- May 5, 2024
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Claire Albrecht led Mainland to its first state tournament run last season. Photos by Jeff Dawsey
Albrecht has reached the state tournament in each of her three seasons with Mainland.
Claire's longest putt this season was over 30 feet.
Claire Albrecht remembers the days she would compete against her sister, Emma, and parents, Eric and Annie, in chip-shot competitions for ice cream cones. Having won the conference, district and region tournaments this season, she’s now prepared to win a much sweeter prize -- a state championship.
Albrecht’s journey up to this moment has been fairly easy as a Lady Buc, but her work ethic and sibling competition have allowed her to distance herself from the competition.
When asked about the last day she took off from golf, Albrecht gazed into the sky in deep thought, only to respond almost half a minute later, “I can’t remember.”
When the Mainland junior is not playing or practicing with the team, she’s playing on another tour. Simply put, her life consists of golf, school and more golf. Annie and her coach, Glenna Redden, made the joke that if she could win the state championship, they’d allow her to go to bed an hourly earlier.
“She’s very focus-driven and goal-oriented,” Annie Albrecht said. “It’s fun to see all of her hard park paying off.”
Sister rivalry
Although she has run through all of her competition this season, Albrecht credits her rivalry with her sister Emma – the Father Lopez alum who now plays for Notre Dame– that developed her game most.
Playing against the area’s former best golfer on a consistent basis throughout her life, Albrecht progressed quickly, so quickly that she first beat Emma for the first time, at the four-day
The South Atlantic Women's Amateur Championship some years ago.
“I couldn’t brag about it; I just had to shut up,” Albrecht laughed. “She was upset. She didn’t say much for the rest of the day, but she congratulated me. Then, she beat me the next day, so she got over it.”
While she may not be playing Emma come next week, Albrecht knows the competition at the state level – where she’s already played – will be just as fierce.
On potentially winning the state title, Albrecht said, “It would mean a lot. It would feel like all of my hard work has paid off. It would also mean that I finished undefeated this entire season. That would be huge…really cool.”
Albrecht will compete in the Class 2A Florida High School Golf State Championship Tuesday and Wednesday, Nov. 1 and 2, at Mission Inn and Resort in Howie-in-the-Hills.
What a year! Claire Albrecht won all 10 of Mainland’s 9-hole matches and the two 18-hole tournaments (Volusia-Flagler and Five-Star Conference Tournaments). She finished the regular season with a 9-hole average of 35, leading second-place opponents by an average of eight strokes.
Fighting Irish sisters: Over the summer, Claire decided to commit to the University of Notre Dame. Her older sister Emma currently attends and plays for the Fighting Irish. Claire says she was impressed with Notre Dame’s campus and atmosphere several years back, when the institution had first recruited Emma.
