WCC Championship Preview | VIDEO: Kelly, Freman Preview WCC Championship
By Michael Ney
Media Relations Student Assistant
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Life constantly gives us choices. Some are harder to make than others, but at the end of the day, these choices dictate the paths of our lives.
Santa Clara senior women's golfer Annie Freman has made her choice. She will be setting down her golf clubs after an extremely successful career at Santa Clara and will be picking up a briefcase to work as an accountant at Deloitte, one of the "Big Four" accounting firms. There, she looks to apply her past knowledge and experience from golf to her new profession.
Since the age of 10, Freman's competitiveness, determination, and vibrant personality have helped to her to excel in the sport, winning a total of six collegiate tournaments, posting 27 top-10 finishes, and earning 2013-14 WCC Freshman of the Year.
At large public schools that invest heavily in athletics, athletes are, for the most part, solely tasked with succeeding in their sport. Santa Clara on the other hand, while committed to athletics, pushes student-athletes (with emphasis on "student") to balance both. Freman did just that, choosing not to only focus on one and not the other. Rather she chose to give her all in both.
"It's been a pleasure to watch her grow and mature not only on the golf course but also in the classroom. She has helped catapult our program to the next level," said head women's golf coach Krystal Kelly. "When faced with adversity she puts her head down and does what it took to accomplish the goal, whether short term or long term. She is incredibly driven and has an incredible amount of raw talent. I'm very proud of her and all her hard work and dedication over the last four years."
From this hard-work and concentrated effort, Freman has gained practical skills from golf that extend beyond the game itself. In addition to prioritizing, time management, and people skills, Freman looks to bring her strong foundation in ethics to her new job, gained from her time at Santa Clara. It also does not hurt that many of the partners at Deloitte play the game as well.
"Golf is a big game of integrity… you're calling the shots on yourself," said Freman. "I've had tournaments where I've had to call myself on a penalty. This game is entirely based on that. And by taking away from that, you're essentially eradicating the entire game."
Freman has taken a lot from golf, lessons that cannot be learned in the classroom, which makes her an even stronger individual and has helped distinguish the Las Vegas native from the rest of the accounting field when she was searching for internships and jobs. Unlike the majority of her competition, Freman did not realize she wanted to enter into accounting until her sophomore year and because of golf, her grades were not as strong as they could have been. But after declaring, a weight was lifted from her shoulders, allowing her to further enjoy golf and motivating her to earn all A's in her upper-division accounting classes.
"Accounting is slowly becoming my new golf, in terms of passion. That is weird to say," said Freman, who interned at Deloitte in the summer of 2016.
But before she can assume her professional life in the real world, Freman still has at least one tournament to play, the biggest one of the year, the WCC Championship. Last season, she finished tied for second, shooting a 3-under-par 219. As weird as it sounds, this could be the last competitive golf event of her career.
"I don't want to be on my last hole of competitive golf and say, 'I wished I practiced a little bit more.' I want to leave it all on the course," said Freman.
As the only senior, Freman will be the only missing member on next year's team, but will leave Santa Clara as the school's all-time leader in stroke average (75.05) while winning twice as many tournaments as an other Bronco. She will be leaving behind an exceptionally strong legacy, with much more than golf scores to show for herself, but the strong friendships and contributions to the Santa Clara atmosphere.
After all, she is a size 10 – pretty big shoes to fill.
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