In a way, everything that sophomore Derek Bayley has accomplished thus far in his 18 months playing golf for Washington State was set in motion several years ago in northern Idaho.

A native of Rathdrum, the Cougars’ lowest-scoring golfer through three tournaments has relied on all that he learned back in his home state to ever-so quickly morph into Head Coach Garrett Clegg’s go-to leader.

“Derek and (junior) Nick Mandell are our co-captains,” Clegg said. “Derek is definitely someone the team looks to on the course. He’s very well-spoken and really just leads by example, let’s his play do the talking.”

A sports ‘junkie’ as he calls himself, Bayley morphs his experiences as a three-sport athlete in high school to infuse leadership into a young Cougar golf team and grow as a player. He was quarterback of the football team in the fall and a star on the basketball court in the winter before the grass thawed enough for golf season to begin.

“I hurt my shoulder my junior year of football season and dislocated my shoulder which kind of screwed me over,” Bayley said. “I had to sit out my senior year of football season because I had surgery on it and it basically took away a sport.”

As he nursed his injury, a period of self and physical growth transpired. Through a developed understanding of how to lead a team – never missing a practice or game his senior year while injured – he was able to finally answer the question that had evaded him for the longest time – what his favorite sport was.

“I always had people ask me what my favorite sport was in high school and honestly I never really had an answer because it was always whatever sport I was playing at the time,” Bayley said. “I always took 5-6 months off of golf, but if I had to pick one I enjoyed the most, it was golf and it just happened to be the one I was best at. Right now it’s a new experience of playing golf year round but I love it.”

In short, the rest is history. Bayley became one of the top high school golfers in Idaho and, fueled by his broad frame and natural strength, quickly made waves on the recruiting trail. Clegg found him, and choosing WSU became a no-brainer for Bayley.

“I didn’t want to be too far away from home but at the same time it was more like ‘Where can I succeed the most?’” Bayley said. “I felt like when I came on my visit here that it was a second home for me. I couldn’t think of a better place to play in the Pac-12, which is arguably the best conference in the country, and play for great coaches like Garrett Clegg and Dustin White.”

Bayley holds a tight relationship with Clegg, who praised the individual champion of the Itani Quality Homes Collegiate, held at Palouse Ridge, and all that he’s done to grow as a golfer.

“You have that three month period in the summer where you really play a lot,” Clegg said. “For Derek, it’s just been about learning how to be a golfer because he used to rely on how hard he could hit the ball.”

Never abandoning his humble beginnings and always remembering the role both he and his coaches expect him to fulfil, Bayley has quickly transformed into one of the better players in a loaded Pac-12 conference and flashed the long-term potential he can reach in his fourth year.

“I think he can be a first-team all-Pac-12 player by his senior year,” Clegg said. “And that would most likely make him a first-team All-American just because of how good our conference is.”

A broadcast journalism major, Bayley too wants to see just how far he can go with his golfing career.

“I would love to play golf for a living,” Bayley said. “I think it would just be the sweetest job in the world.”

Though never one to focus on himself primarily, Bayley was eager to describe the goals he has for both himself and his team this year and when he graduates in two years.

“One of my goals at the beginning of the year was to win a golf tournament, and in the first three weeks I’ve already done that,” Bayley said. “So I went in the other day and crossed off that goal and made it winning three tournaments. As a team I really would like to make regionals. We haven’t done that in 12 or 13 years and I’d like to be the one to lead the team there and hopefully to nationals after that.”

Blending that blue-collar work ethic instilled in him with the captaining mentality he found on the football field, there is a rare pairing of both physical and mental strength that not many sophomore athletes have. If Bayley indeed quarterbacks himself to his goals, trace it back to Friday nights in northwest Idaho.