Cathryn Brown is using summer play to get ready for what she hopes will be a big fall season at Kentucky. (Larry Vaught Photo)
Cathryn Brown is an accomplished golfer who had a terrific high school career — she had two top-three finishes in the state high school tournament — and a successful freshman year at Kentucky — she tied for 25th in the SEC Championship and 41st at the NCAA Regional.
The former Lyon County standout is “super social” and had to learn to balance her outgoing personality with the demands of college athletics and academics.
“I think one of my top priorities is friendships and relationships. That is simply because of my past with my brother but I love UK and I love what it’s given me,” she said. “The school part is important, but for me, it’s not the number one priority and golf isn’t either.
“It’s God and my relationships and then golf and then school. Golf is gonna take me a long way I feel like and being social, you kind of have to see what you want to do and different things. For instance, my teammates would call me and be like, ‘Hey, you want to go to dinner?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, I want to go to dinner.’ I probably could have been studying but that’s time you never get back.”
She liked going to UK football and basketball games with her teammates. She said if she didn’t do social things and just kept her head in books and golf, she might go “insane” because of her personality.
“You have to have time to relax and do what you want to do. It’s hard to juggle and I also had an injury. My first semester was difficult, but you just find time to manage it.”
Her brother, Cullan, was also a star golfer at Lyon County who played one year at UK before he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a form of bone cancer in his left thigh, and passed away at the age of 20. It was a difficult time for her and her family and she says her most memorable golf moment was being able to hit the first tee shot at the 2021 PGA Tour Barbasol Championship in memory of her brother.
Cullan constantly told Cathryn when she was younger if she would concentrate on golf, she could be special. It took time for her to do that and she knows how proud he would be of her today.
“I did grow up playing basketball until my freshman year of high school and he did tell me that if I were to quit basketball I could be better than him at golf and golf took him as far as he could have gone,” she said. “He played in a PGA Tour event.
“It’s just perspective with everything that me and my family went through during that time. My perception is different. Big brother was right and I didn’t know that at the time. I was too young and didn’t quite understand. He’s kind of guiding me. I mean, I wouldn’t be at Kentucky if it wasn’t for him and I wouldn’t have paved my path here. I’m following his footsteps, but I’m making my own in different ways.”
She’s working this summer at The Cullan at Mineral Mound State Park Golf Course named in honor of her brother.
“We’re having some fun with it. I’m working at a golf course that I love. I grew up playing there and it’s just a fun atmosphere. I’ve made friends with a lot of the older workers. The volunteers, they love having me around and I enjoy it. It’s kind of like that social part of me. I just love doing it,” Brown, a communications major, said.
She played in the Woodford Legends Invitational last week which featured former stars from the LPGA Tour. Brown and Madison Borders, a Marshall golfer, finished 20-under par for 36 holes in the scramble format.
“I have cut back some on my summer schedule but that was fun,” she said. “I’m going to play in four or five events. I had to take a couple of weeks off from golf to kind of get my bearings again after the season ended. I needed to kind of relax, and get my head in the right spot.
“I’m using summer golf to get ready for Kentucky in the fall. This is my first opportunity to play golf in the fall at Kentucky because I was hurt last fall so I am looking forward to it,” she said. “I’m gonna use each term as a stepping stone and I’m just gonna have fun with it.”
Brown was satisfied with her spring semester after missing the fall semester with an injury.
“I think it (the injury) was kind of a blessing in disguise because I wasn’t quite prepared for college golf yet,” she said. “If I would have come in healthier I probably would have set my expectations a little too high but being injured you’re like, ‘Okay, now it’s just getting my body ready and getting my studies and coming in the spring and kind of getting my feet on the ground.
“My expectations were really low. I did exceed some of those expectations and did play well. I had a large group of girls on our team that kind of helped me grow, so all in all it was a good year and learning experience.”
