FAYETTEVILLE — She had to fight through pain for most of the golf season, sometimes needing a brace to endure the agony each swing produced. But Fayetteville’s Olivia Lavy didn’t let a wrist injury derail her sophomore year.
Lavy led the Lady Bulldogs throughout the 2009 season, winning the 7A-West Conference tournament and helping them claim their fifth consecutive state team title. Lavy’s tolerance of pain and consistency, despite an 84 at the Class 7A state tournament, made her the right selection as the All-Northwest Arkansas female golfer of the year.
“It bothered her all year, but she battled right through it,” Fayetteville coach Kyle Adams said. “The pain would come and go, and she’d never know when it’d act up. It bothered her bad down the stretch, and we tried to give her some time off, but you could tell it bugged her at state.”
Lavy said she didn’t want to make excuses for her lackluster performance at the state tournament.
Instead, she wanted to remember the positive moments from her sophomore season, as well as give credit to her Fayetteville teammates. Lavy said she wouldn’t harbor negative memories from this year’s state tournament because her teammates — junior Micah Radler especially — stepped up their play as her’s suffered.
“When Micah came through with a 73, that made me feel a lot better,” Lavy said.
Having surgery performed recently on her wrist also has had Lavy feeling better. Lavy said she had a cyst form on her wrist over the summer, an injury that flared up when she swung and jammed her wrist into a tree root. The cyst originated, Lavy thought, because of overuse.
Still, Lavy said she wouldn’t trade in all the experiences that led to the injury.
She moved in January to Orlando, Fla., and attended the Gary Gilchrist Junior Golf Academy. For six months, Lavy finished up with school at noon and hit the golf course for the rest of the day.
“I got to work on every part of my game,” Lavy said. “It was great. I got more accurate with my short game, and I worked a lot on my swing. But the most important thing was I improved my mental game. I never knew how much that truly helps. That and staying positive when you play and course management also.
“Sometimes we wouldn’t even practice. We’d just go around the course and talk about course management.”
The pain in Lavy’s wrist subsided enough late in the summer for her to compete in the AJGA Arkansas Junior. Lavy’s 11th-place finish at The Blessings boosted her confidence heading into the high school season, she said. Lavy kept building momentum throughout the season and eventually fired her career-best round at the right time.
Her 4-under 68 at Bella Vista Country Club helped Fayetteville win its seventh consecutive conference championship.
Lavy’s consistency this season has her believing she can follow in the footsteps of her older sisters. Oldest sister Brittany played at Arkansas. Hannah succeeded in high school but decided against college golf, and Emma redshirted last season at Arkansas.
Golf, obviously, runs in the family, as Lavy’s father, Trevor, is an accomplished golfer, and her mother, Kellie, serves as an assistant coach for Adams. Lavy said she has thrived from the friendly competition her and her sisters provide for one another.
“It’s really important,” Lavy said. “Having so many sisters, we set goals for each other. I want to achieve those goals and records and beat their goals and records. Some people find it difficult to be one of the youngest, but for me, it’s meant a lot. I got look up to my sisters and their games and learn from them.
“Really, I want to play just like them.”
Despite the constant pain this season, Lavy performed in a way that surely made her sisters proud.