LITTLE ROCK — Rather than playing in one golf tournament after another, as she has done in the past, Emma Lavy wanted to take things a bit easier this summer.
Lavy decided to take two weeks off as soon as she finished her first season competing for Arkansas in late May. She needed some time to relax and wind down after playing golf nearly year round.
The slower pace has suited the Fayetteville graduate just fine. She has been choosy, picking only a handful of tournaments to play in over the past few months.
“This is the least amount of tournaments I have ever played in a summer,” Lavy said. “But after my first full load of a college season, I think there should be some down time before you go through into the next year.”
But Lavy’s schedule has picked up over the past few weeks.
She advanced to the second round of last week’s North and South Amateur Championship in Pinehurst, N.C. And she’ll continue preparing for her sophomore season by teaming with fellow Arkansas golfer Emily Tubert for next week’s Women’s Collegiate Team Championship in Dahlonega, Ga.
The close friends will represent the Razorbacks in the unconventional tournament, which features 58 two-player teams from NCAA Division I, II and III schools playing in an alternate shot/best ball format.
“Honestly, Emma has become a very complete player. That’s exactly, I think, why she’s had some great success towards the end of her season and into the summer,” said Shauna Estes-Taylor, the Arkansas women’s golf coach. “Her game is just really coming together.”
That was evident in late June when Lavy - who comes from a big family of golfers - finished as the runner-up at the Women’s Western National Amateur Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
At the start of the summer, Lavy had to get accustomed to a new driver. But she showed a comfort level while reaching the finals of the Western Nationals before losing to Victoria Tanco of Argentina on the 24th hole of a 36-hole round.
“Her finishing runner-up at theWestern Amateurs is huge. I mean, anytime a kid can get in contention coming down the stretch, down the hunt, (it’s good),” Estes-Taylor said. “She played, I think, 10 rounds of golf in a five-day period and just did a fantastic job there.”
Lavy showed promise as a star golfer at Fayetteville, twice winning the Arkansas High School overall championship. Then, she redshirted her freshman season with the Razorbacks in 2009-10, giving her a chance to sit back and develop her game before playing last year.
“I feel good about going into the season,” said Lavy, whose older sister Brittany played golf at Arkansas from 2004-06. “I’ve had a prettygood summer. I’ve played well.”
Soon she’ll find out how well she can play with a partner.
Lavy has known Tubert for the past five years, and they’re such good friends that Tubert has been staying at Lavy’s house for the past week. They’ve been playing rounds of golf and practicing alternate shots in preparation of the Women’s Collegiate Team Championship.
“I think this tournament will be good for us because I think, team chemistry plays into it a lot,” Lavy said. “Because when you’re playing alternate shot, there can’t be any hard feelings because we’re a team.”
And friends enjoying a relaxing summer.
Sports, Pages 9 on 07/27/2011