By Bill Sheehan 

Cal State Fullerton's Garrett Boe and Harry Doig are playing the best golf of their lives. 

Boe, a senior from Clovis, was the Big West Player of the Month in February. He has notched four top-5 finishes in his last six tournaments and sports a scoring average of 71.37. 

Doig, an Australian who is a fifth-year senior, leads the team with 70.7 scoring average and has three top-5 finishes in his last half-dozen events. 

The pair are hoping to do some damage at the three-day Big West Men's Golf Championship, which begins Sunday at La Quinta Country Club. Boe and Doig want to lead No. 2-seeded Fullerton to its second team title in four seasons while contending for the individual honors. 

"If we play consistent golf, I think we have a shot. We have beaten a lot of top-50 teams this year. And we're coming off a really good tournament," said Titans head coach Jason Drotter, citing his team's third place at the El Macero Classic in mid-April. Fullerton finished ahead of Long Beach State, which is the Big West's No. 1 seed. 

Boe, 22, said he looks forward to playing at La Quinta, where he posted second- and 10th-place finishes at the last two Big West Championships. "Our team has a good chance to win. Long Beach State has a great No. 1 player in Ian Gilligan, whom I played against in juniors. But I think our 2-4 players are better than theirs." 

"Beating Long Beach State in our last tournament should give us a little momentum," said Doig, 23. 

Boe and Doig have developed a close bond, having roomed together for the last 2 ½ years. Doig even lived with Boe's family in the summer 2021, when Covid-19 pandemic restrictions kept him from traveling home to Ermington, a Sydney suburb 13 miles from the city center. 

They practice and lift 11 weights each day, critique each other's games, use Titleist irons and Odyssey putters, and envision professional golf careers. And while they've each found the path to success, they faced unique challenges along the way. 

Boe's golf swing was 'decimated,' coach says 

Boe's freshman season ended prematurely in March 2020 because of the pandemic shutdown, but he had a sensational sophomore campaign. He led the Titans with a 72.48 scoring average, tied for second at the Big West Championship, earned Big West First Team honors and was named the conference's Tri-Freshman of the Year. 

As a junior, he closed the fall semester with a fourth-place tie at the Hoakalei Country Club Invitational on the Hawaiian island of O'ahu. But when he returned to campus in January 2022 after his winter break, his swing had disappeared. 

"Garrett came back from Christmas break, and his swing was decimated. I've never ever seen a swing completely lost in my 13 years here," said Drotter. 

In chasing the perfect swing, Boe said he overanalyzed things to the point where his constant tinkering had disastrous results. 

"Garrett had been playing so well," said his mother, Jill. "I told him he just needed to get back to where he was before. And he said, 'I don't know where that is now.' It was heartbreaking." 

Drotter told Boe it might take six to eight months to fix his mechanics. Boe quickly got to work, determined to rebuild his swing before the conference championship in early May 2022. 

The 6-foot Boe spent as many as eight hours a day on the range and the golf course. He would hit up to 700 balls a day, then chip and putt before moving onto the course. "There was no golden ticket; it just took a lot of hours," he said.

"I wanted to concentrate on making the ball go where I wanted it to go and less on how my swing looked," said Boe, who turned to Josh Park, his swing coach, and former Titans assistant coach Mark Cobey for help. "We talked about course management and mental approach too." 

Boe averaged a respectable 73.24 and tied for 10th at the conference championship last spring. He continued refining his swing at home last summer. "He would be hitting into a net until nine or 10 at night," said his mother. 

Garrett Boe has four top-5 finishes in his last six tournaments. He had to rebuild his swing last year after it suddenly disappeared. 

Although Boe failed to crack the top 20 in Fullerton's four tournaments last fall, he was convinced it was just a matter of time before he would step up. 

"Once my ball-striking came back, I had more time to work on the rest of my game. My putting has not been great, but I still was consistently finishing in the top 5 this year," he said. "My best golf is ahead of me." 

Drotter praised Boe's efforts to rebuild his swing. "Garrett's turnaround has been miraculous. He's put in more work than any player I've ever had." 

"Garrett has really been dialed in this spring. He can drive a ball 330 yards and makes it look easy. When he is putting well, it's really hard for him not to shoot under par." 

Sydney to southeast Iowa 

While Boe spent his first few years at Fullerton, Harry Doig was hopscotching back and forth between Australia and the U.S. At 18, Doig landed a partial golf scholarship to attend Indian Hills Community College in the southeast Iowa city of Ottumwa. 

"I hired an agency to help me land a scholarship," said Doig. "It was a big commitment to come to another country for four years So I figured if I attended a community college, I could return home in two years if I didn't like it." 

His parents, Paul and Nicole, accompanied him to Iowa for his freshman move-in. "We landed in Des Moines, and we saw nothing but corn on the two-hour drive to Ottumwa. I think they had seen enough of Iowa because a day later, they headed off to Hawaii." 

Indian Hills's golf team roster had an international flavor, with three other Australians and players from France and England. 

The team won its conference in Doig's freshman year and finished second at the National Junior College Athletic Association Division 1 Men's Golf National Tournament in Melbourne, Florida. Doig tied for 20th in individual play. 

Doig committed to attend Fullerton for the 2020-21 season – he also was recruited by Nebraska and Boise State -- before beginning his second year at Indian Hills. But his time in Iowa was cut short when the pandemic hit. 

He traveled to Sydney shortly after the U.S. shutdown began and completed his Indian Hills semester with remote classes. In fall 2020, he began taking Cal State Fullerton courses on Zoom. 

"I was waking up at 4:30 in the morning for my classes, and I remember taking an accounting exam at 2 a.m.," said Doig. 

At this point, Australia was still restricting movement in and out of the island nation. Doig used his student visa to leave for the U.S. but was warned by authorities that Covid restrictions could bar his return to the country. 

Doig arrived at Fullerton in January 2021 and took Zoom classes from his dormitory. He competed in seven tournaments that spring and was second on the team with a 73.14 average. 

Concerned that he might get stuck in Australia if he returned during summer break, Doig lived with Boe's family in Clovis for three months. The two practiced or played golf each day and caddied for each other at tournaments in Central and Northern California. 

Garrett's parents "welcomed me like a son," said Doig. "It was a great experience up there. It had been quite a journey for me. I went from being never so cold in my life (Ottumwa, Iowa) to never so warm in my life (Clovis)."

In his second year at Fullerton, he competed in all 11 tournaments during the 2021-22 season. He averaged 74.27 and tied for second at the Bill Cullum Invitational in Valencia. And with restrictions easing, he was able to return home for Christmas. 

Doig was granted an extra year on the team in 2022-23 because of the NCAA's pandemic rules. He started strongly, tying Long Beach's Gilligan for first place at the Nick Watney Invitational in Fresno in late September. 

Fullerton head coach Jason Drotter calls Harry Doig "a precession-oriented player who plays statistical golf." 

This spring, he's registered a second, a tie for fourth and a tie for fifth in his last six tournaments. "To step up and shoot better scores – I always knew I had it in me," he said. 

"I don't hit it as far as Garrett. I'm usually in the 275-285-yard range," said the 5-foot-8 Doig. "But my drives are consistently straight. Coach Trotter is more lenient with me on course management. He trusts me to make the right decisions." 

Drotter called Doig a precession-oriented player who plays statistical golf. "Harry is strong at ball-striking and hits a lot of fairways and greens. He knows when to take risks, when not to take risks and knows the percentages." 

From driving quarter midgets to driving fairways 

Boe, an only child, didn't begin playing golf until age 12. He raced quarter midget race cars for seven years starting at age 5. 

"I told Garrett, 'I don't have the money to get you into Indy cars," said his father, Greg, who introduced him to golf. "He began taking golf lessons in the seventh grade and joined his middle school's team. Once he got started, he wanted to become outstanding at golf and play all the time." 

Garrett Boe, who hails from Clovis, competed in quarter midget racing from age 5 to 12. He then switched to golf. 

At Buchanan High in Clovis, Boe played varsity golf for four years. As a junior. he was the team MVP and helped Buchanan win the Tri River Athletic Conference title. 

Boe, whose home course is Belmont Country Club in Fresno, received instruction from Cindy Vining, an LGPA teaching professional. 

His mother, Jill, would often drive Boe to tournaments. Once he started making qualifiers for bigger events, they were motoring up and down California and as far away as Nevada and Arizona. 

Greg owns Wheel King, a tire story in Fresno. Jill does bookkeeping at Wheel King and works for Cybersoft Technologies' school nutrition program. 

"Garrett literally had to start over with his swing," said Jill. "He put in a lot of work. He is so regimented and dedicated. It's school, golf and the gym. Eat, sleep and repeat." 

Boe was recruited by several schools, including Fresno State and San Jose State. He said he chose Fullerton because of Drotter and the team's recent success. 

"I liked him as a coach and how he focused on wedges. In college, everyone can drive it 300 yards, or it feels like that. So it often comes down to hitting a wedge and putting." 

Boe, who said he would love to play in the Masters someday, will receive an extra year of golf eligibility because of Covid rules, He is a communication major with an advertising concentration and minor in marketing. He will graduate in spring 2024. 

A 'self-driven' golfer who would play until dark 

Like Boe, Doig was introduced to golf by his father. 

"I would golf every Saturday. At first, Harry, who was 10, wanted to caddy for me," said his dad, Paul. "Soon, he asked if he could hit balls at the range. I had a 7-iron cut down to fit him." 

Doig became a regular at the Ryde-Parramatta Golf Course in West Ryde, a suburb of Sydney in New South Wales state. 

Harry Doig visits Darling Harbour, with the Sydney Harbour Bridge lit up behind him. He hails from Ermington, a nearby suburb. 

Although he played cricket, baseball and touch rugby, Doig remained focused on golf. At age 13, he began working with Bill Exten, the head professional at the New South Wales Golf Club in La Perouse, south of Sydney. 

After the Doig family moved to Ermington, he joined the New South Wales Golf Club. "He would leave school, get on the bus to the course, and practice and play until it was pitch black," said Paul. "We never forced him. He was self-driven and disciplined. The drive has been all him." 

Boe's high school, Marist Brothers Eastwood, didn't have a golf team. He had to find tournaments on his own. 

His father, in a midcareer move, became a lawyer and manages a law firm specializing in insurance litigation for defendants. Nicole, his mother, is a primary school principal. Harry has an older sister, Lauryn, and a younger sister, Stephanie. 

Harry has had a lot of really good experiences," said his mother, Nicole. "We're missing him, but he's living his dream. And as long as he's happy, we're happy." 

Nicole isn't surprised he has found success overseas. "Harry is very adaptable. He has an easy-going, charismatic personality, and he gets along with people." 

Her son hasn't become too Americanized yet, she said. "Sometimes he gets a hard time when he uses some new lingo. He loves the lifestyle in California and the opportunities that it provides." 

Doig met Frances Lahr, a Marquette student and Orange County native, near the Fullerton campus on Thanksgiving weekend in 2021. They have maintained a long-distance relationship; she works as a registered nurse in Austin, Texas. Lahr, who spent last New Year's Eve with Doig in Sydney, would like to relocate to Southern California. 

He will graduate with an economics degree in May, and his parents will attend the ceremony. Drotter said he would like to have Doig serve as assistant coach next season. 

Doig also will try to qualify for the Korn Ferry Tour, which identifies and develops PGA players. He lists Cypress Point in Pebble Beach as No. 1 on his golf course bucket list.