Jensen Castle is the 2021 US Womens Amateur Champion.

The rising University of Kentucky junior and Gray Collegiate Academy graduate stunned the golf world with her victory. She won as the 63rd seed in the 64 player field.

Jenson was also short on golf balls, didn’t pack enough clothes, and was negotiating with a nagging rib injury.

The one thing she had enough of, however, was game and proved it to the world last weekend.

The Midlands is one of the most fertile golf seedbeds in the entire country. In the early to mid-1980s, it noticed exceptional talent locally at the junior, amateur and even seniors at the club level.

In those days, very few of the better players chose to compete. Players like Randy and Robin Waters and Mark Steelman were absolutely spectacular, but had other interests.

David Dupre, who was a few years older than the Waters and Steelman, decided he was going to play in the 1982 US Open because it was going to be at Pebble Beach. He had always wanted an excuse to play the famous course.

He won the local and only Wayne Player beat him in sectional qualifier to skate into the event that Tom Watson eventually won.

What these players like Dupre did was inspire growth. By the very late 80s and early 90s, the first generation of world class talent was emerging in the Midlands. I had heard there was another special player in town, Charles Warren, and, after watching the 15-year-old, there was nothing different than the others mentioned, except his desire to compete.

A couple of years after Warren was another kid named Jonathon Byrd. Byrd had passion and a dream.

What Warren and Byrd did was put the Midlands on the world golf map. Warren won the NCAA championship in 1997, then followed it with a 2nd place finish the next.

Byrd won multiple times on the PGA Tour from 2001 to the present. In fact, he may win again.

Dustin Johnson is the number 1 ranked golfer in the world and has a USGA Trophy himself. The Dutch Fork High graduate won the 2016 US Open.

Cody Proveaux was the top-ranked junior player in the country at 1 point and 1 of the youngest ever to make a PGA Tour field. He played the St Jude’s Classic in Memphis, Tenn.

Lauren Stephenson from Lexington was a Curtis Cup team member and fell just short of winning the US Women’s Amateur. She now is 1 of the worlds best professionals and has had top finishes in the USGA Women’s Open and LPGA Championship.

Our Midlands golf culture is quite fertile for growing champions and there is 1 common denominator that all of the players mentioned shared. They each participated in the SCJGA Summer Hootie Programs, either through the Columbia Chapter or the Tri-County Chapter.

Speaking of the Tri-County Chapter, Adysen Langdale, Mia Andrade and Carleigh Crowley were girls medalists in the most recent competition held at Mid-Carolina Club.

This fall, the Lexington Recreation and Aging and Commision(LRAC)along with Richland County Recreation Commision (RCRC) will be conducting their family junior golf fall program. There is both skillbuilding and course time while families learn to study and play the game together.

Registration is open and to find out more, call (803) 603-1718 or visit the following websites:

http://richlandcountyrecreation.com/fall-golf-programs-at-linrick-golf-course/

https://sports.bluesombrero.com/lcrac .