Whitley improving rapidly
EDMOND — Lilly Whitley was feeling pretty good about her high school debut.
Edmond Memorial’s freshman golfer had shot a 73, a great score that often proves enough to win the tournament.
But she finished fourth. Welcome to varsity. “The first tournament hit me pretty hard,” Whitley said. “There was some stiff competition here.”
But that didn’t deter Whitley.
Instead, finishing fourth on a good day fueled her throughout the spring.
She quickly became a force for the Bulldogs entering Wednesday’s Class 6A state tournament at Bartlesville’s Hillcrest Golf Course.
She won five of her next eight tournaments, including last week’s West regional with a 1-over par 73.
It was just the latest example of her rapid improvement.
“Once you see her hit the ball and the way she controls her club and just her whole swing, then you’re like, ‘wow,’” Edmond Memorial coach Janet Chartney said. “Then watching her all year with her consistency, she’s just really phenomenal.”
About four years ago, Whitley would not have thought this was possible.
Her father, Mickey, is a part-time club specialist for Titleist.
She played a few times year.
Dancing was actually her specialty since she could walk.
But Mickey invited Lilly to play a tournament when she was 11. She didn’t think she’d like it, but she instantly became hooked.
The individual competition drew her in.
And she realized a scholarship was more likely with golf than dancing.
“I just have this drive for it that I never really seen myself like that before,” Whitley said. “I knew if I practiced enough I had enough natural ability, so I wanted to take advantage of that.”
Throughout her first season, she’s garnered more attention. Whitley is rarely able to use her driver on the course because of her power and skill.
She can adjust to a course quickly after playing it once.
That’s made it more difficult for the top-three finishers in her debut tournament to top Whitley the rest of the way.
“I fed on that,” Whitley said. “I love competition like that. Getting that start right there and knowing I played well that day and it wasn’t going to be easy, taking a win would be so much bigger than taking a win if there wasn’t that much competition. It just made me work so much harder every day. Whenever I did win, it was a lot sweeter than it would have been.”