TOP PHOTO: Horseheads’ Matt Printup watches his shot on Saturday at the Section IV Medalist Tournament at Mark Twain Golf Course. . . .PHOTOS BY BRIAN FEES