named the Big 12 Golfer of the Month for both September and November and posting a 73.38 scoring average. Life in Colorado was fantastic. And then it snowed. The Alameda native soon transferred to Cal and was part of the 2009-10 team beginning in the fall of her sophomore year. It was Childs’ junior campaign, however, that has left the biggest impact on the program. She became the first Cal golfer to win three tournaments in her career, with all three wins coming during the 2010-11 season. The first career victory, though, began with a big defeat. “The tournament before, at Tennessee, I didn’t qualify,” Childs explained. “I was angry. That weekend, when the team was gone, I spent the whole weekend practicing. It turned on a switch in me. I needed to get myself together.”
the first Cal golfer to win back-to-back tournaments. All three times Childs prevailed as an individual, the Golden Bears were the team champions, as well. After making it to the NCAA Championships last summer, expectations were high for the 2011-12 Bear golfers, but the team got off to a rocky start this past fall. Just as the four-tournament fall portion of the schedule was about to begin, the team, and Childs in particular, was hit with devastating news. One of their former teammates, Diane Kwon, passed away unexpectedly. Kwon and Childs were roommates during Childs’ first year in Berkeley. “When Diane passed away, it was really hard on a lot of us because we were so close to her,” Childs explained. “Having something like that happen … it made us think about life and what was
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“My sister didn’t really get into it at first, not like I did,” Childs said. “She would come and my parents made her watch me. (Cal) coach (Nancy) McDaniel remembers when she was recruiting me, Carly would be doing cartwheels down the fairway, stripping sticks, climbing trees. Carly was a wild child.” Carly Childs eventually quit climbing trees and began clearing them with her tee shots, earning the Bay Area News Group’s 2011 East Bay Girls Golfer of the Year and signing with the Bears in the fall. “Coach can’t believe Carly is coming to Cal now,” Emily laughed, thinking back to McDaniel’s initial encounters with the younger, rambunctious little sister. Emily Childs also had a great deal of success as a younger golfer. In addition to achievements with her high school squads, she played in 10 national AJGA tournaments, four USGA girls’ championships and the 2006 USGA Women’s Amateur. All of this led to Emily becoming a hotly recruited golfer who eventually signed with Colorado. Childs enrolled at CU and headed to Boulder in the fall of 2008. Lured by the beauty of the mountain hamlet and a great art program, Childs also found immediate success on the links with the Buffs, being
Emily Childs stands with her mural at Alameda High School (above left), with her award after winning the 2011 Juli Inkster Spartan Invitational (left), and with her parents, Sandy and John.
Get herself together, she did. She shot a 66 in qualifying, a course record at Green Valley Golf Course, and she headed to Washington still fired up. “Having me not qualify for Tennessee was a wake-up call,” Childs said. “I didn’t want to be in the middle of the pack. I wanted to do something with my game and not just settle. I ended up playing really well at Washington, so hard work pays off.” She ended up earning the first win of her Cal career, shooting 10-under and winning the tournament by a three-stroke margin. Her second triumph came at Stanford Golf Course in the spring portion of the split golf season schedule. She shot a four-under 67 in the second round of the Peg Barnard Invitational to earn the medalist honors, once again winning by three strokes, this time over teammate Joanne Lee. In Cal’s next tournament, the Juli Inkster Spartan Invite at Almaden Golf Course in San Jose, Childs also became
important. We didn’t play that well in the fall. Of course, we were thinking a lot about Diane. It kind of makes you realize what you have and how lucky you are to have all the people around you and really have all of these opportunities and make something out of it.” It didn’t take long for Childs and the team to turn things around in the spring. In the opening tournament in February, Childs added to her own record with a fourth tourney win, with the Cal team also coming away victorious, at the Peg Barnard at Stanford. “Diane is in our thoughts. She’s motivating me out there,” Childs had said the week before the tournament. The motivated Bears will try to earn their 13th consecutive NCAA Regional bid this May and are hoping earn an invitation to the NCAA Championships for the eighth time in program history, with Childs, the girl who was destined to be a golfer, leading the way. SPRING 2012
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