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Amelia's progress in USA

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Friday, April 24, 2020

Throughout her successful career as a golfer, Florida State sophomore Amelia Williamson has been really good at setting, and ultimately reaching, the goals she has set for herself both on the course and as a student.

During her fantastic junior golf career in her native England, she set a goal of earning a scholarship to play golf and earn a degree from a prestigious university in the United States.

Williamson realized her goal of playing golf in America and recently completed her second season as a member of the nationally-ranked Seminole women’s golf team. Williamson is also more than halfway toward earning her degree in sport management. Along the way, she earned Dean’s List honors during the fall 2019 semester and was named to the ACC Academic Honor Roll following her freshman season. She earned a 3.54 grade point average in the fall of 2019 and enters her junior year with a cumulative GPA of 3.4.

“I have set a lot of goals for myself in college, some golf related and some not,” said Williamson. “Among the goals I have set for myself within the game of golf are that I want to be ranked in the top 72 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) and in top 50 in the Golfstat college rankings.”

Based on her results from her first two seasons at Florida State, she is quickly moving toward realizing her goals.

Williamson enters her junior year ranked 12th in school history for lowest career stroke average. She was only one of two Seminoles who played in all seven events during Florida State’s shortened year in 2019-20 and was in the Seminoles’ lineup for each of the seven events as a sophomore. As a freshman, she played in nine events including her first ACC Championship, her first NCAA Regional Championship and her first NCAA Championship Finals events. Florida State was ranked in the nation’s top 10 during much of her freshman year and finished her sophomore season ranked 22nd in the nation.

And while her career on the golf course is certainly trending upward, Williamson will be the first to admit that many of her goals are about growing up and becoming a true adult.

“I knew moving away from home after just turning 18 years old would be hard,” said Williamson. “But I set a goal for myself that I would grow to be independent and prepare myself for adulthood when I get my own house after college. I want to better myself as a person, not just as a golfer, as, to me, being responsible for yourself and becoming an adult is much more important, as when golf is over life will continue.

Seminole head coach Amy Bond has watched Williamson mature throughout her first two years on Florida State’s campus in Tallahassee – which is a world away from her home in Norfolk, England.

“Over the last two years, Amelia has become a more vocal leader on our team,” said Bond. “She’s has grown into who she really is and is not afraid to be herself. She is quite funny and finds a way to make her teammates smile and laugh a lot. As she moves into her junior year, I look or her to lead our team with her voice and her actions.”

Williamson works daily to improve her skill set and has seen her results get better against the elite competition she and the Seminoles face in every tournament. She played her best golf in shooting a 3-under par score of 211 in finishing at the Jim West Challenge during the fall of 2019. Williamson’s score marked the second time in her Seminole career that she finished with a below par tournament score.

“As I continue to improve my skills, I will undoubtedly set higher goals,” said Williamson. “During my first two seasons I have learned that the competition is very hard and much more elite than I realized before my career at Florida State began. I believe that my goals are rather high, considering my talent level from when I arrived in Tallahassee. So right now, my goals are perfect for where I am at right now. However, every week or two I like to set smaller goals for myself; to help me stay focused and motivated. These goals change all the time and have definitely helped me become a better player as I have improved different skills in many areas of my game.

Williamson’s teammates recognize her development.

“I feel like Amelia has grown a lot within the last year and a half,” said junior Kathleen Sumner. “I think she feels comfortable with herself and the rest of the team. I’ve seen her growth because she no longer has to compare herself to others; she is comfortable being who she is. She isn’t afraid to be herself.”

Looking back on her first two seasons as a Seminole, Williamson can point directly to two aspects of her game which she feels she improved upon: controlling her emotions and playing a sport generally thought to be played as an individual more than as a member of a team.

“After playing nationals and looking back at my (freshman) season, I matured a lot as a player,” said Williamson. “I had one of my best summer seasons due to my calmer and stronger mentality. When your individual score is counting towards a team score you soon learn that every shot counts and you are no longer just letting down yourself you are letting down your teammates. In making that realization, I had to learn to control my emotions as I knew more was at stake. This stronger mentality has definitely carried through into my sophomore year.”

For Williamson, the memory of her first two years at Florida State has nothing to do with her sophomore season being cut short by the Coronavirus pandemic, or the 67 she shot in her first career ACC Championship appearance or the Seminoles’ team championships at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate and the Evans Derby Experience during her freshman season.

The memories she is happiest about are the team Karaoke and pumpkin carving competitions, winning the team baking competition as a sophomore and creating memories with players you might not otherwise be close to.

Those are the lofty goals that are most important to Williamson.

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