Baylor Women's Golf adds an elite recruit

WACO, Texas – Baylor women’s golf head coach Jay Goble announced the addition of one of the nation’s top recruits to his 2018 signing class on Wednesday. Emma Bradley signed with the Bears and will join the program as a mid-year enrollee in the spring.

“Emma is going to be a big addition for us this coming January,” Goble said. “She brings tremendous experience in some great golf tournaments, as well as a work ethic and a swagger that will help our team get better every day. Emma wants to play on the LPGA Tour, and she’s going to work extremely hard with the resources at Baylor to achieve both personal and team success.”

A Naples, Fla., native, Bradley is one of the nation’s top junior golfers. She qualified for four consecutive USGA championship events, a streak that included an appearance in the 2017 U.S. Women’s Open Championship at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.Y.

Bradley was a quarterfinalist in the 2018 Florida Women’s Amateur Championship. She shot rounds of 71-74 to finish tied for 12th in stroke play and earn the No. 16 seed in match play. Bradley won each of her first three matches to advance to the quarterfinals, where she fell to eventual champion Roanne Tomlinson. 

Bradley finished tied for sixth and second among amateurs after shooting 70-75-71 at the 2017 Florida Women’s Open & Senior Open. She teamed with Vanderbilt’s Morgan Baxendale to card 70-72, which tied for 25th place and earned a spot in match play at the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship. Bradley also advanced to match play at the 2016 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship, and she played in the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur.

As a high school sophomore, Bradley won the 2015 FGSA Crandon Park GC Girls 16-18 tournament by 10 strokes after shooting 76-68. Her final round 68 led the field by seven strokes.

From 2010-16, Bradley was the state of Florida’s No. 1-ranked golfer in the class of 2018 in the Junior Golf Scoreboard rankings. At age 11, she shot 76 at Hideout Golf Club to become the youngest player in Florida High School Athletic Association history to win a regional state championship.

Bradley joins Erica Chiang and Amelia McKee to give the Bears three newcomers for the 2018-19 season. They’ll join a young roster that features sophomores Diane Baillieux, Laila Hrindova, Gurleen Kaur and Jordan Shackelford, along with junior Fiona Liddell and senior Maria Vesga.

Baylor finished the 2018 season with a tie for eighth place at the NCAA Championship, recording the program’s third top-10 finish in the last four seasons. Head coach Jay Goble enters his eighth season leading the program, and he’s joined by first-year assistant coach Carly Ludwig.