Rising Lake Oconee Academy freshman Lili Nelson recently qualified to play in the Georgia-South Carolina Girls’ Challenge Match as a member of Team Georgia on the last weekend of July.
Nelson, along with five other golfers and two alternates, qualified for the event because of her performance at the Georgia Girls’ Junior State Championship held by the Georgia State Golf Association (GSGA) a few weeks ago.
Going into the final round of the three-day tournament, Nelson was outside of the qualifying field; however, she ended up shooting a 4-under par 68 and breaking into the top six spots as Team Georgia’s No. 4 qualifier.
Nelson attributed her recent success to just getting the nerves out of her system before rounds and staying comfortable on the course.
“So much of it has just been getting comfortable out on the golf course, and learning things tournament by tournament to be able to bring to my coach,” Nelson said. “I constantly work on the things I struggle with or even the stuff I do well with just to elevate my game to the next level. The main difference in my game over the last year is just the comfort I feel out on the course.”
The GSGA Girls’ Junior State Championship was played at the historic Country Club of Columbus which was chartered in 1909.
According to Nelson, the course played longer than it actually was and was wet most of the weekend. Luckily for her, Nelson works a lot on her skills around the green and believes it’s the strongest part of her game.
“The course was beautiful and was actually pretty long – longer than the yardage said it was. We had a couple of rain delays during the first two days, so the last day was like hitting off of sloppiness,” Nelson said. “The greens were also pretty small, but I’d say the most confident part of my game is my short game, so I was able to hit good shots around them.”
Her father, Randy Nelson, was also in attendance with the rest of the family, and he acknowledged that Lili had to play technically to earn her results.
“There’s so much history over the years at that golf course, and it was an incredible facility with beautiful features,” Randy said. “But it’s a very difficult golf course that you have to play technically on if you want to shoot well, and Lili did that, especially on the last day.”
Nelson has used this summer to try and play in as many tournaments as possible before the beginning of the school year.
Not only has Nelson participated in multiple GSGA and other American Junior Golf Association events the past couple months but she’s also been playing up in age group.
Her father believes playing against older competition has brought out the best in Nelson and hopes it carries over into the Georgia-South Carolina Challenge Match.
“The experience of playing up has really helped her. She played in the U.S. Women’s Open Qualifier at Druid Hills a month-and-a-half ago, and since that tournament, it’s been every week that we’re going from one tournament to another,” Randy said. “She’s been getting the reps in and getting used to tournament golf. It’s hectic to say the least, but she loves it.”
In this event, Team Georgia has won 11 of the 17 matches played between the two teams; however, South Carolina has won three of the last four.
Ultimately, Nelson has just two more weeks until the challenge match begins, and she wants to help bring that trophy back to Georgia.