Texas Tech sophomore Gabby Barker (Shonshone/Paiute) is a psychology major as well as a rising star on the NCAA Division I golf horizon. Worst case scenario, the 20-year-old can be her own sports psychologist, but she’s been on such a roll lately that life is nothing but fairways and greens.
Back in May, Barker finished in a tie for 29th at the NCAA women’s championships at The Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla., with a four-day score of 302. There was the third-round blowup where she shot 85, but she came right back the next day to prove why she was recruited out of Caldwell, Idaho, shooting a blistering 3-under-par 69 to help the Red Raiders finish sixth as a team in the national field.
She won the Idaho Women’s Amateur and capped her summer off with a six-stroke victory at the Pacific Northwest Amateur Championship at the BanBury Golf Course in Eagle, Idaho. Barker was brilliant, as she was dominant, shooting 3-under-par 68 on the first day and slamming the door on the competition with a 6-under-par 66 to win the championship running away. “I think I gained a lot of experience winning (the Pacific Northwest Amateur Championship),” Barker told ICTMN. “I knew coming from college I was playing pretty good. To be able to perform and play as well as I did in match play was awesome.”
Courtesy Texas Tech
Gabby Barker
Her Texas Tech golf coach agreed. “It was a great win for Gabby and I couldn’t be happier for her,” Lady Raiders head coach JoJo Robertson said on the school’s website. “Gabby has really developed her game and has proven that she can play with the best. I’m looking forward to having her be one of our leaders this year.”
Barker made the transition from being a dominant high school golfer to the highly competitive Division I level with relative ease. She was a top 30 finisher in her first NCAA national tournament. Her best finish as a freshman was a tie for third at the Web.com Intercollegiate back in March where she turned in a career best 54-hole total of 211, including a career best round of 67.
She heads into her second collegiate season ready to meet new challenges. “The competitive level is a lot more challenging. You have to be willing to go the extra mile to perform better at each tournament,” said Barker, whose father Dwight has been her swing coach throughout her junior career. “From a mental perspective, I’d say you have to develop a never-give-up attitude. You never know where you’re going to be at the end of the day. Even if you make bogey you can bounce back. To be able to see myself perform at this level is an awesome feeling.”
Courtesy Texaas Tech Athletics
Gabby Barker won the Pacific Northwest Amateur Title, by six strokes, at BanBury Golf Course, in Eagle, Idaho, on July 8, 2015.
Barker is rapidly evolving into one of the most prominent Native women golfers since Alexandrea Schulte, Northern Ute, who graduated from the University of Arkansas and played a handful of events on the LPGA Tour. Barker said she wants to make an impact in the Native American communities with her never-give-up spirit. “My dad grew up on a reservation a couple hours away and we heard the stories of what it was like for him growing up. But I wouldn’t say I grew up traditional,” she said. “I’d still like to encourage Natives, not so much to play golf, but just to go to college. You can excel and get a higher education or even play sports if you want to. What I want to do after college is become a high school counselor, preferably on a reservation. I think I could mentor kids through the process and help them if they want to go to college.”
Barker made the transition from Southern Idaho to Lubbock, Texas, living away from friends and family for the first time. Being fairly independent and having the support of the golf team helped. She can see where it might be rough on Natives making the transition from the reservation to a city campus. “I have a couple cousins that lived on the reservation. One was able to go to college and go play basketball,” Barker explained. “But I think being away from home wasn’t what they wanted and they chose to stay on the reservation. My advice is to never give up when times get hard. You can make it through it.”
One of the biggest challenges she faces as a student-athlete is time management, she says. Juggling classes and homework with working on her game and travel is always a challenge. “I’d be in trouble if I didn’t learn how to study on the road,” she said. “You also have to learn how to make smart decisions. Sometimes it’s better to stay home and go over something that’s due the next day than it is to go out to dinner with our friends.”
The Seventh Generation has yet another rising star on the horizon. This one is getting her education and playing NCAA Division I golf in the Lone Star State.
