Cheyenne Knight ranked as the sixth best women golfer in the country by Golfstat and Golfweek on Feb. 15 ranking, this after she was named the WGCA Freshman of the Year last year.
Knight enjoys the honor of being looked upon as one of the top golfers in the country, but is more concerned with focusing on her preparations for tournaments.
“I guess it felt good,” Knight said. “I really don’t look at rankings much. I do want to be in that higher group of top golfers in college golf, but it’s about the process and not so result oriented.”
Knight will turn her focus on the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate this weekend in South Carolina. Considering she won last year, Knight would like to come out victorious in the tournament against this year.
However, Knight believes that if she executes her shots well in the tournament and is happy with her play, she will consider that a win in the tournament for herself.
“It’s a difficult course,” Knight said. “It’s very challenging and usually the weather, it’s windy. I won it last year, so of course I want to do well, but I can only control what I am doing and my preparation going into the tournament, just let the result take care of itself.”
Coming in as a freshman and playing right away was no surprise for Knight, even though she knew the team was full of talent. She did not have huge expectations for herself as a freshman.
While Alabama placed 24 out of 25 in the NCAA tournament, Knight was competing for the individual championship throughout.
“The National Championships were a lot harder stage,” Knight said. “You could definitely feel the pressure, but at the same time, at the end of the day, it’s just golf. It’s just another round you cannot put too much emphasis on. Being in contention for the National Championship as an individual was a lot of fun. I love that golf course.”
As a result of the strong NCAA tournament and freshman season, Knight was one of four nominees for the Honda Award for women’s golf.
If Knight had won the Honda Sports award for golf last season, she would have been the third to do so in Alabama school history. The previous two winners were Emma Talley in 2015 and Brooke Pancake in 2012.
Incidentally, Knight’s interest in the Alabama golf program grew when the team won the National Championship in 2012, while Talley is someone Knight looked up to as an older sister last year as a freshman.
With her ranking as the sixth best golfer, Knight stands a chance to be in contention for the award again at the end of the season. While it would be a privilege for her to win it, she is not paying too much attention to it now.
“I take it one tournament, one round at a time,” Knight said. “Awards are kind of funny and different. As a player, you don’t really think about them much, because you just focus on your preparation for the tournament and your game plan. The end of the season is when you find out if you won. I don’t really think about it that much.”
Knight wants to take an active role in getting younger girls involved in sports. While Knight enjoys golf, she would like to get more girls involved in the sport.
“I feel like golf is a sport a lot of girls don’t play,” Knight said. “I go home to Texas and I know some of the younger girls in middle school and I try to encourage them to keep with it. I tell them there are a lot of college opportunities for it. And golf is a sport you can play for a lifetime. I want to get more involved with girls in encouraging girls in Tuscaloosa.”
