Junior Golf Rankings

Reagan Southerland

2022 USGA Junior Girls Amateur

2022 Five Top 10's

We're talking with Reagan Sutherland here at the 2022 US Junior Girls Amateur in Bowling Green KY. Hey Reagan, thanks for sitting down with us for a few minutes. What was today like?

"I hit it really really well for the most part. My second time playing the course. Had a couple of three putts that hopefully I can avoid tomorrow, but yeah, pretty solid. Yeah, I mean I was 3 over through 9. Took a double and a bogey back-to-back on the front nine, just shot hit this bad shot. There's nothing you can do about it. I made two good swings got an unlucky spot in a bunker on I want to say on number 3 and it plugged so I mean I had nothing but to just try to punch it out and playing up to the green and then my putt was about an inch short."

I was kind of watching the leaderboard a little bit in the club house and I said well she's in the middle of the pack she's doing okay. How do you get through that when you do that? What's your mindset that kind of says enough of that nonsense?

"The whole before that I took double just kind of compounded on my mistake I would say just keep pressing on. Just keep moving forward and try to just get one back on the next hole."

What brought you to the game in the first place?

" My dad got me into it when I was six. He took me to the driving range and I really really liked it so I kinda stuck with it. At some camps I started playing with some older boys that were high school and middle school and they always beat me and I just really wanted to wanted to change that and I did."

Somebody once said about golf is that they always have the ball. It's true because you walk by the scoreboard and there's your name. Tell me a little bit about if you couldn't play golf what sport would you do?

" I played softball growing. I started when I was five and I played it all the way through 8th grade. I was playing golf too it came down between those two sports and 8th grade I kind of decided to make the decision for golf. "

Brothers and sisters?

I have a younger sister and then my cousin lives with me and he's like my little brother."

So tell me. How you think playing golf has affected you personally?

I think golf is great game teaches you a lot all the time. Just like you just said, how do you kind of keep moving forward when you had a couple bad breaks. It means what Bobby Jones said that this game is close to what we call life and we just kind of keep moving forward after some bad breaks.

I think that's true. We often emphasize how it's also a game of honesty, integrity, and discipline. It’s just you on the scoreboard you know it's not your team and and that makes that makes a real difference. If we talk about getting back to golf a little bit what part of your game do you think you feel the most confident?

Definitely ball striking all around but I'm trying to change that. Currently trying to get the putter a little bit hotter and work on the short game overall wedges inside of 80 to 90 yards is where I'm trying to focus a lot of my sure.

Is your preparation for a tournament fairly consistent?

I’d say fairly consistent. With that I mean there's a little bit of adjustment. I knew this course would have rough so I took some time in my practice hitting from the rough.

What would you like to try if you knew you couldn't fail?

Oooh, that's a good question. Let me come back to that. What’s the most frequent answer you get?

Skydiving.

Haha – that would not be my answer.

Let me talk to a group of your friends and you're not there. What adjectives or two word phrases to describe you would they come up with?

Independent, definitely determined, courageous, funny.

Why would they say courageous?

I mean I chase after what I want, especially as it goes to my sport. You gotta spend a lot of time out here we spend a lot of time traveling so always get to be a kid.

Do you have any kind of music genre that you like the most?

I like country I'd say.

Favorite subject in school?

Math or science probably math

Least favorite subject in school?

English.

Anybody that you really look up to world wide world of everything?

Golf wise, Lexi Thompson and Nelly Korda. I met Lexi at a tournament when I was younger and she signed some stuff for me. I thought that was really cool.

Lucky number and favorite color?

Two and blue.

Something you want to accomplish that’s not golf related, that you'd like to accomplish somewhere down the road?

I think just in general kind of helping people giving back faith wise and just normally I think you know, doing some more mission trips and stuff like. Going back to something I would want to try if I couldn't fail, I think it would be along the same lines there, just helping as many people as possible

A tournament you'd like to win you haven't won?

Either here or AJGA Rolex

What are the elements of playing this sport that you like?

I love how it's played on a four inch course which is right in between your ears I think it's, just I mean, it's crazy how much people don't realize how mental it is and being out there for five hours. Obviously most of these courses that we get to play, that we’re blessed to play are gorgeous and we're outside. You meet a ton of awesome people and you're out there you just I mean you get to hang out for five hours and think your way through the golf course.

What do you do to have fun besides golf?

I like hanging out with my friends. I really like swimming, watch movies. Just watched again Seven Days in Utopia. I think that's awesome, one of my favorites.

What's the number one thing that you think people don't know about you?

The outside world doesn't really know how much I want to succeed at what I'm doing I guess.

that's a great answer because I was expecting something like that you “eat avocados”.

Ha ha !

Well that’s pretty much it Reagan. Thanks for sitting down with us

Thank you for talking with me.