State-bound golfer just one of the guys

It seems appropriate that St. Vincent senior Kelly Welker's golf career started with a hurdle and a misfit.

As a 9-year-old girl, it was oversized clubs and a creek at Perryville Country Club.

"Me and my dad would come out here, and he gave me three clubs that actually were too big for me," Welker said. "And we'd go over to hole 7, and there's a creek that runs across.

"He'd say, 'If you can get it across the creek, then we can move on.' So my goal was always to get it across the creek. So one day I did it, so then we'd tee off from all the other tee boxes. We'd just kind of do that, and I just kind of developed from there, and loved it."

Welker has been clearing obstacles and finding opportunities ever since her ball cleared the water.

Kelly Welker earned the respect of her peers by qualifying for the state golf tournament the past two seasons. (Laura Simon)

As for the misfit, it's had some staying power.

When Welker arrives at Silo Ridge Golf Club in Bolivar, Mo., for the Class 1 state tournament Monday, she won't have to worry about waiting in line to use the restroom. She will be the lone female in the field of 93 players. It's the same situation the slender, smiling, soft-spoken Welker found herself in a year ago, when she qualified to play against 92 boys at Fremont Hills Country Club in Nixa, Mo.

Kelly Welker was a meet medalist twice this season and placed second in the conference tournament.

And for the talented teen, who will play golf next year at Central Missouri State University, it's a situation she's grown accustomed to.

St. Vincent, like nearly every school in Southeast Missouri, does not have a girls golf team in the fall, a season crowded by the likes of softball, volleyball, cheerleading and band.

"That pretty much takes all your kids," said St. Vincent coach Tom Prost, who has had a few girls in the program over the years, including his niece, Carissa Prost, as recent as 2010. "A few years ago I could have maybe pulled together four girls at the most, but then again, where do you go? Where's Notre Dame going to go? They're going to go Southern Illinois somewhere? St. Louis, I guess? Nobody else around here has got it."

Notre Dame and Farmington are among the few schools to field girls teams.

Welker's destination, beginning as a freshman, was the white and blue tees the boys played. After two years of JV, she began posting scores the varsity would sometimes use during her junior year. She made the transition from occasional contributor to the No. 2 player for the Indians this season.

"She's way beyond any girls I've had before," Prost said. "Had she been on some of my earlier teams that were much stronger, she would still be on varsity. She might be more like five or six on varsity, but she'd still be on varsity. She still would have made it through district, and she still would have made it through sectional like she did last year."

Welker has played with the girls in the Gateway PGA series in St. Louis during the summers since eighth grade and also takes lessons from a former LPGA Tour golfer in St. Louis. She has improved her distance and consistency over the years, most markedly since her junior year.

"I think this year was a lot easier than last year, to be honest with you," Prost said about Welker's acceptance on the team. "I think last year they were like, 'Oh, you're moving her up on varsity,' and, 'I should be playing varsity.' This year the contention wasn't there as much because 'she's better than me.'"

State Golf Qualifier - Notre Dame Regional High School - Cody Cox (Laura Simon)

Welker said she does not feel out of place.

"They've accepted it. They've made me feel like a part of the team," Welker said. "They're a good group of guys. They're fun."

Welker has made it indisputable that she belongs during her senior season. She became the first female medalist at a St. Vincent match when she fired a 6-over-par 41 in a dual meet against Windsor at Perryville Country Club. For good measure, she repeated the medalist feat with a 39 against Perryville her next time out. She shot an 86 to finish second in the Jefferson County Activities Association Conference tournament in helping the Indians to the title. St. Vincent also won the regular-season title.

She's able to compensate for shorter drives -- in the 220- to 230-yard range -- by keeping her ball in the fairway and using an efficient short game. It's golf's version of the tortoise and the hare when she outscores longer-hitting boys.

And that can be a hard reality for some testoserone-fueled egos to assimilate.

"I've got all kinds of reactions," Welker said. "I have some guys who are kind of open, I guess you would say, to me, but other guys don't like to be beaten by me. But you have to take everything with a grain of salt, I think."

Junior teammate Levi Gotto, who will make his third trip to the state meet, was the Indians' No. 1 golfer this season. But even Gotto, all-state as a sophomore, was not immune to being outscored by Welker.

"It was like, 'Ooh, she beat my No. 1 guy,' which is Levi," Prost said. "And he was like, 'I didn't have a good day.' But the next match he didn't have a good day again, and she won again. And it's like, 'Ooh, she beat you twice in a row.' But it was just kind of neat. 'It was like, 'Whoa, I've never had a girl medal before.'"

Gotto also plays football and basketball at St. Vincent, and he never had been paired with Welker until this season.

"All throughout sports in high school I always played with guys, but this is the only one I've played with a girl in, so it's kind of a weird feeling," Gotto said.

But he has gotten accustomed to situation.

"I enjoy playing with her," Gotto said. "She's a good player. She's a good kid."

He admits he is less than enthused when outscored by Welker, but he didn't attribute it totally to gender.

"I don't like to get beat by anyone," Gotto said. "And it's even more difficult when she beats me. I feel like, I don't know, it's a weird feeling. ... I'm more mad at myself usually because I feel that I should be playing better, and when she beats me, I feel like I should have played better."

Gotto has more company in that regard than ever will fit in a foursome.

Prost had a good seat at the sectional meet at Ste. Genevieve Country Club when Welker returned from her round as part of the day's final group. A nearby golfer was still holding out hope his score was good enough to reach the state tournament.

"A kid sitting right next to me had a 90, and his teammate said, 'As long as the next three kids don't beat you, you're in,'" Prost said. "All of a sudden they put up Kelly's score -- 89 -- and he was like, 'Ohhh.' You could just hear him groan, and then you hear the other kid go, 'Hey, you got beat by a girl,' and just kind of ribbing him.

"And it's like, 'Yep, yep, that's what happened there.' And they don't know her from Adam."

Just one thing, coach.

Let's make that Eve.