The definition of confidence is the feeling or belief that you can rely on someone or something; that you have a firm trust in an ability or outcome.
All golfers need it. Performing at the highest level requires supreme belief in yourself and the process you have worked to master. Normally, that confidence comes with age and experience. You have to get over the angst of youth; the inherent worry and doubt that accompanies adolescent and teen years. To gain the kind of confidence needed to execute in an individual and unyielding game, you have to have done it enough times to know you can do it again. But at this week’s U.S. Women’s Amateur at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Miss., players who are barely old enough to drive, who have yet to cast a vote in an election outside their local schools, who are miles away from things like buying a drink or renting a car, are showing that confidence can come at an early age.
“Making it into match play, I just had a lot of confidence,” said Bentley Cotton, a 17-year-old from Austin, Texas, who bowed out in the round of 32 to Megha Ganne in 19 holes. “I just had no fear. I just give it my all and play my game.”
Ganne, who is 15 years old, said: “I played an AJGA match-play event earlier this year, and that was the first time I really played (in that format). That gave me a lot of confidence because I won two of those matches. Then I went to the (U.S.) Girls’ Junior. You really get to try them out at the USGA events. And you don’t need that much experience to do well. You just kind of need to know how it works and it’s just more fun and why it is easier for me.”
They might not have much experience with match play or giving post-round interviews, but this next generation of young female golfers has confidence in spades.
This year’s U.S. Women’s Amateur field had a range of contestant ages from 11 to 61 years. Gianna Clemente of Warren, Ohio, was the championship’s youngest competitor (11), and Sally Krueger (61) of San Francisco was the oldest.
Breaking the age range down further, there were:
- 11 players age 11-15;
- 100 players age 16-20;
- 36 players age 21-25;
- 4 players age 26-30;
- 2 players age 31-35;
- 1 player age 36-40;
- 2 players age 41-61.
“I knew there were some babies but I didn’t realize so many of them were that young,” said Jane Park, who won the 2004 U.S. Women’s Amateur at 17. “When I won, we had Morgan Pressel, who was younger, and I was young. But there weren’t a lot of us.
“They’re so polished now at such a young age.”
Players in the 11-17 age range don’t know what makes them so talented but their fierce competitiveness and no-fear approach certainly help.
“You get to compete with the big girls, that’s for sure,” Cotton said. “The highest-ranked players are in this tournament so it’s fun to compete against them. You get good experience and you get to know what hard courses are like, so it’s great to compete at this level.”
When did this trend of younger players begin in the women’s amateur game?
The answer is simple: post-Tiger Woods. From 1989 to 1998, a period of time when the average major champion in men’s golf was in his 30s, the winner of the U.S. Women’s Amateur averaged 20.1 years old. From 1999-2008, that average fell to 18.9. And from 2009-18 it dropped to 17.8.
In Wednesday’s first round of match-play, Cotton took down recent UCLA graduate Bethany Wu, 6 and 4.
Ganne, of Holmdel, N.J., defeated Gina Kim, who won a national championship with Duke University last spring, 1 up.
With all the talent and extraordinary confidence emerging among the younger set, it’s easy to envision the average age of competitors holding steady or even decreasing in coming years.
Other teenagers posting first-round victories included Alexa Pano, the 14-year-old stroke-play co-medalist from Lake Worth, Fla., who defeated Remington Isaac, 5 and 4; Lucy Li, the 16-year-old Californian and a qualifier for the 2013 U.S. Women’s Amateur at age 10, who beat Morgan Baxendale, 5 and 4; and Annabell Fuller, a 17-year-old Englishwoman, who topped Hannah Holzmann, 3 and 2.
By the time Friday’s quarterfinals started, the average age of the eight remaining players was 18.25. Ganne advanced to Saturday’s semifinals with a 3-and-2 victory against 16-year-old Caroline Canales, while Li fell to Andrea Lee, her teammate on the 2018 U.S. Curtis Cup team, 6 and 5.
With all the talent and extraordinary confidence emerging among the younger set, it’s easy to envision that average age holding steady or even decreasing in coming years.
“So many young people have gotten into the game over the last couple of years, and I think more people have gotten good, faster,” Ganne said. “Even if you’re younger, there are so many younger players and it doesn’t really matter how old you are.”