School might be over, but Estero golfer Gianna Clemente won’t be sitting on the beach working on her tan this summer.
The 16-year-old, who starts her junior school year at the end of summer, will have a full schedule of tournaments that will rack up frequent flier miles.
She’s playing this week in an American Junior Golf Association tournament outside of Atlanta, then heads off to Dublin, Ireland for the Women’s Amateur the last week of June.
“That should be fun,” she said. “Hopefully, the weather will be good.”
She jets off to Tarzana, California in the middle of July for the U.S. Girls Amateur championship. Then there’s the possibility of playing a few LPGA tournaments.
“Maybe in the fall or toward the end of the summer,” she said. “We might try to play a couple more, but we’re not 100 percent sure yet.”
Clemente got her first taste of success in an LPGA event the first week of June when she played in the ShopRite Classic in New Jersey. She received a sponsor’s exemption to compete without having to qualify on Monday.
Clemente was the youngest golfer in the tournament. She made the cut the first and second day of the three-day tournament and finished tied for 47th, shooting 4-under par. Seventy-two players made the cut.
“It was a really good experience as well, so yeah, it was fun,” she said.
Clemente said the worst part of her game during the tournament was putting, especially long putts.
On Friday, she was getting a putting lesson at Sea Island, Georgia before heading to Atlanta.
Clemente was featured in a press conference the Wednesday before the tournament with pro Brooke Henderson, who played in the tournament in 2015 as a 17-year-old.
“It was good to hear her talk about her experience a little bit,” Clemente said. “She’s been really supportive of what I’m doing. Obviously, she kind of did the same thing when she was younger.”
Patrick Clemente, Gianna’s dad, summed up the week in a one-word text after the tournament — “Fun.”
A different kind of fun began Saturday, when college coaches were allowed to contact Clemente for the first time. Coaches aren’t allowed contact with athletes until they are high school juniors.
Clemente said she has time to decide on school or if she turns pro.
“It’s not something I have to really think about too hard right now. … That’s definitely something that we’ll probably be thinking about in the off season,” she said.
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