ASHTIN ELDER

Sophomore Amy Beanblossom notched her first collegiate win on March 30. (courtesy of Kodiak Creative)

Sophomore Amy Beanblossom has been a key and consistent performer for the WashU women’s golf team over the past two seasons and recently placed first at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) Invitational on March 29-30 marking her first collegiate victory. She has several other second-place finishes at tournaments and scored a low round of 68 at both the UCSC invitational and the Illinois Wesleyan University (IWU) Fall Classic last year. She regularly finds herself in the team’s top finishers as it looks to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Student Life (SL): Going back to the beginning, how did your journey with golf get started?

Amy Beanblossom (AB): When I was growing up, I played a lot of different sports. Golf was always one of them. I think I started taking lessons and playing golf with other people around the age of eight and then started competing when I was maybe around 10 or 11. I was doing other sports around the same time, but I was not very good [when I started competing], and there were a lot of kids who were really good [golfers]. So I’d go to a tournament and often get last or second to last place, and I’d just be happy if I got second to last place in the tournament. My parents were very supportive of me playing and also playing other sports, and they didn’t really care how well I did, which was really great.

Probably around eighth grade, I dropped the other sports I was playing and decided I really loved golf. I couldn’t tell you why, because my parents were definitely pushing for me to play a team sport. But [there was] something about the game, and how I got really addicted to getting better, and it was really fun to start playing better and start winning tournaments.

SL: Did you always think that golf was something that you were going to be doing in college? Was that one of your main goals?

AB: I would say once I got to my sophomore year of high school, I couldn’t really see myself not playing golf in college. It was something that I wanted to focus on, and I didn’t really want to go to school without playing golf unless it was a school I didn’t like. So that’s when I started thinking about what kind of school I wanted to go to and lay out some options and started the recruiting process.

SL: Talking about the recruiting process, how did you choose to come to WashU? What were some of the selling points that really attracted you to coming here?

AB: I think one of the big points for me was the size of the school. I really liked the 8,000 student body size. 

And then also, the first time I visited [WashU], I just loved the school. The campus was really beautiful; I wasn’t expecting it, for St. Louis, as I’m sure a lot of people have said. But stepping on campus is just so pristine and beautiful, and I thought I could definitely see myself spending four years here.

The last thing I’ll hint on is [that] the team culture was very unique at WashU [compared to] other schools. It just seemed like the team really got along well. We’re all really happy, bubbly people, but … also love to get down and compete, which is definitely how I would describe myself.

SL: How do you think that the transition process to golf your first year went? And now as a sophomore, how has your relationship with golf changed, or are there any goals that you’ve achieved?

AB: I would say my freshman fall was a very different semester than the following three semesters. Every time I had a bad round, I would take it really hard on myself. And then, I ended the season on three really bad rounds, and it was a bad end to the season, but I think that was actually a great learning time for me and time for me to reflect, and come into the spring of my freshman year just feeling a lot more comfortable. And, my mindset was more like, ‘Hey, if I do well on a short, that’s great. But if I do bad, that’s okay.’

I think that really also translated into all [of] my sophomore year so far. I think I’ve been a very consistent player. I can shoot low, and I also won’t go too high. So, my mentality has changed a lot.

SL: And then about the UC Santa Cruz Invite this past week, what do you think was the key for you winning the entire tournament?

AB: I would say there were probably three key parts to my win. Two were more mechanical. I’ve been working on a swing change. I wasn’t really hitting the ball with very good contact in my last two tournaments. And then putts just haven’t been dropping recently. I’ve been talking to my coach at home, and I figured out something in my swing.

That Friday before the first round on Saturday, I was at the putting green, putting six- to nine-footers, and I fixed something with my putting stroke and just started making a bunch of putts. And I think that gave me confidence for the next day, and also allowed me to hit the ball square and make a lot of putts the next day. And then one thing I want to note is playing really well the first day is really hard to do again the second day, especially with the mentality that, ‘Oh, I’m ahead. I really want to win. I haven’t had a win yet.’

SL: What are some of your favorite hobbies or things to do outside of golf?

AB: I love to hike and travel with my family and friends, anything outdoors. I also love puzzles. I really like doing sudokus. Basically, anything outdoors or with the ocean, I love. I would also say at WashU, I’m a co-owner of the Bear-y Sweet Shoppe, so being able to play golf and own my own business is pretty cool. It’s been an awesome experience that I’ve loved doing.

SL: Do you have a professional athlete or golfer that you look up to as a role model?

AB: I love Lexi Thompson on the LPGA Tour. I think a year or two ago, she actually played in a PGA Tour event, and that was super inspiring. She’s a super long hitter on the LPGA Tour. So just showing that an LPGA player can compete with men too and actually make the cut was a really cool thing to see. I also love Nellie Korda on the LPGA tour. She’s just really good.

SL: And finally, this is a question that we ask to every athlete of the week. Would you rather have fish for hands or have to adopt a child every time you hear Bohemian Rhapsody?

AB: I think I would adopt a child every time I heard Bohemian Rhapsody because I don’t hear it too much, but I think I really would not want to have fish hands because then I can’t play golf.

2024-25 Athlete of the Week Tracker: Adopt a child: 3. Fish for hands: 3.