They’ve won the prestigious Honda Classic High School Invitational, and then took the district and regional titles by a landslide. Now The First Academy girl’s golf team is eying another state championship. In this edition of Athlete of the Week our Despina Barton visits the Royals to highlight what makes them so good:
- TFA won its District Championship by 41 shots
- Captain Taylor Zeng had best individual score at Honda Classic, will attend Dartmouth next year
- Entire team can shoot under par
The girl’s golf team at the First Academy is tight knit. They eat together, pray together and play really good golf together.
“We just have a really competitive team,” Senior Captain Taylor Zeng explained. “We’ve known each other for years now because we started off at Junior Golf, I feel like we’ve already built that team dynamic which is really important and we are all super close.”
Zeng is one of three senior leaders of this top ranked golf team. She had the best score at the Honda Classic and is steering this very talented unit ahead, once again, to the state finals.
“We now have eight girls who are obviously the deepest team I’ve ever had,” Royals head coach Chris Bateman explained.
“The highest score we’ve ever shot by anybody in any tournament of the eight girls is 78—everyone’s shot 78 or better in every tournament.”
They’ve got the perfect mixture of experience, confidence and youth; plus an unexpected newcomer in Bridget Ma.
“When we went to the district I expected her to be solid, I didn’t know if her score was even going to count,” Bateman added.
“She goes out and shoots nine birdies and one bogey and ties the record here for the school for the lowest round.”
The sophomore, who recently moved in from China, shot a personal best 8-under—while the team combined to beat Circle Christian by 41 shots.
“Everyone is shooting under par, it’s just a matter of how low you can go,” Ma said of the success the team has been having.
Lucky for us, we’ll get one more chance to see this team step out together next weekend in the 1A State Championships at Mission Inn Resort and Club.
While the stakes will be high—the support and admiration stemming from within will be greater.
“I just enjoy hanging out with them and just watching them play. We encourage each other, if they make a putt, we cheer for them –it’s really amazing,” Ma added.
The First Academy Royals are one of the top ranked teams in the country. They will be competing for their third straight state team and individual championship next weekend in Howey-In-The-Hills.