Eaglecrest’s Emma Bryant has her sights set on a second girls golf championship
COLORADO SPRINGS — The good news for Eaglecrest senior-to-be Emma Bryant is that she’s never lost a Class 5A girls golf state tournament that didn’t play out to a full two rounds.
Her freshman year, she shot an impressive 2-under-par 70 at the Boulder Country Club to claim gold in her first try at a state tournament. It was a feeling she was hoping to capture at least one time in her high school career.
But fate has not been on her side in that time. The 2019 state tournament was cut short to one day due to weather and she finished tied for 15th, eight strokes behind champion Lauren Lehigh of Loveland. The 2020 season was called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rather than dwell on what could have been in those two years, Bryant continues to work on her game and put herself in a position where she must compete against the best players in the state.
Last week she finished third at the Colorado Jr. PGA Championship, the first major of the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado’s summer tour season.
The summer is a long way from over and Bryant knows that the time she has is vital in order to represent Eaglecrest with another championship win.
“I have one year left of high school,” Bryant said. “I just have to go full speed ahead. This summer is really important. I’ve already committed to the University of Denver and now it’s about getting ready for college and using this time refine my skills and perfecting the small things.”
Those small things were crucial when it came to winning her freshman year. She sank five bridies on the front nine of that final round which helped her shoot up the leaderboard.
When she sank a birdie putt on 18, she officially made the 5A individual golf titles a family affair as her older brother Davis had won the boys title that fall.
Davis’ title was the only one of his career and he’s now established himself as a vital member of Colorado State’s men’s golf team.
Emma is hoping to do the same for DU, but among the many reasons that she wants to claim another state title is to have a bit of family bragging rights.
“Of course I want to beat him,” she said with a laugh. “I mean, I already beat him in way if we look at when I won and when he won, but it would be great to say I won twice. He only has one so I’d be in the record books there.”
It was recently announced that the 2021 girls state golf tournaments would be moved into June. Although associate commissioner Tom Robinson cited many reasons for the change, pushing them out of questionable times in terms of weather was certainly an added benefit.
“It kind of sucks that I’ve only played in one (full) state tournament,” Bryant said. “I am hoping my senior year I can come out on top and say that I’m undefeated in (two round) tournaments.”
