About the Series: Faces of 2010 is a four-part series during the month of January profiling individual Edgefield County newsmakers who will also be making headlines in the upcoming year in the areas of Sports, Education, Politics and Government. Check back next week for a profile of Edgefield County Schools Superintendent Dr. Mary Rice Crenshaw.  

JOHNSTON – McKenzie Talbert’s talent, skill and determination in the game of golf has long since outpaced the ability of her family to display each of her numerous accomplishments, victories and records broken.

These days, the trophies and plaques are put on an annual rotation – and an award at a time, one year goes down as another year goes up. Such is the life for the North Augusta teenager and Strom Thurmond freshman sensation. And it is a good life, but one built out of her own sweat and determination.

That she is only 14 years-old merely underscores the fact that for as much as has been made of her winning – which she did eight times over the last year in being named the youngest ever winner of the Beth Daniel Player of the Year award as the top female South Carolina Junior Golf Association golfer in the state while also being named more recently as the Carolinas Golf Association female Player of the Year – her drive and focus are even more impressive.

College coaches are already drooling over the prospects of landing Talbert’s ability.

But they will have to wait as she continues to redefine what it takes to be competitive in SCJGA female golf circles over the next three years. At the South Carolina High School League Class AAA state tournament in October, Talbert shot consecutive rounds of 68 and 71 to win by four strokes.

“She’s almost set a new bar for what it takes to be successful,” said Chris Miller of the SCJGA. “It used to be that you could shoot 78 or 79 to win, but those days are gone now. She genuinely enjoys practice and she has a fire that most girls or guys don’t have, especially at her age. She won her first event at age 8 and she’s set multiple records since then. It says a lot about what she’s doing right now. You feel like your watching something really special and it really will be fun to see how far she goes with it.”

No other player has won the coveted Beth Daniel award more than twice. But Talbert, if she continues on her current trajectory, will have the opportunity to shatter that mark as she will be eligible to win the title over the next three years. If that happens, college coaches will be in full frenzy mode.

And why shouldn’t they be? McKenzie is already beating their current signees right now as a 5-foot-4-inch freshman.

The second-place finisher in the AAA state tournament was a senior headed to Louisiana State University next year on a full scholarship.

“That’s the impressive stuff,” added Miller. “There are several girls playing who are already committed 2010-11 (college) players and basically she’s whipped them. (McKenzie) is a heck of a student as well and will be a great asset to any program. The coaches are already clamoring to be in the best position and she’ll have the opportunity to go to several different great programs.”
Her list of prospective college homes currently includes Furman, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and LSU.
But surprisingly, the one person who wants to pull back on the reins of all the college-talk and record-breaking hype is Talbert herself.
Having colleges show interest is very cool, but she says there is a lot of golf left to be played between now and then.
“It’s still too early to really talk about (college) right now because there’s a long way to go,” she said. “I like (the attention) and it’s nice, but I still have a lot of things that I can improve on in my game. There’s still a lot for me to do before then.”
And not all of those “things” include swinging a golf club.

After all, she is still 14.

“I have friends and we hang out and go to movies and things like that,” she said of her social calendar. “I play in a ton of tournaments each year, but if there’s something that I really want to do I make room for it and do it. I’ve gotten more of a social life over the last year. I do take some days off. But the goal is definitely to play on the LPGA someday. That’s the goal for sure. But I still have three years of high school left so nothing is written in stone.”

In fact, her dad and longtime coach/instructor, Ken Talbert, says she doesn’t even like to watch the sport on television all that much.

“She loves to go out and have fun with her friends, but she’s very mature when it comes to golf,” he said. “She bowls and goes to the movies so it’s not all golf. Even the first two or three days of Christmas vacation she didn’t do anything (with golf) at all. There’s no pushing with her because she truly enjoys winning and the competition.”

And after a year like 2009 he can only imagine what the future has to hold.

“Early on I could help her (with instruction), but over past 2 or three years started looking in some other places,” he said. “I guess the true test is how she progresses. That’ll be the thing to watch. This is a pretty special year so it’ll be interesting to see how she follows that up because everyone will be trying to nip at her tail.”

 “What she has done is just really extra special,” added Chris Miller. “It’s a tribute to the hard work she’s put into it. She’s self-driven, but she’s not a very mechanical player. With her it’s more based on results. She just wants to know what it takes to get the ball in the hole.”

And what about all the trophies she may win in 2010?

They’ll have to take a number in what is already a very long line to the family display case.

“We normally just replace last year’s with this year’s so I guess that’s what we’ll have to keep doing,” Ken Talbert said. “Seriously, I don’t know how many trophies she has because a lot of them are still packed. She wins them faster than we can get them put up.”