Reno, Nevada, and Perth, Western Australia, have very little in common.
Reno is in the Northern Hemisphere, has all four seasons, and has a population of 264,000. Perth, on the other hand, is in the Southern Hemisphere, has only two seasons, and is over nine times larger than Reno, with a population of 2.2 million.
However, for Nevada golfer Tom Patterson, both places have a key similarity for him: he calls both places “home.”
“(Moving to Reno in 2019) was definitely a bit of a change,” Patterson said. “It’s a long way from home. Where I'm from, the ocean is two minutes away so it's very easy to know where the ocean is and that kind of stuff. To me, the weather is a bit weird here.”
Despite this major change in Patterson’s life, he says that it wasn’t really too hard to adjust to his new home.
“I've been pretty privileged,” Patterson said. “I'd been on a trip to Orlando when I was 12 or 13 with my family, and then I'd been on a trip when I was maybe 15 or 16 to New York, which I was also very privileged to go on. So I'd had a little bit of a glimpse of what life over here is like.”
Besides, even if his move to Reno was the first time he had ever been to the U.S., Patterson doesn’t believe it would have been very hard to adjust anyways, since Australia and the United States are similar culturally.
“The biggest difference between America and Australia is the people. It's hard to put a finger on what is different, but Aussies tend to be more blunt and straight to the point,” he said. “Culturally, though, Australia’s just kind of the same as everywhere else.”
When asked why he chose Nevada over other offers such as James Madison and Arkansas State, Patterson stated that, at first, it was because Nevada gave him the best scholarship offer that he could get.
“When I got recruited here, we were a top 50 school and then my freshman year we ended up 30th in the nation, which was really cool to be a part of. So that's kind of why just because it was a very good school golf-wise and helped me financially,” he explained.
Last season, Patterson was able to secure a couple of top 25 finishes, helping with the team’s continued growth.
Despite initially coming to Reno due to opportunity and finances, Patterson has come to love the “Biggest Little City.”
“I kind of went into it with the mindset that it would be much smaller,” Patterson said. “Obviously we are still a college town, but it's definitely blown me away with a lot of the support for the teams. It’s awesome to see how everyone plays their role within the Wolf Pack community. People are always eager to inquire about how the golf team and our other teams are doing and we're always more than welcome to interact and meet new people.”
Patterson also has a love-hate relationship with the ever-changing Northern Nevada weather conditions. “We never get to see snow back home in Perth, so it’s cool to see all four seasons blossom in Reno,” he said. “Snow is cool, but as a golfer we like to keep it to a minimum, since it messes things up a lot. I’m also not a big fan of the cold, either.”
As for his single favorite thing about northern Nevada, Patterson pointed the finger straight at one place.
“Lake Tahoe, definitely. The ocean will always be number one for me, but (Tahoe) is beautiful. I think Tahoe was very much underrated,” he said. “You can swim at one end of the lake and you can have snow on the mountains on the other side. It's kind of a cool phenomenon to be a part of.”
When asked what his plans were after college, Patterson said the U.S. is more than just a quick stop for him. Rather, it may become his permanent home.
“I would like to stay in America when I graduate, but I have to wait and see if a graduate position arises, or if I can get employment somewhere local. But I would like to stay here long-term, if I can,” he said.
Patterson hopes to graduate this summer with a degree in international business and would like to work in Human Resources.