It was May 2022 and just a few days out from a breakthrough success at the Flogas Irish Girls’ Amateur Open Championship, the logical answer was Leona Maguire, Stephanie Meadow and Olivia Mehaffey.
Katie Poots was 16 and following on from her stunning victory in the Fairhaven Trophy, she was being interviewed as she looked to go back-to-back with more silverware in County Louth.
Her plans were to progress through the Irish ranks, make the move to collegiate golf in the States and then go professional. And whereas back then she had a trio to inspire her, now things are very different.
Today, Lauren Walsh, Annabel Wilson, Anna Foster, Sara Byrne and Canice Screene have also graduated through and are making waves on tour. Meanwhile, Poots won that week in County Louth before she made it to the University of Central Florida.
This weekend she will act as the inspiration for her younger sister, Erin, when the Knock teenager bids for more glory for the Poots family at the Flogas Irish Girls’ Amateur Open Championship in Corrstown.
“Me being in America gives her a goal and hopefully inspires her to keep practicing and play good golf,” said Poots.
“It’s a really important event but Erin is going through her GCSEs and it’s a break from the exam period. For me, her big thing, would just be go and enjoy it and play simple golf. It’s a stress reliever, take your mind off the exams and just go and have fun and meet new people.
“Erin is 16, she’s at an early stage of her golf, so for her, having fun is the most important thing. She plays her best when she plays simple golf, just fairways and greens.
“Not much can go wrong.”
And not much went wrong for Poots back in the summer of 2022, when she was also 16, and finished runner-up to Scottish golfer Lorna McClymont in the women’s event.
In the girls’ Poots finished one shot clear of fellow Irish international Marina Joyce-Moreno, who has also since gone to play her golf in USA with Ohio State.
While the conveyor belt of underage talent continues to churn Poots will be one of those looking to reach the professional ranks in the next few years.
She knows coming through the Irish system and winning tournaments like the Flogas Irish Girls’ Amateur Open Championship has helped mould her into a more complete golfer.
“It was really important to win it,” said Poots.
“It gives you an edge up, you get noticed by colleges, which helps make it easier. You’re not having to e-mail, go through that. I went through an agency, so that helped with getting a college, but winning definitely helped a lot to get noticed by a top school.”
Poots went to the experienced Golf Scholarship Consultant Andy Newman who helped with the paperwork as well as recommending the right colleges.
Up to that point she had been advised by her father John, who was caddying for her during the successful Flogas Irish Girls’ Amateur Open Championship in County Louth. And he will be back on the bag for Erin this week.
“He plays off 12, but his putting is very good, so that’s the goal, to beat him in putting. His friends all played golf, so we sort of all just went to the range and he would help me a lot trying to work on that,” said Poots.
“It’s good for me (having him as caddy). He keeps me calm with positive thoughts, I think for me he’s good. Sometimes we could argue a wee bit, but that’s just normal because we both want to win so bad.
“He’s good, good at keeping calm, not getting ahead of the game, which for me is really helpful and it is for Erin as well.”
Poots is back in Ireland this week and will play a practise round with her sister before she looks to follow in her footsteps at the weekend.
“She was a bit later starting than me, because Erin’s a twin, and one of my other sisters didn’t play,” said Poots.
“So they both didn’t play much, and then Erin started getting into it a lot more and then she joined Knock and started actually enjoying it. Anytime I practice Erin practices with me, which is nice, gets a bit competitive. It’s good fun.
“We have always just both wanted to beat each other, which is great because on the golf course, you want to beat your competitors so it’s not much different than trying to beat your sister.”
Poots will target a few major championships of her own this summer, including the Flogas Irish Women’s Amateur Open Championship in Headfort next month.
Before she returns to Florida for her junior year at UCF, where she will have big ambitions of continuing her steady rise through the amateur ranks.
“It’s good, very different to home but it’s really good having the team,” said Poots.
“I love playing on a team, so playing as a team every week is really cool. Playing for your best friends each week, helping each other to get better. It’s definitely different to junior golf because we don’t really have that many team events, so playing constantly as a team is really cool, a nice experience.
“We go to all the sporting events too, watching different games. It’s really important to see sports, supporting different sports as a university and I love it. I’m in Orlando, so it doesn’t really get much better than Orlando.
“But there are definitely a few events at home this summer. I want to do well in the Irish women’s and things like that. I’ve just been struggling to score. I’m playing well, just struggling to score.
“My main goal when going home is just trying to get back to scoring good and back to my full health. I’ve been struggling with a few injuries, so back to fixing them and get the short game and putting sharp, and hopefully shoot low scores.”
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