Claire Emery with Team Alberta last year in the Junior and Juvenile Championships. 

Former Team Alberta member, Claire Emery, is currently competing in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Women’s Golf National Championships in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. Having been ranked as a Top 100 NAIA female golfer last fall, Emery has been working hard with her University of British Columbia (UBC) squad.

“This is it. This is the best of the best for our conference. We were able to win our regionals by quite a bit, so that gave us a lot of momentum. We are all playing well, and the group of girls that are going have such good energy and chemistry. I think it’s just going to be fun to see how much improvement there has been throughout the year, and go down to Florida and show everyone what Canada has got.”

UBC is one of only three Canadian schools that qualify for the NAIA. Emery says that being able to compete and train with the best at her university has been humbling.

“UBC is easily one of the best teams in Canada, and one of the best teams in our conference. Going in I knew that there was a lot of girls who were a lot better than me, and I knew that this program, these girls and this coach would push me to become a better golfer, a better student and better person all around.”

As a rookie, she continues to set the bar higher for herself.

“First year university in general is a huge shift from high school. As well it’s a huge shift from junior golf to collegiate golf. So, I think as I get more comfortable, I am only going to get better. I mean after being ranked in the top 100 in my first year, I want to be in the top 50, then top 25, then top 10. I just want to keep getting better and give back to the game.”

She says it can be tough to balance all these new expectations, but she draws motivation from her team and the people who have helped her get to this point.

“I would definitely say the team is such a huge part of everything. These girls are your family. When you’re having a rough day, you can always go and talk to them. Coaches are fantastic, our head coach is great, we have a couple of assistant coaches that help us so much. Of course, my parents are still there at midnight, if I need to call them for something. I also definitely still have coaches and connections in the golf world back home, at both my home course, the Glencoe Golf & Country Club, and still through Alberta Golf that are so supportive and have gotten me to where I am. They are always happy to help remind me of who I am and why I do all of this.”

The tournament has experienced rain delays but has resumed today. The final day of competition is on May 26th. Follow Emery and the full UBC team now on the NAIA leaderboard.