Before she plays Augusta National, this local golfer aims for state title three-peat
When she was 12, Cannon School senior Amanda Sambach was the No. 1-ranked girls tennis and golf player in her age group.
That’s when she quit playing tennis.
“Golf seemed like a more reasonable option for the future,” she said. “I was super competitive in both, and it was going pretty well, but I thought I’d have more opportunities in golf.”
It didn’t take long for Sambach to know she had made the right choice.
She was courted heavily for college in middle school (yes, middle school) and committed to play at Virginia while she was in eighth grade. She has risen to as high as No. 3 in the American Junior Golf Association’s national rankings, doing so well that she was invited to play in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur last spring, joining 72 of the best amateur players in the world. The event was postponed because of the pandemic, but all players invited in 2020 can compete in 2021 if they are still amateurs.
“Getting invited to that was really special,” Sambach said. “I saw that big green envelope in the mail, and I was like, ‘No way.’ ”
On Monday, Sambach and her Cannon School teammates will play in the N.C. Independent Schools state championship at Bryan Park in Greensboro.
Sambach, who has a stroke average of 33 for nine holes, will try to win her third consecutive state championship.
“She’s the best player I’ve ever had, and I have one who is about to start on the LPGA Tour,” said Cannon coach Pat Whisenant, who has been a teaching professional for 40 years. “(Sambach is) a pro if she wants to be. She loves to practice, and that’s why she’s so good. This is a hard game. There’s nothing easy about golf, and she wants to be the best, and so far she is.”
Hilton Head Beginnings
When she was 5, Sambach began to ask her parents, Chris and Lila, to take her to play miniature golf while on vacation at Hilton Head.
Two years later, she made her first hole-in-one, using a driver to ace the par-3 13th hole at North Stone Country Club.
By age 11, she broke par for the first time, shooting a 68 at Cowan’s Ford Country Club on Lake Norman. The next year, she was named to a six-person American team to play in the U.S. Kids’ World Championship against Team Europe in Pinehurst.
That ascension would only continue.
As a sophomore at Cannon, Sambach shot a blistering 8-under-par 64 in the first round of the NCISAA state championships, which she comfortably won, and she won the 2019 state title as well.
“That was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever witnessed,” Cannon School senior Molly Morrison said of the 64.
This year, Sambach’s ranking has slid to No. 30 after she got off to a slow start in some of her national events.
“I lost a couple of tournaments,” she said, “and my game has not been as sharp as I wanted it, and I’m already expected to finish well. I put a lot of pressure on myself to play well.”
In August, Sambach played in the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Maryland. In July, she won the Junior North & South at Pinehurst No. 2. Also this year, Sambach won the AJGA Open in Fayetteville, finished tied for first at another AJGA event in Florida and finished seventh in the AJGA Girls Nationals.
And in 2019, Sambach gained an exemption to a Symetra Tour event at River Run Country Club in Davidson, her home course. She finished 11th in the field that regularly includes players who have been or will be on the LPGA Tour.
“She’s the real thing,” said Whisenant, her high school coach.
Short game and Dustin Johnson
Every day after school, Sambach aims for three or four hours of practice, which also includes five or six days of strength and cardio training. That added strength has added length to her game, like her favorite golfer, Dustin Johnson, the No. 1 ranked men’s golfer.
“Golf is lots of hard work,” Sambach said, in between hitting 30-yard wedge shots to within 2 to 3 feet from the flag so often it almost seemed inevitable. “Golf requires tons and tons of reps every day to be consistent.”
Sambach has a smooth slow swing and really great touch. The practice plan on this day emphasizes what she says is the strength of her game — her short game — and she leaves a trail of white golf balls around the hole from 30 or 60 yards. No balls fly wildly. All land soft, her slow, smooth swing looking the exact same way every time, almost like you were rewinding your DVR.
“The first time I saw her, I thought I had a winner,” Whisenant said. “It was just the way she swung the club and her attitude. You can see the confidence is there. She doesn’t hardly question anything anymore, and when she does, the questions are intelligent. It’s like, ‘Why can’t I do this?’ ”
Whisenant says matter-of-factly that Monday will be Cannon’s fourth consecutive team state championship. In 11 seasons at the school, his teams have won 12 state titles: eight for the girls and four for the boys.
He also says, matter-of-factly, that Sambach will win her third consecutive individual title. That’s something Morrison, Sambach’s teammate, would not disagree with.
“She’s amazing,” Morrison said. “I know she works really hard at it every single day and she loves it, too. Her passion comes through. And she’s so down-to-earth and humble. Just walking out to see our team, you’d think she’s one of us, just nice, out there to have fun, but she’s very serious about it. I mean, her smile never goes away. She’s one of the sweetest people I’ve ever played with. She’s just so focused. While she talks and smiles and laughs with us on the course, she’s always so focused; like it’s another world she’s in when it comes to hitting that next shot.”
So is there any chance, then, that Sambach won’t win Monday?
“No chance,” Morrison said. “No, no chance.”
This story was originally published October 22, 2020 at 3:26 PM.
