Edgewood College women’s golf rallies around freshman

Two years ago, Edgewood College women’s golf had just two participants.

In 2015, they still only have five, some of which didn’t even play golf in high school, but what they lack in skill, they make up for with team values. 

Janesville’s Betsy Ennis is the lone freshman on the Eagles. 

Coming into her first season, Ennis had to tell head coach Darcy Kelly that she’d have to miss the team’s competition on Sept. 12. Kelly didn’t think twice about excusing Ennis from the competition. 

“She just asked if it was okay, and my gut instinct was that family comes first.”

Before Ennis played golf at Edgewood, she played with her dad, Steve. In 2009, Steve Ennis died of kidney cancer.

Since her father’s death, Betsy says she has used golf to remember her dad. 

“Golfing, in general, helps to still remember him, but also to do something we both enjoyed helps a lot.”

When Betsy’s teammates found out that the 7th Annual Steve Ennis Memorial Classic landed on the same day as a team competition, it was a no-brainer. Coach Kelly and the lady Eagles decided to keep the team together.

“I discussed it with the girls. Betsy didn’t know that. They had no doubt in their mind that what they wanted to do is go to her dad’s memorial golf outing and say ‘it’s okay that we’re not playing in this tournament.'”

Just months after meeting Betsy for the first time, the team traveled to Edgerton Towne Country Club on Sept. 12 to help with the outing, leaving Ennis nearly speechless. 

“To have them not want to go to a tournament, when we don’t get to play in that many in the fall, and come support me and my family; I can’t even put it into words.”

The act of kindness might be hard to describe, but it certainly brings new meaning to the word “team.”