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As fathers of successful golfers go, Billy Schofill might be the clubhouse leader in toughness.
Formerly one of the top jai alai frontline players in the country, Schofill once took a pelota – traveling some 130 mph coming off the wall – square in the forehead, causing him to spend a week at a Miami hospital. He began his professional career in the notoriously dangerous sport as a teenager, breaking a bone in his foot and commonly enduring bruises on his way to being a three-time American singles champion (1984-86). The squash-like game is certainly a niche sport, one that is popular in Florida as a gambling alternative to horse racing, but Schofill started playing at the age of 6 and found himself enamored with the mental and physical tenacity jai alai required.
Even waiting for his concussion to subside, Schofill just wanted to get back to the Miami fronton where locals knew him simply as Billy.
"I never missed a day before this," he said at the time. "I hate sitting around doing nothing."
You can draw a direct line between Billy Schofill’s doggedness and his daughter Megan, a rising junior on the Auburn University golf team. Megan (above) is a ball of energy, constantly looking for the next challenge. Like her dad, she has to keep moving.
“If you ask any of my friends, these Zoom classes kill me,” the younger Schofill joked. “The last 45 minutes, I’m pacing, just like dying.”
Her progression in golf has looked the part of someone unsatisfied with inertia. A product of the Aucilla Christian Academy in Monticello, Florida, a small town about 35 minutes east of Tallahassee near the Florida-Georgia border, Schofill has worked her way up the world rankings every year, going from No. 1,704 at the end of 2017 to No. 359 in 2018 to No. 105 in 2019 to No. 24 in 2020. She exploded onto the scene a year ago with victories at the Lake Oconee Invitational – her first collegiate start – the Florida Women’s Amateur and the Liz Murphy Fall Collegiate, earning first-team All-SEC honors in her freshman season on the Plains. Schofill also made the round of 16 at the U.S. Women’s Amateur, putting her squarely in the conversation for the U.S. Curtis Cup team.
Schofill is a late bloomer, a player who didn’t start in competitive golf until 13 years old. She’s always excelled as a ball-striker, utilizing a low ball flight that may be another good reason for her selection given the blustery conditions possible in Wales.
She is currently the 10th-highest ranked American; selection will take place over the next month leading up to the match, which is Aug. 26-28 at Conwy Golf Club in Wales. Schofill was one of 12 players invited to the Curtis Cup practice session in January at Lake Nona, Florida, but only eight Americans will get the call and there isn’t much that separates those vying for the last few spots on the squad. The U.S. Women’s Amateur (Aug. 2-8) will represent the last chance to make a good impression on captain Sarah Ingram and the selection committee.
So what is the case for Schofill? Undoubtedly, it is the leadership element. A year ago at the 2020 Palmer Cup, the U.S. squad unexpectedly lost William Mouw as a late withdrawal, meaning someone had to play alone, going up against two other players, during the Monday mixed fourball matches.
“And who do you think they picked?” said Auburn women’s golf coach Melissa Luellen. “Of course it was Miss Megan. And she darn near almost beat two players. When she lost 2 and 1, she came back to me and said, ‘I should have won that match. I missed two short putts I should have made.’ I just love it.”
“I always seem to play better when it’s 40 degrees and raining,” Schofill joked.
But understanding the fine details of the short game and learning proper course management have been two areas where she was not naturally gifted. Schofill came to a camp at Auburn when she was 14, hoping she could one day be a Tiger. Her game, however, was nowhere close to being ready. Luellen didn’t think she would have any shot at making the team four years later, but Schofill willed herself there. By the end of her junior career, she had 13 titles which included four AJGA wins. Now she has two college victories, while helping the Tigers advance to the match-play quarterfinals at this year’s NCAA Championship.
“Up until about 16 years old, I was not a great golfer,” Schofill said. “I was very average. But I had a lot of belief in myself, a lot of confidence, and that’s what really made me improve. A lot of people either have it or they don’t.
“I get my resilience from my dad. He’s my biggest supporter, my No. 1 fan. He can be tough on me sometimes, but he taught me golf from the perspective of a professional athlete with mental toughness. He knows what it takes to be the best, and I have that, too. If you ask my friends, they’ll tell you that I want to beat everyone in everything I do.”
Schofill can be deceiving. She is as polite as they come – answering questions with “No, sirs” and “Yes, ma’ams” – but her southern charm morphs into a killer mentality on the golf course. At last year’s Florida Women’s Amateur, her first event in nearly five months due to the pandemic cutting her freshman season short, she started the final day 10 shots off the lead and began the last round with a double-bogey 7 on the par-5 first hole. That would be enough to make most people daydream about what they are having for dinner, but Schofill instead collected eight birdies and only one bogey in the final 17 holes to shoot 67, rallying for an unlikely victory.
“It had been one of my goals the last four or five years to win my state am,” Schofill said. “So checking that off the list was huge.”
The next goal to check off? Maybe a spot on the Curtis Cup team and continuing to introduce herself to more people in the college game.
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