Alina Amos won’t have the support of teammates while competing in the NCHSAA Class 4A (the state now has eight size classifications) Girls’ State Championship at Longleaf Golf Club.
The Reidsville High senior will be playing as an individual — nothing unusual during her four-year high school golf career — today and Tuesday. And it’s worked out pretty well. She’s qualified for the state tournament all four years.
Her lone teammate on this fall’s Reidsville team did not qualify for the regional. Her mom, Danielle, will serve as her “coach.”
“Sometimes I get a little jealous, like in the regional practice rounds, when everybody is talking together as a team,” Amos admitted. “But I pretty much always play by myself. I’m excited to have that atmosphere in college.”
This year, Amos ranks as a contender for the title. She shot a competitive-best 74 last week at Washington Yacht and Country Club, sailing to medalist honors in the East Regional.
A relative newcomer in the junior ranks — she broke 90 for the first time two years ago at Gillespie Golf Course — Amos believes even lower scores could be on the horizon.
Amos entered the regional with doubts.
“I wasn’t too sure how I was going to play because before the tournament, I wasn’t hitting the ball well at all,” Amos said. “What saved me was my putting.”
Plus, Amos had never played the Washington course.
But a solid all-round game, clutch chipping and putting produced the 74, which included a tricky 30-foot downhill put for one of her two birdies. Her putting did let her down on the final hole when she missed a 5-footer, but by then it didn’t matter.
“It made me more confident in my game,” Amos said of winning medalist honors. “I didn’t feel like I played that well, and I had a good score.”
Amos’ dedication has paid off. Taking up the sport at age 9 the urging of her mom Danielle Cureton, Amos has put in the work. She’s climbed from First Tee, PGA Jr. League and U.S. Kids events to Carolinas Golf Association, Peggy Kirk Bell and Tarheel Youth Golf Association junior events.
At Gillespie Golf Course, she’s been mentored by director of golf Bob Brooks and instructor Kelley Phillips, who she now works with every two weeks.
She begins each day with 30 minutes of drill work and does another 30 minutes at night. She plays mostly at Gillespie and Pennrose Country Club in Reidsville.
The 5-foot-2 Amos, who moved from Greensboro to Reidsville with her mom in the eighth grade, gave up basketball and soccer.
“I stopped after I found out I really liked golf,” she said.
Amos had a busy summer and made some bucket list golf trips that included top-flight instruction.
She spent a week at the Congaree Global Golf Initiative, an outreach program at Congaree (S.C.) Golf Club, which played host to a PGA Tour event in 2021. At Congaree, she received instruction in golf and college preparation, plus a new set of Ping clubs that immediately lowered her scores. It was a rainy week, but it cleared for a one-day tournament.
“A week later, I shot my best scores 76 and 78 (and finished third in a tournament at Bryan Park’s Players Course,” said Amos, whose best non-competitive score is 70 at Bryan Park Champions.
She also was accepted into a First Tee event at Pebble Beach, for a week-long program of competition and mentorship in conjunction with the Champions Tour Pure Insurance Championship. She played Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill, and made a hole-in-one at The Hay, Pebble’s nine-hole, short par-3 course, while playing with the Champions Tour’s Mark Walker.
This fall, she was medalist in each of Reidsville’s region matches.
Amos said she’s talked to several coaches in the east, from New York to Florida, and expects to make a college golf commitment in November. She wants to study nursing.
Amos will graduate a semester early at Reidsville. She hopes to gain consistency with her accuracy off the tee.
“When I hit them good, I hit them pretty far,” she said. “I have a tendency to drive it to the left. “in the spring, I’ll focus on golf and try to better my game while I’m out of school.”
On Friday, Amos said her outlook and final preparations for her last state tournament were simple.
“I think I get more in my head during states,” Amos said. “This year, I’m going to let loose and have a good time with it. I’m just working on putting more — I feel that could save me. And I need to stay inside the tree line.”