Gamecocks recruit Mason Kucia has eye on state title for Indian Land boys’ golf team
Indian Land golfer Mason Kucia was a 6-foot-1 eighth-grader when he won the Class 4A boys’ state tournament in 2021.
Then, he repeated as a state champ during his freshman year.
Kucia’s sophomore outing wasn’t as successful as he finished outside of the top-ten individually at the state tournament, a result that he knows isn’t indicative of his ability.
Now a junior, Kucia has much bigger goals heading into the 2024 season.
“My main goal is to win a team state title because I’ve won two individually,” Kucia, who now stands 6-4, said. “To improve on last year is a big thing, but I’d like to win a state championship. That’s obviously the main goal.”
Kucia’s goal doesn’t surprise coach Rocky White at all as the University of South Carolina commit has always been team-oriented.
When Kucia won the individual state title back in 2021, he was the lone representative from Indian Land at the competition. The team itself only had four players.
Now, the squad has increased to 14 competitors, and White attributes a lot of that growth to Kucia and his success.
“Mason is the consummate student-athlete, and he works hard on the field, he works hard off the field,” the fourth-year head coach said. “He does all the things he’s supposed to do, so he sets a great example for the other student-athletes. He goes to all the football games, all the basketball games. He supports those guys. He’s the kind of guy that you want to go pull for.”
“With his growth height-wise the last couple of years, he’s had to completely change his swing,” White added. “And people don’t understand just how hard that is. But he’s worked to keep himself at the top of his game.”
The growth spurt has had a major effect on Kucia, who was about 5-foot-9 when he began focusing on golf during the summer before his seventh-grade year.
Not only has he had to deal with his growth and developing a new swing, but the pressure of high expectations after back-to-back state championships had its own weight as well.
However, Kucia turned that weight into motivation to improve.
“I feel like with the success, there’s a lot of pressure to it,” Kucia said. “I kind of put pressure on myself, and when recruiting started for college, I felt pressure from coaches watching me. Pushing all that to the side is very important. .I just had to bear it out and work on my swing. I had some pressure, but I enjoyed it. I definitely embraced it.”
Obviously, Kucia will not be doing this alone.
Kucia is a part of the Warriors’ five-player travel team along with senior Avery Sizemore, juniors Declan Nusz and Deaton Reed, and sophomore Gaines Reed.
The Reed brothers have been on the team for the past two seasons, with Deaton winning the region last year.
Indian Land also has a “region crew” that is comprised of additional members of the boys’ golf team who play in nine-hole region matches to showcase their talents and possibly challenge a member of the travel squad for their spot.
“The main thing for each kid is that everybody is pushing each other but everyone is pulling for each other,” White, the Warriors’ coach, said. “We’ve had some team meetings where we talk about communication. We talked about how do you prevent big numbers? How do you have a stronger mental game so you know you’re not going to put yourself in a position that you’re relying on a miracle shot. Take your punishment, punch it out, make a bogey and go to the next hole instead of trying a miracle shot and now you’re at a double- or triple-bogey.”
Kucia and Indian Land’s travel team next play at Charlotte’s Carmel Country Club on Monday, while the region crew will play at the JV Bengal Invitational hosted by Blythewood High School on the same day in Columbia.