South Dakota High School Senior Showcase gives Lauren Tims closure
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (BVM) — For someone who only started golfing competitively in seventh grade, Lauren Tims has come a long way.
“In seventh grade all my friends decided to go out for track and I did not want to run so I thought I’d go out for golf,” Tims said.
After that first season with the Sioux Falls Christian High School Chargers golf team, what started out as something fun to do grew into a passion. Tims trained hard and worked with her coaches to get better, to get to the place she saw her older teammates at — winning tournaments and competing at a high level.
“My favorite thing about golf is competing and playing with really good golfers and just having a chance to win,” Tims said.
She had exactly that last year during the SDHSAA Class A state tournament. With four holes left, Tims was only one stroke back.
“I knew it was getting tight because everyone was looking at each other,” Tims said.
But she wasn’t worried about the pressure or making a mistake. Instead, she was enjoying herself.
“I just came into that last hole and looked at all the people sitting around the green,” Tims said. “I was just like, ‘wow this is awesome this is such a cool opportunity to play in front of all these people.’”
Tims ended up taking second in the tournament.
“I was like alright now I have a goal next year, I want to get first,” she said.
This past season would have not only given Tims an opportunity to compete for a state championship, it was also going to be a chance for her to play with both of her sisters.
“I was pumped,” Tims said. “I just remember all year if the weather was bad or something in winter I would say ‘I can’t wait for golf season.’ We just couldn’t wait to play together.”
They would never get the chance as the COVID-19 pandemic first postponed all spring sports and then eventually cancelled the season. For Tims, her sisters and the whole team, it was heartbreaking.
“We all gave each other hugs and we all were just crying,” Tims said.
For seniors like Tims, they were missing the closure to their high school career that so many before them had taken for granted. Luckily for Tims, they were still going to be given the chance to get that closure.
The South Dakota Golf Association and its executive director, Tom Jansa, worked to give seniors one more opportunity to play high school golf. The South Dakota High School Senior Showcase was born. Hosted by Hillsview Golf Course, the event took place on June 1 and was a complete success.
“I have to do this,” was all Tims said to her dad when she got the news of the showcase.
“It was awesome. I love playing for SFC and wearing my Charger colors. I was just glad that we got a little bit more closure to our season.”
Tims and 43 other golfers from 29 schools participated in the tournament.
“It meant a lot to the senior golfers who all came out that we had an opportunity to get closure on capping off six years of playing,” Tims said.
For Tims, it also meant getting a chance to achieve a goal she had set for herself at the end of last season. She tied for first in the Senior Showcase with West Central High School’s Lauryn Driscoll.
“Lauryn Driscoll and I have been playing golf together since we were in seventh grade, so I think it was really cool that we both got to cap off our six years as champs together,” Tims said.
Tims will go on to play golf at Augustana University, but now she can go with at least some of the closure she deserved from all the hard work she put into being a Charger golfer.
