Notre Dame alumna Becca Huffer just became the first Irish women’s golfer to earn her LPGA card. The honor came following Huffer’s 10th-place finish at the LPGA Q-Series at Pinehurst Course in Pinehurst, North Carolina in early November.
While sporting the blue and gold, Huffer earned four monograms and two program MVP awards and served as a captain prior to her graduation in 2012. Since 2013, she has been on the minor Symetra Tour. On the tour, she has notched a hole-in-one and 10 career top-10 finishes, three of which were in 2018. Beyond this, in 2018, she landed in the top 10 in three of the tour’s categories — fifth in subpar holes, sixth in birdies, seventh in total rounds played and ninth in eagles.
Prior to entering the minors, Huffer barely missed the cut for the U.S. Women’s Open Championship after hitting +17.
Despite her success at the collegiate level, Huffer faced her fair share of setbacks as an undergraduate. First, she suffered a broken arm freshmen year.
“I was lucky that it wasn’t a big break. I didn’t even get a cast because it was close to my elbow and they wanted me to keep mobility in a sling,” she said. “I had work to do to get ready but my coaches were supportive and confident I would be ready to play in the first event.”
Huffer also suffered a wrist injury her senior year.
“Later in college, in my senior year, I had a wrist injury that ended up lingering for a few years, which was a lot harder to deal with because I couldn’t practice much at all and just had to rely on confidence and belief I could play my way around the course during tournaments,” she said. “Our team only had five players that year, so no matter what, I was traveling and playing in every tournament, so I knew I had to make it work somehow, which I did.”
Despite these injuries, Huffer saw several successes during her collegiate career. As a freshman, she won 2009 Big East Rookie of the Year. As a senior, she led the Irish in scoring average and top 10 finishes, won the 2011 Hoosier Fall Invitational Crooked Stick and was named Big East Sport Scholar-Athlete. Over her career, she was a four-time All Big East honoree, amassed three top-10 finishes at the Big East Championships and led her team to a 24th-place finish in the 2011 NCAA Championship.
Notre Dame head coach Susan Holt pointed to Huffer’s creative mindset as the distinguishing factor between her and the rest of the pack.
“Becca loved to compete and loved the many challenges the game of golf can provide,” Holt said. “To this day, we tell our current players about Becca and her creativity and imagination when she played. She could shape shots as good as any college player I have been around. So many players today are so technical with their swings; they fall apart if something is off. Becca played by feel which is a great skill to have in this game.”
Now recovered, Huffer said she is optimistic about what the future holds in the majors.
“I’m excited to play on the LPGA this year for the first time,” she said. “My goals are to play my best and finish well so I can play the Asian Swing of events at the end of the season which are limited fields to the top 80 on the money list. I’m excited for the travel to different places around the world to play and compete against the best in the world and see how I do.”
