Area golfer signs letter of intent

ALBANY — Albany golfer Bill Sharpe signed his national letter of intent to play at Lee University on Wednesday afternoon at Doublegate Country Club.

Sharpe spent his first two years of high school at Deerfield-Windsor School before being home-schooled and joining the dual enrollment program at Darton State College. He spent time on the Southeastern Junior Golf Tour and the American Junior Golf Association.

He was contacted by Lee in early June and visited the campus in July. Sharpe informed Lee of his commitment in October.

“I ended up visiting five or six schools but I liked the commitment level that Lee had,” Sharpe said. “The coach was very nice and they were very aggressive in trying to recruit me. They are ranked very well in the country, play in a lot of good tournaments and have had very good players. They have a lot of players who have improved since they have been there. That was very important to me.”

In addition to being recruited by Lee, he also received interest from Marshall University, Texas State, Valdosta State, Darton and Georgia Southwestern.

Sharpe will play in a couple more junior tournaments before enrolling at Lee in the fall of 2016.

“The mindset does change a little bit,” he said. “Up until now, (earning a scholarship) is always the main focus at the front of your mind. Now, I am past that and my goals will be changing. I will be setting other goals for myself.”