Ekey Making a Difference in First Season at Alabama
2/16/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
By Scott Latta
UA Media Relations
Kathleen Ekey had just dropped a stroke to Texas A&M’s Laura Johnson on the second hole of their head-to-head match at the Hooters Collegiate Championship last November. With Alabama facing elimination after a roller coaster tournament that saw the 10th-seeded Tide already knock off rival Auburn, Tide head women’s golf coach Mic Potter had a message for Ekey.
Before the tee shot of the pair’s third hole, where Ekey had lost the honor of teeing off first, Potter stuck his head in Ekey’s cart.
His message was clear: I better not see them on the tee box first again.
“I was just like, ??Wow,’” Ekey said.
Coming to Tuscaloosa
The emotion shown by the normally-reserved Potter is one of the reasons Ekey, a junior from Wadsworth, Ohio, decided to transfer to Alabama after spending the first two seasons of her college career at Furman, where she was recruited by the current Alabama coach before his departure to coach in Tuscaloosa.
After what was arguably the most successful fall season in school history for the team, during which Alabama posted third, first and fifth-place finishes, respectively, Ekey is one of the reasons Potter, now in his third season at the Capstone, is optimistic about the upcoming spring season for the Tide.
“I think we could be very good,” Potter said. “We weren’t that far away from being very good this fall. We won the Kentucky tournament, then had a week off and went to Tennessee and through 12 holes we were 6 or 8 under par, which is unheard of for that golf course. If we play like we played at Kentucky, we’re pretty hard to beat.”
Potter runs the Alabama team like a CEO, tracking his players’ progress through a series of charts and graphs that compare them to some of the world’s best, including the LPGA’s top player, Lorena Ochoa, and college golf’s best player, Amanda Blumenherst of Duke.
On each chart, each Alabama player is compared to Ochoa, Blumenherst, and the No. 25-ranked player on the LPGA in a number of different categories, including fairways hit, greens-in-regulation, putts-per-round, and sand saves.
A look at Ekey’s chart reveals why the Alabama coach is not only excited about his former commitment’s decision to transfer to Tuscaloosa, but also makes it obvious what is holding her back from competing at an elite level??Ekey already hits more fairways and greens in each round than both professional players, but suffers more than five more putts-per-round.
“I think it just comes down to the little things,” Potter said. “She drives it much better than the tour players do. She hits it in play and has a shot at the green more often than Amanda Blumenhurst and the tour players. She hits more greens in regulation than the tour players. She just really has to improve what she does around the green, including her putting and bunker play.”
In the Footsteps
Ekey provides leadership and depth for an Alabama team looking to find a replacement for All-American golfer Jenny Suh, whose story is not much different, at this point, than Ekey’s: after playing golf for two years at Furman, Suh followed Potter to Tuscaloosa in 2005, where she finished her career as one of the top women’s golfers in Alabama history and an All-SEC player.
Getting to play with Suh was one of the reasons Ekey originally committed to play golf at Furman. Now, stepping in a year after Suh’s departure, she knows she has a chance to pick up where her would-be teammate left off.
“I definitely think that’s the role I am supposed to fill,” Ekey said, “and I’m going to do everything I can to do that and more.”
Suh’s legacy at Alabama, Potter said, is one of the reasons the Crimson Tide is now able to land players like Ekey to Tuscaloosa??in just his third year, Potter has made Alabama into a top 25 mainstay and had the Tide as high as ninth nationally after Alabama’s victory at the Wildcat Invitational this fall.
“We’ve had success and when you see a program that goes from one level to another and is going in the right direction, that’s appealing and she wanted to be a part of that,” Potter said. “The girls on the team are the ones that turn the tide in our favor in recruiting, and the fact that we’ve improved so much in such a short period of time. It’s one thing to be here, it’s another thing to take advantage of what’s here, and she’s certainly taken advantage of everything.”
??This is kind of my life’
When Ekey reflects on her decision to move to Tuscaloosa for her final two years, she thinks back to the November morning against Texas A&M, when the reason she did it became clear, and her opportunity to play for Potter had come full circle. After seeing how fired-up Potter was, Ekey stuck her next tee shot about 10 feet from the pin. After her opponent missed her birdie opportunity, Ekey sank hers to take a one-stroke lead.
On the other side of the green, pacing back and forth, she saw her coach pump his fist. Two holes later, after another birdie, he was high-fiving. By the end of the round, Ekey had defeated her opponent 3&2 and helped lead Alabama to a fifth-place finish after being seeded 12th.
Now, she knows it’s only a matter of perfecting the little things ?? the putting, the chipping, the bunker play ?? that will take her, and Alabama, to an elite level of play.
“I practice a lot,” she said. “This is kind of my life. We joke that I have an air mattress in the locker room because I’m always here. But I really think it’s what will take me to the next level.”
Players Mentioned
