Nassau CC coach Dell Aquila a true Master

AUGUSTA, Ga.

Having been a junior college golf coach for 40 years, Larry Dell Aquila has been in position to have seen everything, but nothing like what he has seen this week. He finally got to be here to witness one of his former golfers in the Masters.

Dell Aquila flew to Augusta Monday so he could spend the week following Arjun Atwal, the golfer whom Dell Aquila recruited from Clarke High School to Nassau Community College in 1992. Yesterday, Dell Aquila walked along as Atwal played a practice round with Tiger Woods and Mark O'Meara. "He really hit it well," the coach said.

"This is the highlight," he said. Even for a big sports fan who attended the Magic Johnson-Larry Bird Final Four and the Bucky Dent game at Fenway Park, this week topped everything. "I told my wife, this is the highlight, no matter what he does."

It turns out that Dell Aquila will not get to watch Atwal tee it up with Sergio Garcia and Robert Karlsson in the first round Thursday. Instead, he will be on a flight home because his mother died.

Still, just having been here was a reward for a coaching career that has helped hundreds of college students find their way -- many into the golf business.

"Just about our whole team got in it," said Bill Bresnan, head pro at Colonial Springs Country Club, a former Nassau CC golfer. "He motivated us."

"I think I motivate them by fear," the coach said, laughing.

Dell Aquila's teams have won four national championships. In 1995, he was inducted into the National Junior College Athletic Association Golf Coaches Hall of Fame. He didn't get there by being a softie.

He tolerates no smoking or drinking. Atwal recalls when a teammate was held out of the national tournament because he missed curfew -- possibly costing Nassau the title. Big deal, the coach says. "The kid remembers it. Every single time we meet he says, 'Coach, you were 100 percent right,' " Dell Aquila said.

And don't even think about throwing a club around him.

"He challenged us every day. He helped us out with our school schedules, he got us out there playing every day," said Bresnan, one of the many who still consider the coach a friend.

Atwal has called Dell Aquila a second father. In his first PGA Tour event, at Westchester Country Club, Atwal was among the first-round leaders, with Dell Aquila carrying his bag.

The coach, a 12 handicapper, is a student of the game that he took up in the 1960s, when he was playing baseball for an Air Force squad. Dell Aquila went to a golf course with teammates and was hooked. After the service, he taught and coached wrestling and bowling at Nassau. He took over the golf team when athletic director Bruce DuBois gave it up.

Dell Aquila never messes with a golfer's swing unless something is really wrong. He managed to get an impressive practice facility built on campus. He helps his players find scholarships. He once took a sabbatical to study under Hall of Fame golf instructor Jim Flick and Martin Hall, now a star on Golf Channel. To help his golfers, he always picks up pointers when he watches the pros. He had quite an education this week.