GOLF | Denham Springs' Macias to compete in PGA National Club Championship

She qualified for the invitation only event, which features club champions from all over the nation, after winning the women’s club championship at Greystone Golf & Country Club in August.

“I honestly can’t wait to go,” Macias said. “We play three courses three different days, so it will be really fun, and I’m overall just really excited.”

The event will be held on the PGA WEST Stadium Course, Indian Wells Celebrity Course and Desert Willow Firecliff Course. Macias admitted there’s some unfamiliarity with the courses she’ll be playing, and that’s where a little homework is required.

“We usually go to the course a day before and look at the way the course is laid out and depending on the day of the tournament is whether or not you play it safe or be aggressive,” Macias said. “A lot of the courses out there, the greens are probably going to be really fast. We saw some pictures of them, and there’s a lot of bunkers.

“I’ll probably play it a little more safe because I don’t want to get in that much trouble, and I’m probably going to have to practice when I get out there a few days and just put in a lot of work at the courses before I go play, and I’ll be all set,” Macias continued.

Macias is used to putting in work to improve her game. Her family lives in Greystone, allowing her to “wake up around 5:30 (a.m.) and get on the course around 5:40”.

“It’s still a little dark, but after 10 minutes, it starts lighting up and then you can see where the ball’s going, and then around 6:30, I have to head back home to get ready for school,” she said. “After school, we go out and hit, so there’s just not that much time because of the time change. I really don’t like the time change.”

Her father, James, praised his daughter’s work ethic and said she’ll have a World Amateur Golf Ranking after competing in the tournament in California.

“She’s on the right track,” he said. “She has a lot of growing to do. Mentally, she’s still 14, but she’s not your typical 14-year-old.”

“You can’t teach the drive, and you can’t parent the drive,” James Macias said. “The kid has to want it. I’m not just saying this because she’s my daughter. There’s something there. I don’t know what it is, but it’s there. It’s different. It’s not your typical teenager with her.”

“I don’t want her to think that she’s defined by her golf,” James Macias continued. “She’s more than just a golfer. I think I could put her in anything, and she would be driven. She doesn’t like to lose. She’s a competitor. It’s something that you can’t teach.”

Sophia Macias, who holds the women’s course record at Greystone with a 70, will be competing against golfers who are older than she is, but it’s not something new to her as she also won the BREC Women’s Amateur championship earlier this year.

“Usually the environment’s really good, and they’re all extremely nice most of the time,” she said of competing against adults. “I think it’s good competition. It really is.”

Sophia Macias, who shot a 68 in regional play on the high school level, finished fourth at the Division II state tournament last season competing as an eighth-grader, a performance she’s looking to build on.

“It would be really nice to win it,” she said of this weekend’s event and winning a state title at Episcopal. “I know that working hard and practicing a lot is going to make that happen, either if it’s this year or a few years later. I think no matter what, I’m going home the same person. Nothing’s changing, but I really want to win. It would be really nice to win.”