By Kejsi Zyka, Opinions Editor
From North Carolina to South Carolina, to Connecticut, junior Katherine Schuster’s summer was unlike any other. The airport became her newfound home as she traveled across the coast to and from her 14 summer golf tournaments — where in some, she took home the gold. Ranked 47th out of all juniors in the country, Schuster continues to practice every day and strives to be her personal best.
Schuster has made many milestones in her golf career, including placing third in the 2015 Drive, Chip & Putt tournament, and later winning in 2018. But this summer was one of the most rewarding.
“This summer alone I placed first in the NCG girls tournament, which is a match play tournament,” Schuster said. “It’s not like golf, it changes the atmosphere and everybody gets aggressive, but it’s a lot of fun and I love it.”
The match play tournament is not the only tournament that Schuster placed first in this summer. Schuster won the Beth Daniels Junior Azalea, and the Hope Valley Junior Invitational. From there she continued to travel.
“I went to tournaments in Connecticut, Pinehurst, Greenville, New York, and Alabany,” Schuster said.
With all the hard work, the golf prodigy barely had time this summer to put her club down and just relax..
“I went to Michigan to visit my grandmother and that was my one vacation,” Schuster said. “From there we went to Charlotte and then it was the first day of school.”
Schuster is thankful for how far she has come and owes all of her accomplishments to her motivational parents and coaches.
“I can always count on my parents to support me, and also my coach, Cory Schneider,” Schuster said.
All of Schuster’s hard work paid off when she was offered a place on the Clemson University team at the age of 15.
“I verbally committed to play at Clemson University and I am extremely honored to play for them,” Schuster said.
Schuster still has a long way to go if she wants to achieve her goal of becoming a top professional golf player.
“I want to hopefully be number one but that’s everyone’s goal,” Schuster said. “You feel like you’re working harder than everyone else but right now there are a lot of people that are way better than me, so I just have to keep working at it.”
Schuster’s experience has been humbling. The goal in golf is to win, but for Schuster, it’s also been about growing and learning with every tournament, even when the pressure gets to her.
“There are two ways of looking at it,” Schuster said. “You can either fall from the pressure or excel, and I do my very best and I have fun out there.”
Senior Kejsi Zyka can be reached at [email protected].
