Clyburn making history with Pack

The NC State women’s golf team has not qualified for the NCAA Championship since the 2014-15 season, but looks to have a team capable of getting it back to nationals this year.

Leading the group looking to end the three-year hiatus from NCAAs is junior India Clyburn, who is setting records on the course for the Pack. Clyburn, who hails from Cleethorpes, England, broke the NC State record for season stroke average last year, posting an average score of 72.60, breaking Augusta James’ record of 72.64 from 2014.

“It’s quite crazy when you think about it,” Clyburn said. “The best scoring average. Because when you’re playing tournaments and stuff, I wasn’t really thinking about scoring. I was just hoping to play and shoot a good score. When it all adds up it’s quite really good, how it all adds up to be the best score.”

Clyburn came to NC State from England, and was discovered by the Pack coaching staff while playing in a tournament in Florida. She said once she came on a visit and got a scholarship offer, it was something she couldn’t turn down.

She quickly became a huge piece of the Wolfpack team, and experienced immediate success on an NCAA level. In just her second tournament of her freshman year, Clyburn took first place at the Mercedes Intercollegiate in Knoxville, Tennessee, shooting six-under par over three rounds.

“It is something I wanted to do and keep winning,” Clyburn said. “It was just sort of like ‘Yeah, I can play golf at a college level and I can win.’”

Since her start at State, Clyburn has only gotten better. She improved her stroke average by almost three strokes per round, improving from 75.44 during her freshman season to the record-setting 72.60 last year. While Clyburn credits some of the improvement to her swing, she also expressed that getting used to being in college and playing college golf was the main reason she has gotten better.

This improvement is something that isn’t going to stop soon for Clyburn, according to NC State head coach Page Marsh. Marsh, who has been in charge of the program since 2000, had high praises for Clyburn as an athlete, and for the potential Clyburn still has.

“India has what I would call a strong golf I.Q.,” Marsh said. “On the golf course she has an innate sense of how to score and how to play. She still has upside, which means she’s still getting better.”

Clyburn is making a name for herself in the women’s golf world, but she isn’t the first member of her family to do so. Clyburn’s older sister, Holly, competes on both the LPGA tour and the Ladies European Tour. Golf is a family affair for the Clyburns, and India Clyburn even caddied for her older sister over the summer. The relationship between the two is something that the younger sister credits her success to.

“Huge impact, really,” India Clyburn said of her older sister. “She’s six years older than I am so she’s always been a good role model to look up to and I’ve learned a lot from her of what I wanted to achieve. I’m following in her footsteps which is sort of right what i want to do. It’s been good to have that older role model there experiencing it and then I can experience it with her as well.”

While Clyburn has found plenty of success at State, she is also beginning to impose her game on a bigger level. This past summer she represented England at the European Ladies’ Team Championships, something that Marsh said had been a focus of Clyburn’s since she got to State.

England won the tournament, and Clyburn played a major role in the victory. She shot rounds of 73 and 69 in the first phase of the tournament, both of which counted as a top-five score for England. In the match play semifinals and finals, Clyburn won her matches in both rounds to help propel England to the win.

“Representing England is one of my favorite things to do,” Clyburn said. “It’s such a great honor to do that, and then for us to win the gold medal. It was amazing. We all played our hearts out and gave it our all and then it was the best outcome.”

Despite her strong play over the past few years, Clyburn has not found great postseason success with the Pack. At both the ACC Championships and NCAA Regionals she has been in the lower half of the field both years, but it is something she, as well as her team, hopes to change this year.

“She did not have the postseason that she probably wanted,” Marsh said. “She is going to be stronger by virtue of both her regular and postseason last year. She is one determined young woman. She has experience on which to build.”