Delaney Martin, a senior at TMI Episcopal, signed a national letter of intent to play golf at the University of Houston (UH), whose varsity athletic teams, known as the Houston Cougars, are members of the American Athletic Conference and compete in the NCAA Division I. She had made a verbal commitment to the university in September 2018.
Martin started golf lessons at age 11 but didn’t take to it immediately. “I hated it,” she said, laughing. A few years later, she explained, “I wanted to be really good at something.” After she made her first hole-in-one at an eighth-grade tournament, she decided to pursue golf – playing, training and challenging herself as much as possible.
Her hard work paid off, with top-place wins in high-school tournaments from her freshman year onward. Last year, Martin won the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPPS) 5A girls’ golf championship at the April 30 state tournament at Squaw Valley golf course in Glen Rose by eight strokes with a 68-69-137. Over the summer, she qualified for the 119th U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship, held Aug. 5-11 at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Mississippi, where she finished in the top 32 players out of 157.
Once her coaches connected with the UH coaches, she was set on her future path. “They wanted me because I’m a good golfer,” she said. “I wanted to go there because it’s a great program.”
UH golfers compete in the American Athletic Conference. Last year, Cougars women’s golf was ranked in the Top 25 nationally. Last month, UH freshman Karen Fredgaard was named the AAC’s American Golfer of the Month.