Tag: college

Meet Jackson Koivun, the freshman rewriting the record books at Auburn

The Auburn men’s golf team has never had a golfer like Koivun.

The Auburn men’s golf team has never had a golfer like Jackson Koivun.

Although he’s only a freshman and hasn’t even completed his inaugural season in college, Koivun is making his mark as one of the best Tigers in program history. He had one of the best regular seasons in team history, and he’s prepared to lead the top-ranked Tigers into the SEC Championship and NCAA postseason.

All he has to do is continue to play like he has in his first 10 events.

Look no further than the Auburn record books, which is going to need plenty of updating after this season.

Just in Auburn’s 10 regular-season events, Koivun has set the freshman records for top-10 finishes (9), rounds in the 60s (13) and sub-par rounds (21).

But forget just freshman records. Koivun is on pace to break the single-season scoring average mark (he’s at 69.47; the old mark is Brendan Valdes at 70.03 last year); Koivun has twice tied the 54-hole tournament scoring mark of 17 under and if he continues at his current pace, he could set the mark for single-season sub-par rounds (24), rounds in the 60s (16) and top-10 finishes (9).

College golf: 2024 NCAA men’s conference championship dates and results

“He came out of high school as the best junior in the country, and he’s just very mature,” Auburn coach Nick Clinard said. “He’s got a calmness and maturity about him on and off the golf course.”

A lot of those attributes Clinard credits to Koivun are things he has worked on since arriving on campus.

Last summer, Koivun struggled during the Elite Amateur Series. His best showing was at the Western Amateur, where he had three rounds in the 60s but still missed the match-play cut.

Heading into the U.S. Amateur, he didn’t have many expectations, but whatever he did had, he blew them out of the water.

“You know, you get up there and you see all of these names,” Koivun said. “All these people that have done all these things. But I started making a run, and it opened my eyes that I belong here and I can do great things as an amateur.”

2023 U.S. Amateur
Jackson Koivun shakes hands with Blades Brown’s caddie Jack Bethmann after Koivun during the round of 32 of the 2023 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills. (Photo: Chris Keane/USGA)

Koivun earned the No. 32 seed for match play and won 1 up in the Round of 64. Then he took down top-seeded Blades Brown 4 and 3 in the Round of 32. Up next, he dispatched Matthew Sutherland in 19 holes to move on to the quarterfinals. Then, he took on Nick Dunlap and gave the eventual champion his hardest match of the week, losing in 19 holes.

But Koivun’s mentality changed. He grew tougher and learned a lot about himself. He was ready to compete on the biggest stage and could battle with the best in the amateur game.

And that’s exactly what he has done this season.

In his first collegiate start, he finished T-2 at the Mirabel Maui Jim in Arizona. He added two more top-10 finishes and a T-19 to close out the fall.

The spring has been even better. He has lost to only 10 golfers in six starts, picked up his first victory at the Wake Forest Invitational at Pinehurst No. 2 and his worst finish is T-4. He’s squarely in contention for the Phil Mickelson Award, given to the nation’s top freshman, and the Fred Haskins Award, given to the nation’s top player.

“It’s great to play good golf in the fall and the spring,” Koivun said, “but nationals is where it’s all at. It’s make or break. That’s where my attention has been at.”

Clinard said Koivun’s practice has improved since he got to Auburn, meaning he’s more focused during practice and not just pounding golf balls on the range like a lot of juniors do. Having one of the best teams int he country helps, too, with many of his teammates also pushing Koivun.

Qualifying rounds can be pretty competitive, leading to some animated competition between teammates, but all of that has pushed Koivun to be one of the best golfers in the country this year. As a squad, Auburn has lost to only four teams all season.

If the rankings are any indication, SECs should come down to No. 1 Auburn and No. 2 Vanderbilt for the title. Perhaps Koivun will match up with Vanderbilt superstar and World No. 1 Gordon Sargent come match play.

It’s something he would welcome because he knows it would be a growing experience, win or lose.

Auburn’s Jackson Koivun. (Photo: Lucas Peltier)

Koivun’s father, George, taught him the game. Koivun guesses the first time he beat his dad was when he was 7, but he attributes where he is now to his parents for their teaching and guidance. Clinard said that guidance is a big foundation for Koivun, and he has only grown as he has come into his own.

“He’s like a sponge,” Clinard said of Koivun. “He wants to learn. He wants to get better. He wants to know what it’s going to be like on Tour and what it’s going to be like when pins are tucked and greens are firmer and faster. And what he has to do to win, not just play well.”

Those lessons instilled in Koivun since his junior days have grown as he has gotten comfortable in college, and he has become one of the best amateurs in the game.

Koivun has put together one of the best seasons in Auburn history, but as he acknowledges, it’s what he does in the postseason that matters the most.

New Mexico State’s Emma Bunch has won five straight tournament this spring

She has lost to only 26 players in 10 starts this season.

Emma Bunch has played against 463 golfers this spring. She hasn’t lost to a single one.

Bunch, a sophomore at New Mexico State, has been dominant since the calendar turned to 2024. She has played in five tournaments and won all five, including her latest win Wednesday in the Conference USA Championship, winning by a shot over Sam Houston’s Jennifer Herbst at High Meadow Ranch Golf Club in Magnolia, Texas. 

No other Division I women’s college golfer has more than four victories this year. Bunch is in a world of her own.

She started the spring with a win at the GCU Invitational, shooting 14 under. The next week, it was her second straight victory at the Momentum Transportation UNF Collegiate. No. 3 came at the Ping/ASU Invitational. Then the fourth straight was at the Wyoming Cowgirl Classic before her conference crown marked the fifth straight win.

Bunch’s spring wasn’t anything to blink at, either. She finished runner-up in each of her first two starts. Her worst finish was 15th at the Golfweek Red Sky Classic. She added another pair of top 10s before the winter break.

To sum it up, Bunch’s record this year is five wins, two runner-up finishes, eight top 5s and nine top 10s. She has lost to only 26 players in 10 starts.

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Auburn men win Mossy Oak Collegiate while sweeping top 5 individual spots

There’s a reason Auburn is the top-ranked team in men’s college golf.

There’s a reason Auburn is the top-ranked team in men’s college golf.

The Tigers won the Mossy Oak Collegiate on Tuesday by 34 shots, shooting 46 under to win at Mossy Oak Golf Course in West Point, Mississippi. It’s Auburn’s fourth consecutive win and the seventh of the season, but perhaps more impressive is how the Tigers finished on the individual leaderboard.

The five players in Auburn’s lineup finished T-1, T-1, 3, 4 and 5. That’s right. The Tigers swept the top-five spots in the individual competition. And their individual placed T-7.

J.M. Butler and Brendan Valdes shared medalist honors, shooting 12-under 204. Freshman Jackson Koivun was two shots back at 10 under, his ninth top-10 finish of the season. Carson Bacha was fourth at 9 under and Josiah Gilbert placed fifth at 7 under.

Reed Lotter was the individual and shot 5 under.

“Not to my knowledge has that been done,” said Auburn coach Nick Clinard. “Twenty-three years of coaching, and it’s the first time it has happened to me. It’s kind of crazy. But obviously proud of the team and how they played.”

Resident college golf historian College Golf Book on social media hasn’t been able to find another instance of this happening on the men’s side, let alone four of a team’s individuals placing in the top five.

However, he did find a women’s team that accomplished the feat in the fall of 2015, albeit in a smaller field.

Ole Miss placed second in the team competition while Cincinnati finished third.

For Auburn, it’s another signature victory as the team heads toward the SEC Championship next week.

“These guys push each other,” Clinard said. “Iron sharpens iron. It’s something that they challenge each other and learn from each other, too.”

Mossy Oak Golf Course is ranked 43rd on the Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play: Top 100 U.S. public-access courses. It’s also ranked No. 2 on Mississippi’s top public-access courses in the Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play: State-by-state rankings for public-access layouts.

Florida State’s Luke Clanton becomes first Seminole to win three straight events

Not a bad time to be in Tallahassee.

No one in college golf has been better this spring than Luke Clanton.

The sophomore captured his third straight tournament victory Tuesday, winning the Lewis Chitengwa Memorial at Birdwood Golf Course in Charlottesville, Virginia. Clanton shot 15-under 198, beating Tennessee’s Bryce Lewis by five shots to win.

Clanton is the first Seminole in school history to win three straight events. Over his last nine rounds played, Clanton has seven rounds in the 60s.

In addition to his three victories this spring, Clanton tied for eighth at the Amer Ari in Hawaii and finished T-7 at the Watersound Invitational. After a slower start to the year, Clanton now has put himself squarely in the conversation for the Haskins Award, given to the best player in men’s college golf.

It has been a banner week for the Seminoles.

On Saturday, sophomore Lottie Woad birdied three of her final four holes to claim the fifth Augusta National Women’s Amateur title. She threw out the first pitch Tuesday night at the Florida State home baseball game.

Earlier in the day, Clanton claimed win No. 3 on the year.

Not a bad time to be in Tallahassee.

A pair of 61s in college golf, including a 23-shot turnaround in one day (before a WD, too)

An 84. A 61. And a WD? By the same player?

Dartmouth’s Tyler Brand has a story he’s going to be able to tell forever.

Playing at the Princeton Invitational at Springdale Golf Club in New Jersey, he shot 13-over 84 in the opening round on Saturday morning. However, it was the first of 36 holes that day, so there was a quick turnaround before the afternoon 18.

And how different that afternoon was — 23 shots different.

Brand shot 10-under 61 in the afternoon, an incredible improvement in a single day. A 3-over total after 36 holes was not too shabby after his start. With eight birdies and an eagle, Brand set a course record.

But that wasn’t the end of Brand’s story. He ended up withdrawing from the tournament after being injured Sunday in the final round. He suffered a concussion after walking into a tree branch with his head down and was unable to finish.

Again. What a story.

And Brand wasn’t the only golfer to shoot 61 this week. On Monday, Michigan’s Monet Chun shot 10-under 61 during the second round of the Chattanooga Classic at Council Fire Golf Club in Tennessee. And similar to Brand, Chun had a 13-shot improvement in the second round compared to her opening 3-over 74.

Chun had 11 birdies and a bogey in her 61, which is tied for the second-lowest round by a female golfer in NCAA history. It trails only North Carolina State’s Lauren Olivares Leon, who shot 60 in the fall at the Cougar Classic.

The tee gift at this college golf tournament? Solar eclipse sunglasses

Can you play golf during a solar eclipse?

Brent Nicosen first realized there was something going on when he got a call from a fellow coach struggling to find hotel rooms.

The University of Indianapolis, where Nicosen coaches the men’s and women’s golf teams, always hosts the Ken Partridge Invitational in early April as one of the men’s teams last tune-ups before postseason play begins. Sixteen other teams, as well as an “A” and “B” team from Indianapolis, will compete at Purgatory Golf Club beginning Sunday in a three-day, 54-hole event.

However, during Monday’s round, there’s going to be a lot more than a golf tournament going on.

Purgatory Golf Club is in Noblesville, Indiana, just north of Indianapolis. The course is also in the path of totality for the solar eclipse, which is occurring throughout the United States on Monday afternoon. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of Earth, totally or partially.

Between roughly 3:06-3:10 p.m. ET at Purgatory, the day will turn to night, as 100 percent of the Sun will be covered by the Moon. Even before and after totality, it will seem as if the sun is setting and then rising again in the middle of the afternoon.

The eclipse is predicted to chart along a 115-mile-wide path of totality, shrouding portions of Mexico, the United States and Canada in unnatural darkness and unveiling the sun’s elusive outermost layer for a brief moment, USA TODAY reported.

“I thought it was really odd all the hotels were booked, so we started doing research and then realized what was going on,” Nicosen said. “That’s when we started talking about it and figured this could be a cool thing.”

Nicosen said the plan is for tee times to be a bit later Monday so players will be on the course during the eclipse. Although they may have to stop play for some time, it’s well worth it for the phenomenon.

The Hamilton County Sports Authority donated sunglasses for every player in the field, so golfers will be able to put on the shades to look safely at the eclipse when it begins and throughout the course of the event. Nicosen also reached out to meteorologists in the area to get a better idea of how it would affect the golf tournament and what to expect and to get safety tips for everyone involved.

“It’s just going to be like a rain delay or a fog delay, like any delay we could have,” Nicosen said. “I think we’ll just hold in place. That’s the game plan right now.”

Last month, Nicosen led the men’s team to a victory at an event featuring five freshmen in the lineup. Now, he gets to host a tournament during a solar eclipse.

“Checking two more boxes off the career list,” Nicosen said.

Annika Foundation announces More Than Golf Invitational featuring mid-major conference champions

The tournament course, Old Barnwell Golf Club, is also the site of the Annika Development Program.

The Annika Foundation announced a new women’s college golf tournament for mid-major programs, the More Than Golf Invitational, co-hosted by Augusta University and Columbia University. The event will take place March 27-30, 2025, at Old Barnwell Golf Club in Aiken, South Carolina.

The individual medalist will receive up to three complimentary starts on the Annika Women’s All Pro Tour throughout the summer.

“The More Than Golf Invitational speaks to the heart of our mission — to develop, empower and advance young women through golf and in life — and we are very excited to kick things off next year at Old Barnwell,” said Annika Sorenstam. “We’re grateful to our partners at Old Barnwell and our host universities, Augusta and Columbia, for helping us make this dream a reality. This tournament will give the student-athletes a chance to test themselves at a premier golf venue, while providing memorable experiences, life, and career advice.”

Planned programming at the More Than Golf Invitational will include relationship building opportunities through a college-am to be held before the tournament, as well as an executive women’s reception and dinner where players will have the chance to meet and develop relationships with successful women across a variety of industries.

The More Than Golf Invitational will host 12 teams, including those from Augusta and Columbia. Each year, 10 conference champions from selected mid-major conferences will receive invitations to participate. The following year, 10 other mid-major conferences will receive invitations to play. The 2024 team champions from the following conferences will receive invitations to play in the inaugural More Than Golf Invitational: ASUN, Big East, Big Sky, Conference USA, Horizon League, Metro Atlantic Athletic, Mountain West, Patriot League, Southern and Summit League.

“The missions of The Annika Foundation and Old Barnwell synergize perfectly with the More Than Golf Invitational — creating a once in a lifetime competitive experience that hopefully impacts its participants far beyond the course of play,” said Augusta coach Caroline Haase-Hegg. “We’re thrilled to co-host this event with Columbia University and create a deserved opportunity for these student athletes to take center stage.”

The tournament course, Old Barnwell Golf Club, is also the site of the Annika Development Program, which launched in 2023. Through the program, the Annika Foundation provides four ambassadors each year with the opportunity to continue their pursuit of a professional golf career. Old Barnwell, which opened in 2023, is a mission-driven club focused on bringing people together through golf.

College teammates Scottie Scheffler, Beau Hossler recall almost fighting during tournament at Texas

“No, Coach Fields didn’t exaggerate.”

HOUSTON — The seriousness of the encounter depends on who tells the story.

Scottie Scheffler and Beau Hossler almost came to blows on the golf course when they were teammates in college. On a podcast appearance a couple months ago, Longhorns’ coach John Fields said it would’ve been a “battle of the titans.”

Scheffler is now the No. 1 golfer in the world and sits at 5-under 65 and T-2 after the morning wave of the 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open at Memorial Park Golf Course. Hossler, who is searching for his first Tour victory, opened with a 4-under performance.

Following their rounds, they both recalled the events of that day, and Hossler said his former coach may have deflated the situation.

In the spring of 2015, Texas was playing at a one-day event in Lubbock, with then-junior Hossler and freshman Scheffler paired together for the morning and afternoon sessions.

“We were playing this mess-around tournament before the regional,” Hossler said. “Basically, we were both playing a match. I wasn’t playing him, I was playing a New Mexico kid and he was playing a New Mexico kid. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Lubbock, but it’s very, very, very windy.

“I hit one on the water on 18, which was the ninth hole. You couldn’t even — it was so windy you couldn’t hear each other from however far apart, so I didn’t even like announce what ball I was playing but I just hit. Two holes later, No. 2 is kind of this blind par-5 I think. We both hit it down the middle and whatever. I walked past the first ball, I walked to the second ball, it’s 10 yards in front. He hits the ball in the back and then I realized that that was not my ball that I was standing next to. We had different markings, but we both were playing a Titleist whatever, 3 with a Longhorn on it. One had a marking, and mine didn’t.”

Houston Open: Photos | Best merchandise

Added Fields on the podcast: “You would’ve thought Mount Vesuvius just went off, like we had a volcano 15 yards below us. Scheffler got so mad when he figured out that he’d hit the wrong ball, he ran up to the green, 260 yards on a dead sprint, picked up the ball, ran back, and threw it at Beau’s feet. Beau goes ahead and hits the right shot, and Scottie has lost the hole now. He’d just lost a hole, but it’s killing him. And now, they’re jawing against each other on the way up (to the green), and finally on the next hole, on the par-3, I told Beau, ‘We are not going another step farther until you apologize to Scottie for that.'”

Hossler told his coach he didn’t think he needed to apologize.

“He wasn’t happy,” Hossler said of Scheffler. “I was like, ‘Well, listen, you’re the one who hit the wrong ball.’ I understand like it’s not a — but like you hit it, I didn’t. And it was a bad deal. It didn’t mean anything, but it was just — we’re really competitive, both of us. That was the really cool part about our golf team at Texas, it was like every player on the team was like either a very good player or a pretty good player that was very competitive. We wanted to kick each other’s ass all the time.”

“I don’t blame him for not being happy about it. I still think it was his fault, he’s the only one who hit the wrong ball. I agree I should have checked closer that it was — that that was actually my ball, but one way or the other it’s a good story. The good part about friends usually is that lasted — he was pissed off and I was pissed off for about two hours and once we got on the plane home, it was OK.”

2024 Texas Children's Houston Open
Scottie Scheffler chips on the first green in the first round of the 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open golf tournament. (Photo: Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports)

Although he didn’t get as descriptive, Scheffler said he recalls the day and how Fields’ story was true.

“I’d love to hear Beau’s side because we do like talking about it,” Scheffler said. “It was just one of those moments where we had been around each other I think for so long and you’re in the heat of the moment, you’re out there competing and something happens. Yeah, it’s pretty funny to look back on though, we get a good kick out of it.

“At the time we both played Titleist balls, and I had been playing the same number the whole day and he had a different number and switched unknown to me. Just one of those deals. When you’re around each other that much, stuff like that, mistakes happen.”

Texas made match play at the NCAA Championship that season, and the next year Hossler went on to win the Haskins Award. However, as Fields and Hossler. mentioned, it was two competitors going at it in the heat of the moment.

2024 Texas Children's Houston Open
Beau Hossler of the United States hits a tee shot on the 12th hole during the first round of the Texas Children’s Houston Open at Memorial Park Golf Course on March 28, 2024 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images)

“Scottie’s one of my really good friends,” Hossler said. “We’ve had so many … we’ve grown up literally since we were probably 10 and 9 years old together, he’s only a year behind me. We played a couple years at Texas, but we grew up playing the same tournaments and now we’ve been out here on Tour together. He’s the best. He’s obviously having tremendous success, I’m happy for him. It’s a good story.

“But no, Coach Fields didn’t exaggerate.”

LSU’s Ingrid Lindblad eyes ANWA redemption, where the World’s No. 1 amateur has unfinished business

One last shot.

As the world’s top-ranked amateur, Ingrid Lindblad has faced hundreds of daunting opening tee shots in her life. There’s one that paints a canvas in her memory.

It vividly comes to life inside Lindblad’s head. It’s intimidating and historic, demanding yet memorable. Millions have observed it, many even mimicking it in their own head, but few have attempted it. It’s one Lindblad, 23, replays over and over again.

After winning by four shots at the second stage of LPGA Q-School in November, Lindblad had every reason to forgo the spring semester of her final collegiate season and turn professional. Instead, she remained loyal to LSU, where she’s a graduate student.

She has unfinished business. She wants to win another SEC Championship. She wants to win a national title.

Bigger than all, she wants one closing stab to conquer the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. And that starts with the opening tee shot on the par-4 first, named Tea Olive.

“You’ve got that bunker right, and then if you’re a drawer and can’t carry that bunker, you have a hard time finding the fairway,” Lindblad said. “You want to hit a fade off the tee. Being the first hole, you want to get off to a good start.”

The opening shot is what first comes to mind when Lindblad thinks about Augusta National. It’s the place where she was the most nervous before hitting a shot in her career. It’s also a shot she has faced twice, overcoming the hole both times en route to top-three finishes.

Another shot at ANWA after two top-three finishes

Lindblad’s record at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur is stellar. In 2021, she finished T-3 and a shot out of a playoff. The next year, she shot 68 in the final round with two eagles to finish T-2 and a shot behind the winner.

Last year was an anomaly, as she missed the 36-hole cut and didn’t get to head to Augusta National Golf Club on Saturday and hit that first tee shot. It has been on her mind ever since.

With the inaugural ANWA debuting in 2019, the first two rounds take place at Champions Retreat Golf Club, nestled 15 miles up the road in Evans, Georgia. Only the top-30 players after 36 holes get to play the final round at Augusta National.

That’s why missing the cut in 2023 laid the groundwork for her to remain an amateur.

Lindblad has been one of the best college golfers in the country since she stepped on campus in Baton Rouge. She is a four-time first-team All-American, being named a finalist for the Annika Award, given to the top women’s collegiate golfer, all four years. She has won 13 times in her career, an LSU record, and also has the school record for career scoring average (70.31) and top-10 finishes (39 in 46 total events).

At the 2022 U.S. Open, Lindblad set the record for the lowest 18-hole score by an amateur, shooting 6-under 65 at Pine Needles playing in the same group as fellow Swede Annika Sorenstam.

But she wants more.

“There was unfinished business there,” LSU coach Garrett Runion said. “She would go home for Christmas break and people would be asking when she would turn pro. But she likes LSU. She likes her teammates and she continues getting better. She also wanted to win a national title, individually and as a team.“Then there’s Augusta National.”

Even with Lindblad’s marvelous consistency, her college career has somewhat been overshadowed. The pandemic took away the end of her freshman season. Then as a sophomore, then-freshman Rachel Heck at Stanford burst onto the scene, winning nationals and the Annika Award. The next two years, as Lindblad continued winning and setting records, the best women’s amateur of all time, Rose Zhang, was dominating the college landscape.

Thanks to COVID, she chose to return to LSU for a fifth year, as did teammate Latanna Stone, who also finished runner-up at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in 2022.

Unfinished business.

“At first, I wanted to just play in the fall,” Lindblad said. “Then after stage two, I decided I actually wanted to stay the whole year so I can get another shot.

“It was the right decision.”

ANWA: ‘The Masters of the amateur world’

Lindblad not only had a strong pathway to turning professional, she dominated LPGA Q-School’s second stage, winning by four shots. Thanks to a recent LPGA rule change, she would need to turn professional before having a chance to earn an LPGA card. The win guaranteed Lindblad status on the Epson Tour in 2024, but she was in no rush to turn professional.

Her final season of college golf is going a lot like the first four.

Lindblad has won twice in six stroke-play events, her worst finish being T-5. She has been runner-up twice and been a shot out of medalist honors in another start. She’s again looking like a shoo-in for first-team All-America honors and in her best position yet to win the Annika Award.

The thought occupying her mind most often, though? The opening tee shot at Augusta National.

“I’m trying to take it one tournament at a time, but it’s not that easy,” Lindblad said of looking ahead. “You don’t want to only work on short-term things for each tournament. It’s not all you can focus on.”

The final part of Ingrid Lindblad’s amateur career is swiftly approaching. First, it’s the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. A week later, the SEC Championship. Then, it’s time for NCAA postseason play.

Lindblad has plenty of lofty aspirations over the next couple months. For the average amateur, they may seem unattainable or difficult to even dream that big.

Lindblad isn’t an average amateur. The next two months are why she decided to come back to school and delay turning professional for six months. It’s what she has prepared her entire life for, to compete and thrive in the biggest championships. It’s a perfect springboard into the future.

“It’s an amateur major,” Lindblad said of ANWA. “You’ve got the best players there from the whole world. It’s the Masters of the amateur world.”

And amongst the azaleas the first week of April, Lindblad plans to be hitting a fade down the first fairway, just like she has visualized thousands of times.

Sadie Englemann poised to step out from the shadow of Stanford teammates at Augusta National

Englemann admits she’d be lying if she said the lack of attention never bothered her.

Sadie Englemann used to bring her iPad to class in high school to watch the pros play Amen Corner on Masters.com during class. The surefooted Texan knew from a young age that she wanted to one day compete at the highest level.

Folks who follow women’s amateur golf even a little bit know two of Englemann’s highly decorated teammates at Stanford – Rose Zhang and Rachel Heck. They might even know Megha Ganne, who dazzled at the 2021 U.S. Women’s Open when she played her way into the final group on Sunday as a high schooler.

But Englemann?

It’s tough to step out from the shadows cast by the greatest amateur player in the modern game (Zhang),  and the hotshot golfer who will graduate as a Second Lieutenant in the Air Force (Heck).

Englemann admits she’d be lying if she said the lack of attention never bothered her. A top-10 finish at a tournament barely gets a mention when her teammates are winning every week.

“But when it’s two of your best friends in the world,” said Englemann, “it’s hard to be jealous.”

Sadie Englemann (courtesy Stanford athletics)

Englemann, now in her senior year, came to the realization if she wanted that kind of spotlight, she’d have to raise her game.

Heading into her second Augusta National Women’s Amateur April 3-6, Englemann ranks 38th in the world and boasts back-to-back top-five finishes in her last two college starts. She’s the highest-ranked Cardinal of the four who qualified for the field. Heck, still plagued by a shoulder injury, is expected to play.

The two ANWA appearances will bookend Englemann’s career at Stanford. She missed the cut the first time around, but one gets the feeling her time is coming.

“Sadie absolutely loves golf,” said Stanford coach Anne Walker. “She eats, sleeps and breathes golf all day long. Because of that, she’s always wanting to get better. She’s obsessed about getting better.”

And her game since coming to Palo Alto, said Walker, is like night and day.

“I was a good player, and I had some success in my junior career,” said Englemann, “but I was also a hothead. Anyone would tell you that.”

Unable to control her emotions on the course, a bad stretch of holes would invariably balloon into a bad round. It’s not that she gave up on the round.

“I would try so hard to get back to even par,” she explained, “that I would blow up mentally.”

A more mature Englemann has learned how to stabilize herself, pointing to significant progress in recent months.

From a technical standpoint, Walker rerouted Englemann’s swing to help her play with a fade. Englemann came to Stanford hitting a draw that sometimes became uncontrollable.

While she doesn’t have a textbook swing, Walker notes, Englemann is comfortable with her own style and has learned much about her game. In 2022, Englemann helped the Cardinal win the team NCAA title.

“To play at the highest level,” said Walker, “you have to know yourself well.”

Englemann, who will graduate in June with a degree in science, technology and society, was starstruck at her first U.S. Women’s Open last summer at Pebble Beach. At the same time, the exposure gave her confirmation she could perform among the best in the world.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CjglzIDPEe7/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Zhang won her first LPGA start as a professional last spring after claiming both the ANWA and NCAA titles.

Englemann notes that Walker never gave Zhang special treatment at Stanford. She qualified for tournaments like everyone else.

When Walker talked to the media, Englemann continued, she never focused on one player. The chemistry felt among the Stanford players – with Zhang at the center – was strong, and it was real.

Zhang propelled everyone around her to get better.

“Freshman year Sadie would’ve gone (to ANWA) just overwhelmed by the stage and all the great players,” said Walker. “Almost feeling like she was an outsider looking in.

“Senior year Sadie believes she belongs.”