By Zackary Al-Khateeb
Brooke Pancake, a native of Chattanooga, Tenn., is one of many talented golfers on Alabama’s women’s golf team, and she has recently come off one of the most successful freshman seasons in the team’s history.
Last season, Pancake was named to the SEC All-Freshman team, 2nd team All-SEC, and NCGA All-East Region Team. She also led the nation in driving accuracy, had an average score of 74.06 and had five top 10 finishes, finishing tied for 32nd overall in the NCAA Championships last season.
That success and level of competition has carried over into her sophomore year, helping to make the Crimson Tide a force to be reckoned with on the course. The Tide has been ranked No. 6 in the nation as recently as Sunday by Golfweek.
So far this season, Pancake, ranked 47th in the nation in the beginning of the season, has an average score of 74.14, third best on the team, an average of two strokes over par. Her lowest score of the season is 69, just above her career best of 68 set in the last round of the NCAA Championships last year. She has also shot five total rounds under par, had three finishes inside the top 20, and two top 10 finishes. The highest she’s placed so far this season was a tie for ninth at the Tiger/Wave Golf Classic in New Orleans.
Despite her success so far this season, Pancake said she’s still working to become a better player.
“I started off playing fairly well, but there’s this potential I keep trying to reach,” Pancake said. “But it has been a long process for me, mentally, coming into [this season]. I’m stronger and with more competition under my belt.”
Head coach Mic Potter also noted talent and work ethic of Pancake as well.
“We’ve got Brooke and Jennifer [Kirby] and Camilla [Lennarth] all in the top 50,” Potter said. “When we got Brooke, it added an element of depth we hadn’t had before. Her personality is the same on and off the course. She’s an introspective girl and leads by example. If someone’s working on shots, she’ll go and talk to them about that, but she’s going to work hard and take care of her business.”
This attitude, as well as players like Lennarth and Kirby, is helping the Tide to become one of the best programs in the nation in upcoming years.
“We’re extremely excited about the next couple of years,” Pancake said. “We feel that by the time I graduate, we’ll be in contention to win the national championship.”
Pancake said her interest in golf was started by her grandfather.
“I got started in golf by my grandfather, who I called Jimbo,” Pancake said. “I’m one of four girls, and he tried to introduce it to all of us, but I’m the only one who picked it up.”
Once it became common knowledge that Pancake had a talent for the game, it was only a matter of time before recruiters came knocking. It was around Pancake’s sophomore year that Potter started recruiting her. The Tennessee Women’s Golf Hall of Fame inductee, ranked 26th in the nation coming out of high school, was on everyone’s wish list in terms of recruiting.
“A lot of people were really interested in Brooke, and it was really difficult [recruiting her],” Potter said. “But she liked the players, liked that we were an up and coming team, and she of course loved the campus and the facilities.”
As Pancake continues her career at the University, she continually works to make herself and her team better.
