Summer golf lessons weren’t exactly 8-year-old Elizabeth Burden’s idea of fun.
Although she only played junior golf once a week, she couldn’t garner the same excitement for the sport that her father, former Illinois standout Joseph Burden, did.
But as the senior prepares to play in the three-day NCAA Central Regional qualifier in Lincoln, Neb., which begins today, she can’t help but chuckle about how drastically her feelings have changed since her first time swinging a club.
Fourteen years after trudging around with her first golf bag, Burden placed seventh in the Big Ten championships on April 25-27 in Iowa City, Iowa. She then earned one of four individual invitations to play in the national championships qualifier.
The senior, a second team All-Big Ten selection, said she finally embraced her clubs the summer before her freshman year in high school. The athletically-endowed Burden excelled at several sports and had to choose between pursuing volleyball or golf.
Although she chose the green over the court, Northwestern’s No. 1 golfer wasn’t an instant success.
“I wasn’t horrible, but I don’t think anyone is good at golf right away,” she said. “I really worked hard throughout all of high school and I think I improved a lot through those years.”
When she did have trouble, help wasn’t far away. Burden’s parents, as well as her younger sister, Casey, a junior in high school, all are avid golfers.
But there is always another Burden on the fringes of the course: sister Anna, a Music freshman at Northwestern.
While Elizabeth stuck with golf despite not falling in love with it at first, Anna turned in her clubs at age 11 in exchange for a cello.
“Casey and I were more athletic, and (Anna) was more musical,” Elizabeth said.
Today Anna wields a bow instead of a club, but she said that she hasn’t forgotten her golfing roots. She said she loves to watch Elizabeth play, but there are “other reasons” why she doesn’t get out on the course herself.
“Do you know what Elizabeth looks like? Pale skin and red hair?” she said with a laugh. “I am more fair than Elizabeth — I don’t work with the sun. I just don’t do well with it.”
Although Anna must stand under an umbrella to cheer on her sister, she is impressed with the progress Elizabeth has made on the course this year.
As the elder Burden heads into what could be her last collegiate tournament, Anna knows her sister has given her best effort.
“Obviously, I don’t know how this tournament is going to turn out, but even if the Big Ten tournament was the last of her season, I think that was a really good way for her to end her senior year,” Anna said.
Regardless of whether Elizabeth advances to the NCAA Championships or her season ends this weekend in Nebraska, she won’t forget that it was suffering through those first golf lessons that brought her this far.
Now, if only she could tell her 8-year-old self that.
