For Alisa Snyder, it doesn’t get any better than this.
After winning the state Division I individual golf
championship and helping Xavier Prep win the 33rd team title in
school history, Snyder will be honored as the state Girls Golfer of the Year on
Sunday (June 5) at the azcentral.com Arizona Sports Awards ceremony. The event
will be held at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Phoenix.
“Golf is my favorite season,’’ said Snyder, a recent XCP
graduate who will be studying and playing golf at the University of Michigan.
“Xavier has been a great atmosphere for that. You’re always competing and you
want to play well. All of us on the team are good friends and we push each
other and support each other.’’
Snyder received plenty of support from them in the last few
holes of the decisive second day of the state tournament last fall.
She remembers being on the fairway of the 17th
hole of the Aguila Golf Course in Laveen when play was stopped for nearly 30
minutes because of weather conditions.
“When we were ready to go back out, I was thinking about
whether I should try for a birdie,’’ the left-handed-hitting Snyder said. “I
talked to the coaches and they said if I tried it and missed, it could penalize
me (score), where if I could make par on the last two holes, it might be good.
So that’s what I did. I played it safe. It was a great feeling to play well
like that and help us win as a team.’’
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Alisa Snyder won the Division I golf championship and helped Xavier win the 33rd state title in school history. |
Snyder played all four years at Xavier, along with Mikayla
Fitzpatrick. The two became good friends and finished off their representation
of XCP by playing as teammates at the recent United States Golf Association
Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship in Florida.
“It was a great experience. It was nice to play one last
time with Mikayla,’’ Snyder said. “The course was amazing. It was very long,
but it was in wonderful shape. The weather was more humid than Arizona.’’
Snyder will have orientation and register for classes at
Michigan in July and begin school in August.
She said golf will be both in the fall and spring, but that
actual NCAA competition is in the spring.
Relying on the things she learned at Xavier will help her
make the adjustment to college.
“Xavier is a great school for young women,’’ she said. “You
learn so much and the community is part of one big family. The academics and
athletics are really strong.’’
And Snyder will continue to maintain contact with
Fitzpatrick, who will be studying and playing golf at Xavier in Cincinnati.
“The two schools are not too far apart,’’ Snyder said. “I
think we figured out that we could drive about 2 ½ hours each and meet
halfway.’’
She looks back on what she accomplished at Xavier with a
sense of pride.
She thought of all the good golfers who preceded her, “who
have done it before, and I wanted to be like them. I started the season in the
No. 4 spot on the team and I think there were some people who might have said,
“Oh, she’s No. 4. She probably won’t go too far.’ That only motivated me, made
me work harder.’’
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