Local golfer committed to Clemson
MAINEVILLE - When most pre-driving age teens have a golf club in their hand, they're often on vacation trying to hit a colored ball into the clown's mouth.
Alexandra (Alex) Swayne at 14 was at Augusta National Golf Club driving a Titleist before she could drive a car.
Out of an estimated 50,000 entries, Swayne won local and regional events to advance to the Drive, Chip and Putt competition at The Masters in 2014. The bespectacled masher from Maineville won which led to appearances on the Golf Channel and on CBS with former Master's champ Nick Faldo.
It has been onward and upward from there for Swayne who gets her hand-eye coordination from her father, Chuck, a former tennis pro who once graced the Lindner Tennis Center in Mason. Now minus the glasses, she flashes a winning smile blessed to her by her mother, Dr. Julie Swayne, a Loveland dentist.
Many golfers start at young ages, but that's not the case of Alex Swayne.
"I started about five years ago," she said. "I wish I would have started a little younger, but we're good. I was a tennis player. My Dad played professionally, so it was just in my blood to play tennis."
She played her freshman fall season in 2014 for Kings and was second in the Eastern Cincinnati Conference with a 39.37 average (nine holes). She finished first team ECC and went on to be first team All-City in addition to qualifying for the district tournament.
With the good fortune of a home on the course at TPC at River's Bend, Swayne was able to hone her skills on the driving range and on the surrounding scenic run. By her sophomore year, she elected to pursue bigger events and played in the American Junior Golf Association and Southern Ohio PGA Junior tours.
Playing along another area stand-out, Katie Hallinan of Walnut Hills, who is from Loveland, Swayne has had her share of notoriety.
"It is fun," Swayne said. "(But) it's mentally draining. I get to work and go out and play golf, so that's fun. It's a lot of hard work."
She won the AJGA Junior Championship at Penn State this year along with the 15-18 Junior World Championship at the NCR Country Club in Dayton.
By Ohio High School Athletic Association rules, a player can not compete in such events and for their school, so Swayne has been out of the Knights lineup the past two seasons.
Now with her commitment to Clemson, Swayne will be back in late August and will rejoin Kings where her freshman sister, Leah, is also playing. She hopes to bring Kings up from the ECC cellar to compete against two-time defending champion Loveland.
"We should be good this year," Swayne said.
Recently, with Alex Swayne not yet eligible, Kings lost to Loveland by just five strokes with her younger sister playing in the first group. The ultimate goal would be to reach the state tournament as her tour partner Katie Hallinan has in the past.
"That's our main goal," Swayne said. "I've played the Gray (course) before, not the Scarlet, which is the course they'll be playing on."
Swayne estimates her nine-hole average would be around 36 with drives being launched in the 250-260 yard range. The key to success though comes around the green.
"Short game!" Swayne replied when asked about her strength. "You've got to work on that short game."
A year from now, she'll be in sweltering South Carolina on the Clemson campus, where she hopes to catch a few games with the nationally-ranked football Tigers. If it means anything in terms of luck, Swayne was able to rub "Howard's Rock" on her visit.
By tradition, the Clemson football team rubs the rock found by former coach Frank Howard in Death Valley, California before they run onto the field at Memorial Stadium.
Last season, Clemson won the national championship. ECC be warned.