FROM THE NEST | SUMMER 2023 | 31 CHRISTA NEU A 4-under par 140 tied Aidan Oehrle ’25 for second at Lafayette’s ABARTA Coca-Cola Collegiate Invitational and helped the Mountain Hawks capture their third team title this past season. That performance earned the Pittsburgh native an honorable mention for Patriot League Men’s Golfer of the Week for the week of April 19. Oehrle and his teammates capped the season qualifying for the NCAA Las Vegas Regional in May. Major: Finance What’s your dream job? Professional golfer. When did you get started in golf? I’ve been golfing since I could walk. My dad started around 25, but my grandfather always played, so it’s been in the family. There’s a picture of me when I first learned to walk on a putting green with a little putter. What’s one fun fact that people may not know about you? I’m a twin, but I feel like everyone knows that I have a twin sister. … I can play the guitar. I can do a front flip. You played in the 2021 U.S. Junior Amateur. How did you qualify and what was that experience like? They do 18 holes, a local qualifier. The top two normally go. I was second. I shot a 3-under [par] in that qualifier, and then the tournament was at a country club in North Carolina. … You’re treated like a pro. You have a whole locker for yourself. You get things with your name on them, a bunch of gifts. … You’re playing with the world’s best. I played with the number one ranked European golfer both days, and it almost seemed like he was already a pro. That was definitely a cool experience to be with top players and knowing that I got myself there, I have the capability to be playing with them. Lehigh men’s golf just won its first Patriot League title in a decade. What was it like to be part of that? It was unbelievable. … [On the final hole] I left my birdie putt this short (motioning an inch with his index finger and thumb), and I was kind of mad because I thought maybe we would need that to win. But then I’m like, ‘What’s the deal?’ [Learning from teammate Edmund Broderick ’24 that they were ahead by five strokes,] I kind of lost it. I started going crazy, freaking out like, ‘Wow, we did it!’ I had to walk back to the clubhouse, and I ran over to my team before I even put the scores in. I was so excited, and we all started hugging each other, some of them were crying. It was a crazy feeling to have such a big part in it, to finish in third individually and have all my scores count. I felt like I was a big part. It was pretty awesome, a pretty cool feeling. What’s your proudest athletic achievement so far? Your high school team won a state championship. You played in the junior amateur. Won a Patriot League title. It would have to be winning the Patriot League because that’s the whole goal when you come to Lehigh. That’s all you really talk about the whole year—from the first meeting all throughout the year, that’s the end goal.—Stephen Gross From Junior Amateur to Patriot League Champion Second-year golfer Aidan Oehrle ’25 helped Lehigh earn its first Patriot League men’s golf title since 2013 and a trip to Las Vegas. STUDENT ATHLETE PROFILE
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