Athlete of the Week: Cardinal Mooney golfer Nicolas ‘Nico’ Bencomo

SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) - Nicolas “Nico” Bencomo is a standout on the golf course for the Cardinal Mooney Catholic High School Cougars boys golf team.

He’s only a junior, and his head coach says he’s a highly touted prospect for colleges. Among the colleges giving him recruiting looks are Stanford University, Ole Miss, and Texas Christian University.

“The sky’s the limit for him,” Drew Mitchell, head boys golf coach, said. He still has a lot of time to even pursue something even further.”

Bencomo also gets to take the course with one of his best friends that he’s known since elementary school, Tommy Tyler. We first introduced you to him two weeks ago.

Tyler and Bencomo have been friends since they were in elementary school.

“We’re all pretty much members of the same club,” Bencomo said. “So, we play with each other and we’ve been playing with each other in the offseason too.”

However, there will be some changes for the two after this school year. Tyler is a high school senior and Bencomo is a high school junior. Tyler will be moving on to the next phase of his life next spring, but he knows his best friend will be just fine and keep leading the way.

“We always try to have these playing contests and I’m definitely going to miss that,” Tyler said. It’s wonderful playing with him and competing all of my life.”

Bencomo will miss playing with Tyler as often as they do as well, but he says he’s excited to begin building his own future and leading the charge for his team on the course. “The process has just begun,” Bencomo said.

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