She’s a Kentucky state champion and a star for the Cats. Next up is the U.S. Women’s Open.
A Lexington native, Lexington Christian Academy alumna and Kentucky women’s golf team star has realized one of her goals in the sport, and she thinks this could only be the beginning.
After recently finishing her sophomore season at UK, Laney Frye found herself in early May at Shannopin Country Club in Pittsburgh, making her third attempt at qualifying for the U.S. Women’s Open.
Frye persisted through weather delays, an additional day of golf and a playoff to qualify and secure a spot in one of the most prestigious events in golf.
Accomplishments on the course aren’t new for Frye.
In high school at LCA, Frye won the 2018 KHSAA state individual title, was the individual runner-up in 2019 and was part of consecutive state championship teams at LCA in 2018 and 2019.
Frye — who was named Kentucky Ms. Golf in both 2018 and 2019 — led UK in stroke average, top-10 finishes, top-20 finishes and rounds of par or better as a freshman during the 2020-21 season.
So while making the field for the 77th U.S. Women’s Open (fellow UK golfer Jensen Castle will also be in the field after winning the 2021 U.S. Women’s Amateur) is a significant accomplishment, Frye doesn’t think it will be the high point of her career.
“It is a dream,” Frye told the Herald-Leader last week. “But I feel like if I keep doing what I’m doing it won’t be the only chance I get . . . I’m going to go out and try to soak it up and be aggressive and just do what I know I can do.”
Frye finds peace in golf
Frye has family ties to golf, and to the Wildcats.
Her grandfather, Danny McQueen, played golf at Kentucky, and Frye said that both of her parents were “in the golf world” before she was born.
This meant Frye had plastic clubs as a child before taking her first formal lesson with her brother when she was about 8 years old.
“I enjoyed it, but didn’t know I’d love it the way I do now,” Frye said. “Probably sixth or seventh grade I gave up everything else and wanted to go all in on golf. I enjoyed it more than any other sport and it’s just developed since then. I love it more and more every day.”
Frye said she’s drawn to golf because the sport allows her to be outside, and she finds the tour lifestyle attractive.
“I just feel a peace out there,” Frye explained. “It gives me time to talk to God and pray and, I don’t know, I’m so thankful for it.”
Despite being born in Lexington, living in Nicholasville and having direct family connections to the UK golf program, Frye initially wasn’t set on going to college at UK.
Now that she’s in the Wildcats program, Frye can’t envision being anywhere else.
“My goal has always been to make it as far as I’m supposed to. So if that means pro golf, then college is the right step along that path,” Frye said, adding that she’s placed an emphasis on improving her short game since coming to college. “After high school, Kentucky was clearly the best option and staying close to home ... so that’s what I did.”
Despite having only two seasons of college golf to her name, Frye has been in plenty of pressure-packed situations that helped prepare her for moments like those that came her way in Pittsburgh.
During her freshman season at UK, Frye was the program’s top finisher at its first NCAA Championship finals appearance in 29 years. She lost in a playoff that would have seen her advance to the final stroke-play round as an individual.
“You’re taught to just trust your game and know yourself and that’s so important,” said Frye, who nicknames her putter “Rickie” as a nod to one of her favorite golfers, Rickie Fowler. “Playing on the highest level has taught me what my own game is.”
‘I was on edge the whole time’
Frye was on edge, and with good reason to be.
The 36-hole U.S. Women’s Open qualifying event in Pittsburgh was supposed to be played all in one day, but weather delays meant Frye finished just 35 holes, with a tap-in putt at the 17th quickly followed by an air horn.
Frye was willfully ignorant of her standing on the leaderboard, but she knew she was among the leaders to secure a qualifying spot to one of the most prestigious events in golf.
“I didn’t have a good reason to not want to know, but I just felt (that) I was hanging in there. Like there’s a reason I’m close and I haven’t known yet. So why would I find out now?” Frye explained.
So after sitting in the clubhouse for an hour while having a snack, Frye learned she would have to return the next day to play her final hole.
Then, the scoreboard watching could begin.
“I was really nervous, but I’ve been taught nerves and excitement react in your body the same way, so you can kind of turn that around and kind of use it to your benefit,” Frye said, adding that she was able to sleep fine after the exhaustion from playing 35 holes. “But I didn’t eat much dinner or breakfast, I was on edge the whole time.”
The next day, Frye escaped the 18th — a hole about 420 yards long, into a breeze and in soggy conditions — with a par, despite landing her drive in the rough.
“My score’s posted, now (I) get to let everybody else come to me,” Frye said of her mindset.
So come to her they did.
As Frye and her father, B (who coached her at LCA), went back to their hotel to pack up and check out, scores began to trickle in.
The duo feverishly refreshed the online scoreboard and saw Auston Kim of Vanderbilt and Marissa Steen both pass Frye atop the leaderboard.
This pushed Frye into a playoff for a qualifying spot to the U.S. Women’s Open.
Frye was told she couldn’t warm up for the playoff, and she promptly went straight to the tee box of the first hole — an uphill par-5 — and missed her drive left of the fairway, landing it in the thick and wet rough. Frye’s playoff opponent hit a drive in the fairway.
While her opponent missed her second shot right of the green, Frye elected to layup to hit a third shot with her wedge.
“It was a perfect number, it was just a full 50 degree for me,” Frye said of that shot, which led to a birdie that won her the playoff. “I just had so much peace I can’t explain it. . . . I was just so comfortable (standing) over it.”
The scene after Frye won the playoff was one of gratitude and joy.
Frye’s father took over caddying duties for the playoff, and the father-daughter pairing broke out into tears on the green.
“We were just so excited and it’s my dream to play professional golf and I finally get that opportunity on probably the biggest stage there is,” Frye said. “So it’s all kinds of excitement.”
Coaching staff change at UK
There will be a change on the UK women’s golf coaching staff by the time Frye competes next season as a junior for the Wildcats.
Last week, it was announced that Brian May — who just finished his eighth season as an assistant coach with the UK women’s golf team — would become the next head coach of the Indiana women’s golf team.
“We are incredibly excited for Brian and his family for this new opportunity ahead,” Kentucky women’s golf head coach Golda Borst said in a statement. “We will miss him and we’re so thankful for his time at Kentucky.”
Last summer, when UK’s Jensen Castle won the U.S. Women’s Amateur, May made a last-minute trip to watch Castle play in the 36-hole championship match.
The emotion May displayed after Castle’s title-winning birdie putt was something that stuck with her.
“Anyone (who) knows Brian, he’s not a very emotional guy. It’s just like a head down, a nod,” Castle told the Herald-Leader. “Brian did a fist pump, the most genuine, coolest thing I’ve ever seen him do.”
77th U.S. Women’s Open
What: Second of five major women’s golf championships in 2022
When: Thursday through Sunday
Where: Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club, Southern Pines, North Carolina.
Who: Two UK golfers — Jensen Castle and Laney Frye — will be in the 156-golfer field.
Castle also played in the 2021 U.S. Women’s Open, but did not make the cut.
