May 11, 2005

Last Friday at the NCAA Women’s Golf East Regional, South Carolina freshman Whitney Simons saw Mississippi State’s Julia Huh hit a beautiful shot eight feet short of the cup that rolled in for the first hole-in-one of Huh’s career. Huh was ecstatic and celebrated her momentous accomplishment with Bulldog head coach Christi Sanders as Simons and South Carolina head coach Kristi Coggins looked on.

Simons was next.

“I was debating what club I should hit, and while I was thinking it over, (Huh) went up there and aced the hole,” Simons said. “I thought to myself that I just wanted to do what she did. When I got up there, I hit a gorgeous four-iron high with a draw. It was right on, but I was wondering if I hit the right club and if it was going to sail over. I heard it hit the pin and saw the pin rattle with the ball right next to it and thought to myself, ‘wow, we almost had back-to-back aces’.”

When Simons walked up to the green with her putter in hand, she discovered otherwise.

“I got up to the green and saw the ball sitting about a foot from the cup and was getting ready to mark it,” Simons said. “When I went to mark the ball, I saw that it was a Titleist and my first thought was that I was going to be penalized for hitting the wrong ball because I was playing a Precept. Right then, I looked in the hole and saw my ball sitting in the cup with the Gamecock logo showing and knew that I just hit a hole-in-one and knocked her ball out.”

Rules officials conferred on what the best thing was to do in this most unique case, and the decision was that both players would be credited with a hole-in-one.

“It really ended up being the best-case scenario because we both ended up getting a hole in one,” Simons said.

Simons said this was not the first ace of her career, as she remembered acing the fourth hole at the Aiken Golf Course when she was 13 years old playing with her parents the day after Christmas.

Though the Gamecocks’ season came to an end at Regionals, Simons proved that she can succeed at the collegiate level not only by getting an ace at Regionals, but also by finishing as South Carolina’s low scorer at the 2005 Southeastern Conference Championships. She said if someone told her about what she would accomplish as a true freshman before it all happened, she’d have a hard time believing it.

“I’d say I’ll take it,” Simons said with a chuckle. “Going into the fall, I really wasn’t playing well at all. We have so many freshmen and young players on this team that there was some pressure early on to battle it out for spots in the lineup. I wasn’t playing well and as a result, I wasn’t enjoying it as much. After a while though, I started settling in and began working with a new swing coach. Things started to fall into place and they ended up working out pretty well this year. I’m still not even close to being satisfied with where I am at as an individual or where we are as a team, but I am excited about the direction things are going.”

Simons said the biggest difference in her game since coming to Carolina is in her mental approach.

“I used to let bad holes affect me too much,” Simons said. “Now, I just go out and try to reduce the mistakes. If I make a bogey, then I need to just play and shoot the best shots possible in each situation. I can’t try to force things.”

Working with Coggins has also helped Simons’ game.

“She wants what’s best for the team, but she also wants what’s best for us as individuals as well,” Simons said. “She really encouraged me to spend time with my new swing coach and it has made a difference.”