The Women’s Eclectic Golf Tournament, sponsored by the Texas Golf Association (TGA), was held for the first time at the Hackberry Creek Country Club in Irving on March 9 and 10. Women from all over the country came to participate in the event.
WHAT IS AN ECLECTIC TOURNAMENT?
The elements of an eclectic tournament are explained below:
- Shotgun Start: Groups or teams of 3 – 4 players are assigned to start at different holes – some on the front nine (holes 1 – 9) and some on the back nine (holes 10-18). The players continue through the course, eventually playing all 18 holes
- Eclectic: This part of the tournament is unique in that not only do the players individually earn a score for 18 holes each day, but on the second, and final, day, each player uses their lowest score for each hole as her final “Eclectic Score”
- Best Overall Gross Score: The player’s true score without adding her handicap
- Best Overall Net Score: The player’s score, including her handicap
This year, Kathy Crumley took home the trophy for the best Gross Eclectic Score, shooting 2 under par for a score of 70. Lorraine Werner shot a Net Eclectic Score of 60, or 12 under par, winning the best Net Eclectic trophy.
Some talented young golfers came from all over the nation to participate in this tournament.
Ashni Dhruva
Ashni Dhruva, who is 21 years old, came to the tournament from Pennsylvania. She’s about to graduate from Penn State with a major in Biology. Dhruva has been accepted to attend graduate school at Rice University in Houston and would like to major in Biosciences and Health Policy.
“Hopefully I’ll be doing research or working for the Center for Disease Control (CDC), a hospital or something like that,” she said.
Her family played a large part to inspire her interest in golf.
“I was born in Connecticut, but when I was maybe 7-years-old, I lived in England. My dad used to take us to take us to the driving range and we all just kind of got into golf from that, even though my dad wasn’t a serious player,” Dhruva said. “I kept playing these little Junior tournaments, and when I got to high school, it just took off from there. I played high school golf and then I realized I could play in college one day because I was fanatic about it. Golf is the number one sport for women’s scholarships.
“I started right away playing a lot of tournaments in my freshman year [at Penn State], but my sophomore and junior years were a bit of a struggle, to be honest,” Dhruva explained. “There are a lot of good girls that come to play, but I did play a few tournaments. My senior year has been great. It’s been a lot of fun.”
Dhruva has thrived in college, and with only about two months left until graduation, she is feeling a bit nostalgic. “I love Penn State. I am actually sad to leave it. My sister is there playing golf too, so it’ll give me an excuse to visit,” she said.
Dhruva likes to play tournaments all over the country because of the differences in playing conditions. When she is at school, she practices every day. “This course [Hackberry Creek] is about 5,500 yards,” Dhruva said. “The course at Penn State is about 800 yards longer.”
Dhruva holds an average of approximately 75, which is 3 over par. Many professional golfers have trouble maintaining such a low average.
However, Dhruva was not the youngest player in the tournament. Local player Raeleigh Davidson is 16 years old.
Raeleigh Davidson
“I go to school at Liberty High School in Frisco,” Davidson said. “My family’s just kind of always played golf. My [older] sister plays [at Incarnate Word in San Antonio], and so I just kind of naturally started playing.”
Davidson plays for her high school golf team, holding a “low seventies” average, which is also on par with some professional golfers.
“I’m for sure going to try to play golf in college. I haven’t decided where I want to go yet. I’ve been going on visits to campuses. I definitely want to stay in the south. I like the weather and I preferably want to stay close by my family,” she said.
Davidson says that her favorite subject in school is math. “There are fortunately a lot of opportunities for girls who are good in math and other STEM subjects,” she said, while speaking about scholarship opportunities.
Adam Davidson is Raeleigh’s dad, and took the time to explain his outlook on how golf has impacted his and his daughters’ lives.
“I coach [golf] at Frisco Liberty. Both of my daughters are very athletic, doing cheer, gymnastics, soccer and softball – basically every sport you can play. They both decided in middle school that they wanted to get more serious. I felt like kids are playing the same things year-round and are getting too many reps in the same muscle groups. Around eighth grade, if you want to do something beyond high school, you have to figure what that’s going to be,” Davidson said.
“Personally, I played football, wrestled and played baseball in school. Baseball was my big thing. I didn’t start playing golf until I was out of college. I’m left-handed but had to learn to play right-handed because of an injury in my elbow from baseball,” Davidson revealed. “I’ve coached baseball and I’ve told some people that because I played [baseball] from such a young age, and baseball is natural for me, I found that my expectations as a coach weren’t right. When I was learning to play golf, playing ‘on the other side’ made me a better coach, realizing that everyone has different talents.”
Enjoy the slideshow below. If you are in a photo and would like a copy, please email us!
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