6 FEATURE
SHOOTING FOR SOMET BIGGER
Senior Emily Powers leads this year's golf team as Kansas tries to qualify for regionals for the first time in school history
By Andrew Wituszynski
awitszynski.vanskian.com
When Emily Powers first stepped on the University of Kansas campus, she couldn't believe her eyes.
"Emily was thrilled at the opportunity to go to KU from the first time she saw the University," says her dad, Tim Powers.
When Powers first came to Kansas as a freshman, she was simply a fairways and greens type of player. Powers credits her coach Erin O'Neil for improvements in her game.
"When I first arrived at KU I was a decent golfer, but coach O'Neil has put so many new shots in my golf bag," she says.
That arrival was four years ago. Now Powers is the No.1 golfer for the women's golf team. Powers is a senior this year and next year she will likely play on the Futures Tour and possibly even in the more prestigious LPGA tour. There is so much for Powers to look forward to, but for right now she is just happy to be living in the moment here.
Powers has quite the track record as a golfer. She earned All Big-12 honors as a sophomore, earned her only win in the Marilyn Smith Invitational last year as a junior and even qualified as one of only 26 amateurs for the U.S. Open.
These are some huge accomplishments, but Powers would say her greatest accomplishment is ongoing.
"Just being here at KU is what I'm most proud of;" she says. "I always wanted to play golf at a big university."
For a golfer with so many individual accolades, her number one goal has always been team-oriented. This year, that goal is to make history.
"We've never made it to regionals, ever," Powers says. "Not since I've been here, not since the beginning of women's golf at KU. That is my goal this year, to make it to regionals."
Powers cares more about the team than herself, and that is the exact attitude an athlete needs for success. Anyone could see by watching her play the game that Powers just wants her team do well.
"I want to be remembered by my teammates as someone who was always there for them and willing to help out and support them," Powers says. "I want to be remembered as a leader"
That is exactly the way Powers will be remembered, according to teammate Sydney
Wilson.
"Emily does her best to be a leader on and off the golf course,"Wilson says."She is very committed to the team."
Spectators could also see by watching Powers play that she just wants to have fun.
"I would describe myself as a weird and quirky person," Powers says. "I have a different sense of humor than my teammates and I like to be the one to make people laugh."
As a freshman, while waiting to tee off at a tournament in New Mexico, Powers was listening to her iPod and dancing "badly," Powers says.
"Most people were looking at me like I was strange, but the announcer for the tournament actually ended up coming out of the announcer room and dancing with me. I'm OK with embarrassment," she says.
Powers has realized, though, that the laid-back approach to her game may need to change in the upcoming season. At the U.S. Open, which Powers says was "an incredible experience," she heard her calling.
"Playing in the U.S. Open showed me what I want to do," she says. "I got cut after the first two rounds, but in the future I want to be making the final rounds of those tournaments."
Powers' family got to go to the U.S. Open. Tim, her father, says it was a busy summer.
"It was a thrilling experience because it was the one tournament everyone wanted to be in. We are so proud of her," he says.
But she's got to practice hard to make it past the second round. Professional golfers practice around eight hours per day at minimum, something Powers finds hard to do.
That changed this summer. Powers started to take a more professional approach to her practice routine. She woke up at 6 a.m. to work out, then would play and practice her game from 8 p.m. until lunch. Then she would go back out on the course for more.
"I have trouble focusing on just two hours." Powers says.
"I have to be more focused this year," Powers says.
To get to the LPGA tour and succeed, Powers is going to have to work her way up. Nobody is going to hand her anything. Powers will have to work hard and keep up with her new professional routine.
"That is exactly what I'll have to do to get to that level," she says.
Adam Buhler/KANSAN
THE WAVE OCTOBER 2, 2009
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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