What Annabel Wilson needed was clarity.
The rising senior on the UCLA women’s golf team stood on the tee box of the 17th hole in the match play quarterfinals of the 122nd U.S. Women’s Amateur at Chambers Bay looking to achieve history.
Coming off victories on the 15th and 16th holes, Wilson needed to halve the 123-yard, par-3 hole to become the 10th Bruin in program history to appear in a U.S. Women’s Amateur semifinal.
The wind started to pick up the Friday afternoon of the quarterfinal, however, blowing right to left in the direction of the wispy rough.
“It was the windiest the course played,” Wilson said. “We needed to discuss all the options.”
The collective “we” Wilson referred to was herself and caddy Keith Johnson.
Wilson arrived at Chambers Bay in University Place, Washington just a day before meeting Johnson at the driving range for their Sunday practice round. She pulled out an 8.5″ x 11″ sheet of paper and on it listed her objectives for the day.
“How far am I carrying the golf ball?”
“What flags can I shoot at?”
“What flags can I shoot away from?”
Luckily for Wilson, it was Johnson’s name that was matched with hers in the caddy lottery draft. Johnson, who had been caddying at Chambers Bay since its opening in 2007, was a veteran to the caddy game, learning the trade as a teenager in his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Wilson gave Johnson and his course knowledge an open invitation to her game.
“(Wilson) told me right away that she wanted me to get involved in her green reading,” Johnson said. “She let me know she wanted me to get involved in the shot selection.”
UCLA women’s golf head coach Carrie Forsyth stated Wilson’s commitment to her shot selection was a shortcoming of hers a year ago.
Ever since a youth, Wilson has needed confirmation in her game whether it be searching her bag for the right club or scanning the slope of a green to judge the right amount of oompf for her follow through.
Forsyth knows this well having been on her bag for several of her college tournaments.
“Literally just saying out loud makes it clear and makes you committed to (the shot). It’s simple as that,” Wilson said. Speaking it out rather internally. That helps with my clarity in what I’m going to do. So, whenever I play tournaments in college, I make the most of…
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