When Rodrigo Barahona joined Mexico’s junior golf tour as a child, he knew then-10-year-old Manuel Barbachano as his extroverted competitor who he always faced in his early matches, as the two consistently locked horns in routine battles for first place on the green.
Now, a decade later, the two juniors have both taken their skills to Foggy Bottom, suiting up for GW and continuing to battle for gold against each other.
The two golfers grew up in Mexico as kids, with Barahona in the northeast region of Monterrey and Barbachano in the northwest region of Mérida. They first crossed paths at age 10 when Barahona joined Mexico’s Junior National Tour, which Barbachano belonged to.
Barahona remembered being stunned by Barbachano’s cow-print golf slacks, which he wore during the first match in which they faced off. The two have battled for first place in tournaments since meeting each other, a friendly rivalry that has continued into their college days, Barahona said.
“It was nice because we’re always fighting for first and second place when we were at the national level as kids, and that’s where our relationship started growing,” Barahona said.
For his sophomore year of high school, Barahona moved to the United States to attend IMG Academy, a sports training boarding school in Florida, where he continued to play golf through high school. Barbachano moved to the United States to attend his freshman year of high school in Maine in 2018 before moving back to Mexico to finish high school at the Madison International School.
He had already committed to GW for his collegiate career in November 2021 when he flew to a tournament in San Diego, California, and ran into Barahona, who said he was only looking to attend college on the West Coast at the time. Barbachano said he was disappointed that him and his golf opponent might be playing collegiate golf from opposite sides of the country.
“I wanted him to come with me,” Barbachano said.
About a month later, Barahona joined GW’s ranks, announcing his commitment in December 2021.
Barbachano said the pair has contrasting leadership styles, with Barahona preferring to work one-on-one with players during practice and Barbachano encouraging newcomers to bond with each other outside of practice. Barahona’s short game is stronger than Barbachano, he said, while his opponent has more powerful shots out of the tee box.
“We are the complete opposite,” Barahona said. “My strength as a player, which is putting, is his main weakness, and his ball striking is phenomenal. It’s so funny when we play together because if we would create a player that was made up in the middle of both of us, he would be the best guy in the game.”
Barahona and Barbachano said their families have also bonded despite living more than 1,000 miles away from each other, their parents mutually supporting each other’s sons and gathering for large dinners together during tournaments.
Barbachano said their families have a joint group chat called “GW: Rodrigo and Manuel,” where they share updates about the performance of the pair during tournaments and cheer for the players over text.
“We have very similar families, in a sense,” Barahona said. “It’s different because where I’m from is from the North, and they’re from the South. So we do have differences in cultures in a sense, but we just get along so well. I don’t know what it’s about, we can just sit at the table with both families and not even watch the time pass and it would just be the end of the day.”
Barahona said he and Barbachano were randomly paired at the Bandon Dunes Invitational located in Bandon, Oregon, last March. The team had to play a 10-hour day in conditions that included freezing rain and 30 miles per hour winds, but Barahona said the rare chance to play together in a college tournament made the dreary experience much brighter.
“Our games are the complete opposite, so we start dying laughing because I make a long putt and he makes a short putt, and we make the same score, and then we start laughing,” Barahona said. “But it was so hard, it was so tough, just in the rain. And so I think we were both suffering together, but at the same time, we looked at each other and we laughed.”
Head Coach Chuck Scheinost said Barbachano pushed Barahona to commit to GW to play golf, praising Barahona’s playing abilities while he healed from an injury and was unable to play.
“He actually helped with Rodrigo because Rodrigo had an injury and got passed over by some schools, and he helped foster Rodrigo into coming to GW and Rodrigo came and visited,” Scheinost said.
Scheinost said the pair have brought their family-like bond and shared background to the team, which welcomed three newcomers this season.
“From their cultural standpoint, where there’s other parts of the world where family is maybe not a priority, in terms of how they rank it,” Scheinost said. “For both Rodrigo and Manuel, that’s a big piece of it, is trying to create more of a family atmosphere here for the team and a group that wants to hang out together and do things together, is a big part of what they’re trying to push and do.”
Scheinost said the two have taken on a leadership role on the team, per his request, helping the three newcomers adjust to Division 1 golf and blending them into the eight-person team, seven of which hail from countries across the globe. Barahona and Barbachano have consistently proven themselves as the team’s top scorers this season, with Barahona tying for second during their season opener in early September and Barahona leading the Revolutionaries in the Monterrey Collegiate Classic on Oct. 25 in his hometown, scoring 221 — despite the team placing last of 12 teams.
“They’re definitely taking that responsibility on of helping the new guys learn how we do things and how we practice and making sure that we’re being serious when we get to practice and getting in the extra time that we need in order to be competitive,” Scheinost said.
