Dye Lives For Competition

Nov. 29, 2007

NORMAN, Okla. - Golf has always been a part of Kendall Dye's life. Since she was a young girl in Edmond, Okla., she has been around the game.

"I think I was about eight years old when I started getting pretty serious about it," Dye said. "We were members of a country club, so my dad and my brother would always go out to the course and I would always want to go and drive the golf cart. I just always wanted to be wherever my brother was I guess."

Dye and her older brother, Adam Dye, who played golf at Oklahoma Christian University from 2003-2007, formed a close bond at a young age, and they drove each other to be better than the other.

"When we would go out for just a casual game with our dad, she would always want to strike up a match, make it competitive," Adam Dye said. "We kid each other that every time we get together and play she turns it into like a death match. She is very fiery and wants to beat you. You can't tell her there's something she can't do. If you tell her she's not going to make some shot or she's not going to drain some long putt, she's going to do her best to try to do it. That's just her nature. She's just very competitive and motivated. She definitely wants to beat you. We always had fun with that."

"I was very competitive with him and still am," the younger Dye said. "I wanted to do whatever he did and be better at it. I started going out to the course with him on Sunday afternoons after church and we just got into it. It's pretty competitive, it's pretty fun. I can usually get in his head. Trash talking out there, I can do that with him."

Over time, her competitive edge spread to competition outside the family as well.

"I played in summer tournaments, junior tournaments around the state and just stuck with it," Dye said.

An all-around athlete, Dye's talents aren't limited to the golf course. Growing up, she spent a lot of her time on the basketball court as well.

"I played basketball in middle school, that was my true love," Dye said. "I still love basketball, but my size and my speed kind of deterred me to go ahead and play golf. I thought that would be better for me for my future."

Now in her junior season at OU, she has established herself as one of the leaders on an upstart Sooner golf team that won two out its four fall tournaments.

"This fall we played really well as a team," Dye said. "We won two of four, could have won three out of four. That was really cool because we hadn't won since 2004. It was very exciting to win. The last one (Price's "Give `Em Five" Intercollegiate) was really awesome just because we came back to win in the third round. We were fifth going into the third round. The wind was blowing like 30 or 40 mph, but thankfully since we're Oklahoma girls we know how to play in it. That really helped us out."

Being the competitor and perfectionist she is, Dye said neither she nor her Sooner teammates are satisfied.

"We lost so many shots here and there this fall in every round and we still ended up winning," Dye said. "If we just focus on those things and improve, in the spring we should be used to being competitive. Every time we tee it up we're able to win, even if we just play mediocre. That's how it was this fall because we didn't play perfect golf at all, so that's really exciting."

Dye has made many memories in her three years at OU. While she said she remembers every single tournament because of the great time the team has travelling together, she gives one tournament the nod as her favorite trip.

"The Hawaii trip I think was the most memorable," Dye said. "I'd never been to Hawaii and got to go and experience it the best way I could. We got to stay in a nice hotel and do a lot of different things. I loved it, it was a blast. I think hopefully we're going to get to go next year too."

Looking ahead to the spring season, the Sooners have high hopes, with championships on their minds. Dye foresees many more good memories on the horizon.

"I think this spring we have a chance to win the Big 12 in Stillwater, our home tournament (Susie Maxwell Berning Classic), and I think for sure we'll be making it to postseason," Dye said. "To be able to compete in the postseason is very exciting. Hopefully we'll get some people out there and start making a name for ourselves."

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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