(Auburn) -- A conference championship, a second straight trip to state and a much-improved short game helped Auburn’s Jamisyn Kirkpatrick claim this year’s KMAland Nebraska Girls Golfer of the Year award.
The Bulldog junior joined KMA’s Upon Further Review on Tuesday to talk about a season that has her aiming for even more next year.
“It was a great season,” Kirkpatrick said. “Individually, I would say it was really good. I worked a lot in the offseason, and I cut my strokes down from last year.”
Kirkpatrick is actually somewhat new to competitive golf. As a freshman, she played for the Auburn softball team, but she quickly found her potential in the sport of golf.
“I have a lot of potential,” she said, “so I worked to cut my strokes down. It definitely showed. I was the individual ECNC champion, and then I punched my ticket to state, which is awesome.”
Kirkpatrick says that the improvement in her game largely came from working hard on her short game.
“I worked with my trainer up in Omaha, and he definitely could tell I had potential,” she said. “He told me the short game is where it’s at. I worked on it a lot, and I still have work to do, but my short game definitely (improved). I can hit the ball a long ways, but the short game is where it’s at.”
Kirkpatrick qualified for state for the second straight year and had her sights set on a medal. However, she posted a two-day total of 184 to claim 23rd in Class C, finishing as the top KMAland golfer in Nebraska. It proved to be a 23-place improvement from her first trip to state as a sophomore.
“The overall goal was to make it to state,” Kirkpatrick said. “I really wanted to medal, and that’s my whole goal during high school is to get one state medal. I knew I could do it in golf, but it didn’t happen this year. I was pretty proud of how it ended up, and now I have the experience and know I can make it to state next year if I keep working.”
Listen to the full interview with Auburn’s Kirkpatrick in the audio file below.
