SE: K-State WGLF’s Connie Jaffrey Enjoying Successful Summer Back Home
Jul 10, 2017 | Women's Golf, Sports Extra
In the summer of 2014, before her first semester at K-State, Connie Jaffrey came hauntingly close to winning the Scottish Women's Amateur Championship, a coveted golf tournament in her home country.
Jaffrey lost in a playoff that year, leaving a memory she would not soon forget and forging even more motivation to win it in the future.
Three years later, the 20-year-old Wildcat found the redemption she sought. On June 10, Jaffrey won the Scottish Women's Amateur Championship over the 2015 champ, Clara Young, in the finals of match play.
"It meant a lot to me," Jaffrey said of her victory at Royal Aberdeen Golf Club, founded in 1870 and touted as the sixth-oldest course in the history of the sport. "I've been chasing that title for quite some time."
After a tough first-round score of 84 in stroke play, which was played in adverse weather conditions, Jaffrey locked in. As the No. 21 seed in match play, she cruised to a first-round victory, winning 7&6, before taking her next two matches 2&1 and her semifinal battle 3&2.
"I'm definitely most proud of how I handled myself on the golf course with the weather conditions because it was not great," Jaffrey said. "I mentally kept myself together and kept myself in the game."
More specifically, Jaffrey's putter helped boost her to the title. In the final match, the Wildcats' senior-to-be one-putted six greens on the front nine, a sign of the growth she's incurred at K-State.
"My putting has been amazing. I think I owe that to K-State," she said. "We work on a lot of short game and putting out there. Ever since I went to Kansas State, my putting and short game has always improved. It's one of the best parts of my game now."
This is just one reason why Jaffrey was usually sporting K-State gear in her country's home tournament, about 4,000 miles away from Manhattan.
"I definitely wanted to wear purple on the last day, that's for sure, especially in the final match because K-State has done so much for me and I thought it would be good to honor the university, to represent them," Jaffrey said, recalling the congratulatory texts and social media messages she received from her K-State teammates and coaches. "It was almost instantly. (Head coach Kristi Knight) congratulated me right after and my teammates all sent messages to me, too. The girls always have my back. They always make me smile."
Jaffrey has been first or second on the team's scoring average all three seasons at K-State. After leading the team with a 74.57 average in the 2016-17 season, which ended with a trip to an NCAA Regional, Jaffrey holds the lowest career stroke average in K-State history, at 74.64.
"Being with a team and definitely being in a competitive environment has totally helped me develop a higher performance and a better mind for golf," Jaffrey said. "I haven't been the best I could be at K-State, but I've learned from my performances out there."
Jaffrey has applied these lessons well this summer, while also quickly adjusting back to links-style golf courses.
"From the links golfer that I am, I'm used to high winds, thick roughs and fast greens, so it's always an adjustment coming from home out to the (United) States, and vice versa," Jaffrey said. "I've been used to the American courses, which are more parkland oriented. The roughs and fairways are maintained quite neat and tidy, so that's quite an adjustment coming back over here."
By winning the Scottish Women's Amateur, she qualified for the Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship in Wales in mid-June. After finishing 23rd in stroke play, Jaffrey dropped a tightly contested first-round battle in match play.
Still, her summer was not over. Jaffrey's victory also solidified her spot on Scotland's group for the European Ladies Team Championship from Tuesday to Saturday in Montado, Portugal.
"It's always fun playing in a team environment because you always have the team support when you're playing," said Jaffrey, making her fifth appearance on Scotland's team. "I know all of the girls quite well so that makes it a bit more fun."
Regardless of how the team finishes, Jaffrey said she feels good about the state of her game. She hopes to bring it back for her senior season at K-State, which will start with the Minnesota Invitational on September 11-12, and continue to improve.
"I hope my performance will carry over," she said. "I know what I have to work on and I know that I've got a pretty steady performance right now, so hopefully I maintain that coming into August and September, and then work on the things that I need to work a little bit harder on."
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