Grace Curran had a successful summer playing all over the country, but one of her most memorable moments came on June 16.
Curran, a Lincoln-Way Central graduate who will be a junior at Minnesota, squared off against Golden Gophers teammate Emma Carpenter in the Illinois Women’s Amateur quarterfinals at Pine Meadows Golf Course in Mundelein.
The two, who were friends before, have become closer friends in college. In a few weeks when they return to Minneapolis, they will be roommates.
But on this day, they were competitors.
“They’ve known each other forever and have been best friends,” Minnesota coach Rhyll Brinsmead said. “I think it was a bit awkward for them, but they went into competitive mode.”
The two were even for six holes, but Curran went up by one stroke on the seventh hole and went on to win 4 and 3 before beating two other competitors for the championship.
“It was a little weird because we’re competitive people and at the end of the day, we both want to win,” Curran said. “But we were going to be happy for each other no matter what happened.
“We still talked and goofed around out there, but when it was time to be serious, we were. We made the best of the situation.”
Their relationship has blossomed over the years.
“She’s my best friend on the team and is definitely one of my go-to people at school,” Curran said of Carpenter, who’s from DeKalb. “We played a lot of junior golf tournaments together and I was super pumped when she committed to Minnesota. I knew I would have familiar face at Minnesota, and from there, we got closer.”
Curran’s summer also was highlighted by a trip back to Minnesota, where she qualified for the U.S. Women’s Amateur at the Westchester Country Club in Rye, New York.
Her first United States Golf Association tournament last week brought bad news and good news.
The bad news is she shot a 14-over for two rounds and was nowhere near making the cut. The good news is her short game started coming together.
“She’s worked hard on her short game and it showed in New York,” Brinsmead said. “But just qualifying for that tournament is a big accomplishment.”
Brinsmead is looking forward to watching Curran for a few more years.
“She works harder than any other kid I’ve coached, and I’ve been coaching at the Division I level for 15 years,” she said. “She just grinds all the time. She does the right things. She has a high golf IQ. She knows why the ball goes where it goes and can adjust on the fly.”
Curran said she started playing golf when she was 5 as her father, Bob, got her and her brother, Sean, started.
They are one of the top brother-sister combos in state history. Grace won the Class 2A state title as a sophomore in 2016, finishing fifth her junior year and seventh in 2018 in helping her team take third place for its first state trophy.
Sean also had a spectacular sophomore season in 2018 when he finished second in the state in Class 3A. He finished tied for 16th as a junior and had no shot at a second medal in 2020 because the Illinois High School Association canceled the state meet due to coronavirus concerns.
Sean is heading to Clemson to play golf. Earlier this week, Grace and the family helped him move to South Carolina. She had a chance to soak it all in.
“It’s exciting to look back and reflect on what we did,” she said. “We’re proud and can’t wait to see what else is to come in college. It’s humbling to look back and recognize all the success that we had.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
"exciting" - Google News
August 11, 2021 at 12:06AM
https://ift.tt/3s815sj
'It's exciting': Lincoln-Way Central's Grace Curran grinds out win over Minnesota teammate Emma Carpenter at Illinois Amateur - Chicago Tribune
"exciting" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2GLT7hy
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "'It's exciting': Lincoln-Way Central's Grace Curran grinds out win over Minnesota teammate Emma Carpenter at Illinois Amateur - Chicago Tribune"
Post a Comment