Girls golf: Schulman is a keeper for Vernon Hills golf

A tough lie is better than a tough break. So when little goalkeeper Lexi Schulman had a player accidentally step on her hand, breaking her thumb, she basically called it a soccer career at age 11.

Today, the Vernon Hills freshman gets her kicks breaking records on the golf course.

"I was a pretty good soccer player too, actually," Schulman said. "Golf was just more important I guess, and it was time-consuming, so I didn't have time to do both."

Just 5 feet 3 and 14 years old, with a tee-to-green game mature beyond her years, Schulman appears to have made the right choice in focusing her attention on golf. It's a game she loves a lot.

"Too much," she said with a braces-revealing smile.

Schulman wasn't all grins at Deerfield Golf Club on Wednesday after shooting an unsatisfactory (by her standards) 3-over 39 that featured 4 bogeys and 1 birdie. While she still earned medalist honors by 3 strokes in a Central Suburban League quad featuring Vernon Hills (191), Highland Park (177), Deerfield (181) and Maine West (217), she continued her fabulous rookie season of high school golf.

"Everything is strong in her game," Vernon Hills coach Steve Downey said. "There isn't a major weakness. So far this season, her full swing with her tee shots and irons have been her strength."

Downey started learning of Schulman's prowess on the golf course a couple of years, and she has gotten only better. This past summer, Schulman won the prestigious Chick Evans Junior Amateur championship at Itasca Country Club, beating some Division I-bound golfers.

"I saw some names of the girls she beat on her way to winning, and they were names I recognized," Downey said. "They were some of the top players in the state. I knew that she was very legit from the girls she was beating."

By winning the Chick Evans, Schulman's confidence soared like one of her drives off the tee.

"It helped so much," said Schulman, who started playing golf when she was 6. "I don't think anyone was expecting me to win that. That was probably the biggest tournament I've ever won."

The tournament included stroke and match play and multiple days of 36 holes.

"I was playing well to that point so I was pretty confident going into that tournament," said Schulman, who also finished sixth in the Illinois Junior Amateur. "But I didn't think I was going to play that well. I think I was 3 or 2 over after like 107 holes."

When she arrived at Vernon Hills, her confidence and complete game on the course was still with her. Last weekend, she won Vernon Hills' Cougar Classic at Vernon Hills' muni course with a school-record, 3-under 67. Earlier this month, she shot a school-record 33 for nine holes at Vernon Hills.

Better yet, she has blended in well with her older teammates despite being, by far, the Cougars' best player.

How she would be received by her teammates was a concern, she acknowledged.

"A little bit," Schulman said. "But everyone's really nice."

A humble attitude has gone a long way.

"She's been super nice, she's been super happy and is always trying to make us feel better if we're playing bad," said Cougars senior Molly King, who shot a 44 Wednesday. "She's really nice."

Schulman shot a season-worst 40 on Monday. Not that anyone, including Downey, could tell by her demeanor on the course. The great golfers never lament a bad hole or stretch of them.

"She's very even keel," Downey said. "She's only a freshman so maybe she's a little quieter, but there isn't any up and down with her."

Eric Schulman played Big Ten tennis at Iowa. He and his wife, Ingrid, never pushed their middle child into golf, but Lexi took it to it, and her work ethic has helped her flourish.

"No one in my family really played (golf)," Schulman said. "My dad just put me in one lesson, and I just went from there."

And she's not stopping anytime soon.