By Michael Haag | Sports Writer
Being a 14-year-old recruit to Baylor out of Ames, Iowa is no small task. For sophomore golfer Britta Snyder, committing as a Bear that young was in the works for a long time. While it took some convincing and hard work to get here, Snyder is now a big part of the tournament rotation for the Bears, seen in the big showing at the Rainbow Wahine Invitational in Hawaii last week.
However, none of this would be possible without her parents who were both collegiate golfers. Snyder said that her parents have been huge for her growing up, and that she’s been on and around a golf course for as long as she can remember.
“I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for my family,” Snyder said. “Both my parents I mean, they introduced it to me so young. I was riding on the golf cart in the baby carrier; I’ve been doing it for as long as I can remember. They’ve been so influential and helpful and supportive that it’s meant everything to me.”
Growing up 860 miles away from Waco, Snyder always knew that she wanted to be around warmer, southern weather. She said that she found her home at Baylor and wanted to join a team with such a high stature.
“I committed really young, I was 14 years old,” Snyder said. “My first number one priority was like, ‘I want to get south. I do not want to have snow, [all] winter long, I want to be able to play outside.’ When I committed we were just coming off a really good NCAA tournament run and that really – I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I want to be a part of something that cool.’ Everything about it, it just felt like home once I visited.”
Women’s golf head coach Jay Goble said that Snyder was the youngest recruit of his by far, and that she convinced him to recruit her. Goble said Snyder had the talent and rankings of a top player at the time, and that remains true today.
“She wanted to come to Baylor and she convinced me that this was the place for her. By far, she was the youngest person I ever offered a spot to or scholarship to,” Goble said. “The cool thing with Britta is, by the time she graduated high school, she was the number one player in Junior Golf Scoreboard. She’s inside the top 200 players in the world right now, [and] she was not that when she got here two years ago.”
At the Rainbow Wahine Invitational, Baylor won the event, while also sweeping the podium. Snyder finished second place individually, and the title went to senior golfer Gurleen Kaur. For most of the event, Snyder led the way, but Kaur played a great third day and jumped her on the standings. Snyder said that while she was happy for her teammate, as Kaur had battled hard for the title, she wanted it for herself.
“I really wanted it, but I was super happy for Gurleen,” Snyder said. “She played great that final round. [I] gave her a big hug afterwards and I was like ‘You did awesome.’ I was so happy for her and I obviously wanted to win really bad but she shot a 68, she won it from me. At least I didn’t hand it to her; I was really happy for her.”
Goble said it is great to have such strong competitors on the squad. He also said that he was happy to see Snyder battle to the end, not giving up or making it easy on her teammates.
“I think that’s one of the cool things about this team is that they’re competitive amongst each other and that they’re wanting to win individually,” Goble said. “To have Britta and Rosie [Belsham], two of the most competitive people I know, and Gurleen [Kaur] is probably the most competitive person I know, they weren’t going to give it to their teammate. In fact, Britta asked me on the last hole where she stood and I told her that Gurleen birdied the last two and I could tell that she was mad about it. I thought it was really cool though that [Snyder] birdied her last hole to only finish one shot behind Gurleen, and that just shows how competitive she is. She still didn’t give up and she [was] still trying to hit good shots. She’s fighting until the end, which is important.”
With all the success Snyder has found in golf, she still knows that there are parts of her game that she can work on. She said that her strategic approach is something that she can get better in.
“Something that I’ve been really working on this year is strategy on the golf course,” Snyder said. “I would say that’s the biggest thing that I’ve been working on to overcome and just playing smart and placing yourself where you need to be on the course.”
Goble agreed with Snyder’s critique, saying it’s something they’ve talked about and been trying to work on. He said that she is one of the best in the nation at hitting birdies on courses that are meant for that.
“I think Britta Snyder can be as good as she wants to be,” Goble said. “I do agree with her assessment, and it’s something that we’ve talked about before is that Britta has one speed sometimes. It’s aggressive, and she’s really great at going at pins and making birdies. She is probably one of the best — if not the best — in the country at that. I think that the next step for her is to go to the tougher golf course[s] and hit away from some of the pins that try to suck you in. Those are the ones that hurt her.”
Goble also said that the ceiling for Snyder is limitless, and that he loves having such a talented golfer like her on the team. He thinks she has the potential to become an All-American golfer with Baylor in the future.
“I love having Britta on the team; I wouldn’t have offered her a scholarship all those years ago if I didn’t believe that she was the right person or the right fit for our team,” Goble said. “I think that all of her play and all of her success since she’s been here, it just proves to me everyday that this is the right place for her. I think she’s going to be a huge part of our future success. I think that she can be an All-American. I think that the sky’s the limit for Britta, she just needs to really buy in and do what she knows she needs to do to improve.”
The Iowa-born golfer has the potential to do it all, and has the rest of her years at Baylor to keep proving it to everyone.
