GOLDEN — Annika Sorenstam has gone from dominating women’s golf to marketing everything from golf course design to academies and fine wine under her name and slogan, “Share my passion.”
If the great Swede only knew how she sold one young Colorado golfer.
It was June 2005, and Andi Hibbert was a 12-year-old soccer player watching the U.S. Women’s Open at Cherry Hills Country Club. Hibbert remembers being “enthralled” at the prestige, pageantry and professionalism on display.
“I had never seen women play at such an elite level,” she said. “Watching Annika walk the course with such composure . . . It just took off from there.”
What came next?
“I quit soccer,” Hibbert said.
Hibbert started playing golf that summer, became a three-time Class 5A Jefferson County League medalist for Lakewood, finished second at the state tournament last year and will play golf this fall at Washington (Mo.) University, currently ranked No. 14 in Division III.
Fresh off a victory Monday at the Ashley Forey Invitational at Rolling Hills County Club, where the greens “were like putting on glass,” Hibbert remains on the short list of contenders for medalist honors when the 5A state tournament is held May 24-25 at Aurora’s CommonGround Golf Course.
By all accounts, Hibbert is a smarter player than she was a year ago, which is part natural evolution and part dogged determination. Tigers coach Alan Gonzales said that when she plays courses a second time, she remembers every detail of her mistakes the year before and doesn’t repeat them.
Strong with her driver and very good with her mid- to long irons, Hibbert is hitting more fairways and greens in regulation, while her course management and mental toughness continue to set her apart. Case in point: She birdied three of her final four holes at Rolling Hills to win by two strokes.
Her competitive nature, however, and her innate leadership skills make her the perfect No. 1 for any team or classroom.
“Her drive in academics is top- notch,” said Gonzales, who has taught at Lakewood for the past 15 years and has been coaching golf for nearly a decade. “Then again, her drive on the golf course is just as important.”
Hibbert lives in Golden and would attend Wheat Ridge High School had it not been for the international baccalaureate program at Lakewood. She has a weighted 4.1 grade- point average and selected Washington University because of its golf and top business program.
Also the senior class president at Lakewood, Hibbert wants to study economics, business strategy and Spanish, with the “ultimate dream” being to own her own business, traveling the globe and soaking in the experiences of other cultures.
“I just like taking the initiative and coming up with innovative ideas,” she said.
A state championship, however, remains very much on the brain.
Hibbert’s three-year reign as Jeffco medalist was snapped this week by Chatfield’s Shannon Lubar. But Hibbert knows after last year’s performance at state, she’s capable of going low to win anywhere.
“I think after the first day, I saw I was tied for third or second, and it just reaffirmed my confidence and I can go out and play with the rest of them,” she said.
