photo by: Matt Tait

Free State junior Claire Berquist shows off her all-Sunflower League medal before a practice round at Lawrence Country Club on Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021. Last week, the FSHS junior who first started playing golf the summer before her eighth grade year set a Free State girls golf record with an even-par 72 during a tournament at Eagle Bend Golf Course.

A week ago, Free State junior Claire Berquist broke the school’s girls golf single-round record by shooting an even-par 72 at Eagle Bend Golf Course.

And she would be the first to tell you that it should have been better.

Entering the second leg of the Sunflower League meet, Berquist’s confidence was in a rut.

After a stellar summer that saw her compete in 14 tournaments around Kansas and deliver a steady run of scores in the 70s for the first time in her life, Berquist said her mental game was not as sharp as it had been.

It showed on the first hole at Eagle Bend, where she rocketed her drive out of bounds.

After a few reassuring words from Free State coach Layne Meyer, Berquist moved on from the double-bogey and birdied the second hole. That led to the round of her life and a day she won’t soon forget, as much for the drama as the outcome.

As Berquist walked up to the 18th tee box, she knew she had turned in a solid round. Meyer knew it was better than that, and, without telling her directly, mentioned how she might want to play that final hole.

“Coach Meyer said to me, ‘Don’t put yourself in a position that will make you bogey this hole,'” Berquist recalled on Tuesday. “And I didn’t. But I came close.”

After reaching the green in two, giving her an 8-foot putt for eagle, Berquist three-putted the hole to finish with an even-par 72. Had she made the first putt — or even the second — she would have shot under par for the day.

But none of that mattered after the ball finally hit the bottom of the cup.

“I was honestly ecstatic,” she said. “I finally crossed a point I had been trying to cross for so long and it just felt really good.”

Berquist’s journey from novice to school record holder has unfolded faster than just about anyone could have imagined.

She still remembers her first round as a Firebird. That was at Lawrence Country Club her freshman year, and she shot a 108 that day.

That triple-digit number was considerably better than the first round of her life, which came about a year earlier, and featured a 125 on the scorecard.

“I probably wouldn’t have believed you that it (getting the school record) would happen my junior year,” she said.

She admits now that she did not necessarily love the game when she first picked it up. But after shaving 53 strokes off of her worst round to reach her current best, she has a whole new appreciation for the sport and her place in it.

“I’m a pretty competitive person and an independent person, too,” she said. “So I just love that you don’t have anyone else to blame but yourself.”

Berquist also loves the serenity of life on the golf course and the friends she has made — at Free State and across Kansas — through the game she now calls her own.

She credits her older brother, Landon, now a freshman golfer at Kansas Wesleyan University, for helping her fall in love with the game after ever-so-gently nudging her into the sport following a pair of concussions she suffered on the basketball court.

“Landon convinced me that there were so many scholarships out there for women’s golf and I decided to put my focus towards that,” Berquist said. “I thank him for it now. And it’s something that me and him and my dad get to bond over all the time.”

Following in her brother’s footsteps to the college golf scene is very much what Berquist envisions for her future. And with each round in the 70s or milestone that comes her way, she is driven to put in whatever work is necessary to get there.

During the good-weather months, Berquist is at the course six times a week, and she likes to work out twice on Saturdays. In the winter, she works indoors with her swing coach in Kansas City and on a net in the family’s garage.

Her goal for her future is to pick a place to play college golf by next fall. But until then, there’s still work to be done — both on the high school scene and on various junior tours in the summers. And Berquist is looking forward to every swing, every round and even those three-putts that end up making her better.

“I just love the competitiveness of golf and how there’s always the chance to get better,” she said. “You’re never going to have a perfect round. There’s always something that you could’ve done better, and that’s something that just keeps pushing me every single day.”

Said Meyer of his standout golfer’s journey to this point: “Claire’s work ethic and dedication to improving her game have been second to none, so I am really happy for her to experience the success that she has so far this season.”

Earlier this week, Berquist earned first team all-Sunflower League honors by finishing in the top six, with a three-round score of 205.

After a Wednesday tournament at Sycamore Ridge Golf Course, Berquist and the Firebirds will compete at regionals on Monday, followed by what she hopes will be a memorable trip to state the Monday after that.