News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Dekalb County sophomore Chloe Boyd placed fourth in the State Golf Tournament, just three years into her playing career.
Boyd’s two day score of 145, just five strokes off the first place winner. Boyd said it was upsetting to hear she was the solo leader on hole 15. Boyd said while it would have been nice to have won, she is proud that she made it this far.
“It’s definitely awesome, because when I first started there were a bunch of people that were beating me by like 20 strokes,” Boyd said. “And now I’m beating them by a few strokes and it’s just really cool to see the scores drop after all this work I’ve put in.”
Dekalb County Golf Coach John Pryor said Boyd is a “range rat” and is almost always working on improving her game. Boyd said her success comes from the countless hours spent training.
“You got to have the discipline to go out there and start practicing,” Boyd said. “Because if you don’t practice, you won’t see any progress. And so, I just try to go out there and practice as much as I can even though I don’t want to because it still makes me a better player.”
Heading into last week’s state tournament, Boyd said she had a lot of confidence and set her goal to finish in the top ten. She said that competing at last summer’s Women’s Open in Crossville and going on a winning streak during the season helped build her up.
Last year as a freshman, Boyd finished 33rd in the state tournament. She said she knew she could do better and this year she said the biggest difference in her game was her mentality.
“I had a triple on the second day and I kept on smiling and kept standing proud,” Boyd said. “Because, I just knew that it wasn’t going to wreck my score as long as I kept my mental state good.”
Boyd is big on setting goals and so far in her career, she has exceeded her own lofty expectations. She said her next goal is easy, to return to state next year and finish the job.
“Breaking goals is such a cool part of golf,” Boyd said. “It definitely boosts my confidence level for the next tournament in the next year. When I go to state next year, I definitely will be more prepared and will probably set a goal to win it.”
