Wake Forest Athletics
Women's Golfer Katie Brenny Featured In Brainerd Dispatch
4/9/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
April 9, 2002
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Curtain falls on Brenny's college career
JEREMY MILLSOP
Sports Writer
Katie Brenny was a star on the Minnesota high school golf scene.
She grew up fast in college.
The former Little Falls Flyer played in her final tournament of the regular season April 7 for the 16th-ranked Wake Forest University women's golf team. The senior tied for 37th place with a three-round total of 229 at the Bryan National Collegiate Tournament at Browns Summit, N.C. The Demon Deacons finished sixth as a team.
At the Liz Murphey tournament March 24, Wake Forest finished eighth while Brenny tied for 38th with a 233.
"This is a pretty incredible experience," Brenny said. "I've really grown up a lot during college. I haven't learned a lot in the books, but a lot about myself. This was the toughest thing I've ever had to tackle.
"I walked in here and I didn't know what I was getting myself into. I am playing with the absolute best. I thought I was going to walk in here and own the place. I got put in my place pretty quick."
Brenny has played in almost every tournament since she's been at Wake Forest. As a freshman she finished sixth in the Atlantic Cost Conference Championships and was second at the ACC Championships last year. Yet, she hasn't been happy with her college career.
"I'm playing just OK, nothing spectacular," Brenny said. "I've been struggling. I just do stupid things. It's not one thing.
"I think I'm leading the country in percent of fairways hit or at least the top five so I'm not having trouble with that. I just haven't played my best golf here."
In 1998, Brenny led the Flyers to their only state championship and won the individual state title.
She played six years on the varsity and went to state all six years, finishing second in 1997. She won four straight Central Lakes Conference championships and four Section 8, Class 2A titles.
Brenny was also the 1996 Minnesota Golf Association state champion.
"I thought she was strong and she could hit the ball a long way," Wake Forest coach Dianne Dailey said about when she recruited Brenny. "She had good ball-striking ability and just a pretty good overall game. Her length off the tee was what was really impressive."
Brenny will graduate this spring with a degree in communications. Although she wants to remain in golf, she doesn't see herself playing competitively for a while.
"I need a break," she said. "I want a job. I want to stay within the golf arena. I want to be able to love it again and have a passion for the game again. I want to take a break. I'm not going to say I'm never going to try (to play competitively) again."
Brenny helped Wake Forest advance to the NCAA tournament two years ago. The captain would love nothing else than a return to the finals in her last year. She's done everything she can to prep her teammates.
"She's been able to help some of the younger players and show them the ropes," said Dailey. "They respect her for that.
"It's good to have her here because she's played all the courses before so she takes the girls around the course and shows them how to play each particular hole."
A word of advice from Brenny: "I want to tell everybody to hit every golf ball with an intention," she said. "That is the one thing I wish I would have done. By that I mean, I catch myself practicing hitting golf balls and not working on anything. I'm basically just warming up. That's kind of an impossible mission, but hit every ball with a purpose."
Additional golf news
Former Staples-Motley Cardinal Dana Hasselberg transferred from Bradley University to Bemidji State. Hasselberg changed her major from business to elementary education.
"Had she stayed at Bradley she would have had five more years of college," said Glen Hasselberg, Dana's father. "She did the math and put things down on paper and figured her best move was to go to Bemidji where she would have only four more years of school left.
"She's going to play golf there, but it's not at the same magnitude. But that's not a high priority on her list."
