Central's Simmons to sign to play golf at Evansville

~ A scholarship validated the decision to switch sports.

Tim Simmons' decision to switch from baseball to golf will be validated Thursday when he signs a letter of intent to play Division I golf next year.

Simmons, who graduated from Central in May, will sign to play golf at the University of Evansville.

"I played baseball my freshman year and played a lot of JV and practiced with the varsity for Central," Simmons said. "When I decided to stop playing and do golf competitively in high school and the summer, I told my parents that if I was to switch, I still thought I could go somewhere and play. I just didn't know where."

Simmons entertained offers from smaller schools over the last year, but held out hope for a bigger fish. He said he talked with John A. Logan College in Carterville, Ill., Hannibal-LaGrange College in Hannibal, Mo., and Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kan.

"I had been recruited pretty hard by some smaller schools and I kept laying off and laying off," Simmons said. "The guys I work with on my golf swing and everything like this, I told them I think I can do this. I still think that someone out there I can play for and I know I've got the game.

"I just held out and it was really getting close to crunch time. Then finally Evansville came through."

Evansville first approached Simmons when the team was in town for the Missouri Valley Conference tournament at Dalhousie Golf Club. Then the Evansville coach watched Simmons play the SEMO Conference tournament, where he finished second, a shot behind Jackson's Tanner Werner. That sparked a whirlwind three weeks where Simmons made trips to Evansville during three consecutive weeks.

"It went very quick," Simmons said. "It was a really good fit. The main thing through the whole recruiting process, this was the first coach I really bonded with that I could play four years of golf with this guy and not have any problems, and that was a huge thing for me."

Simmons said that Southern Illinois Carbondale contacted him the day he planned to commit verbally to Evansville, but he'd already made up his mind.

Simmons qualified for the state tournament three straight years, with his best performance coming this year when he finished tied for 19th. He plans to head to Evansville about a week before classes start Aug. 26, and is excited to start his college career.

"In college golf, you've got to get used to playing on the road all the time," he said. "And you don't always have everyone there. You just kind of have to pick it up yourself and kind of mature. That's a big difference from playing at home."