Heck Of A Run

Rachel Heck said she is "coming off a long stretch." Photo: Santiago Mejia, The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

DALY CITY, CALIFORNIA | You’d expect nothing less from a 19-year-old. Rachel Heck is still smiling as her whirlwind tour continues, albeit with some slightly different results as the storm peters out.

On Thursday, the best female college golfer in the country, who just wrapped up her freshman year 30 minutes down the road at Stanford, showed up at Lake Merced Golf Club late in the morning and tried to stick to her normal routine. She’s accustomed to tour ranges, having played in the U.S. Women’s Open in 2017 and 2021, the Evian Championship in 2018 and the ANA Inspiration in 2019. But she isn’t accustomed to the rigor of tour life, the grind of learning courses, adjusting to green speeds, calming any hiccups in your swing, then fighting to make a cut and finish strong on Saturday and Sunday, only to start the entire process again two days later.

Heck is learning. “I'm coming off a long stretch and I'm so ex...