Editor's Note: Emma de Groot was inducted into the UTC Athletics Hall of Fame in 2019, but was in Australia during the time of the banquet last year. She is able to attend this year's event and will be included with the Class of 2020 when they are honored on Feb. 28.
Each of the 16 sports at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga has a key figure that can be pointed to as a pioneer of the success of that program. Someone who had a lasting impact on the team and is remembered as an important part of the history of the Mocs.
Emma de Groot is that individual for the women's golf team.
There were women's golfers at UTC before her, but none were more influential on the future of the program.
Connie Day was the first female to play golf at UTC from 1961-64. Back then, there was no women's team, so she competed (and excelled) on the men's squad. A four-time Tennessee State Women's Amateur Champion, she was inducted into the inaugural UTC Athletics Hall of Fame Class in 1992.
The Mocs fielded a women's team for a few years in the 1980's, but by the time the Southern Conference started hosting a women's golf championship in 1994, there was not a program at Chattanooga.
It wasn't until the 2007-08 season that head coach
Colette Murray was charged with starting a new team from scratch. de Groot, a native of Coffs Harbour, Australia, was one of her first student-athletes to sign on.
"Coach Murray went to college with a golfer from my hometown," explained de Groot when asked how she wound up over 9,000 miles away from home in Chattanooga. "When she was starting the program at UTC, he suggested that I may be interested in coming over to play.
"Honestly it wasn't something I had even considered. But after talking with Coach, I decided life is too short not to take some chances, and I am so glad I did."
de Groot, who started playing with her parents when she was 13, made an immediate impact on the Mocs. As a freshman, she won two tournaments, made the All-SoCon team, earned SoCon Freshman of the Year honors and qualified for the NCAA Regionals.
"To be honest, it was a bit of a whirlwind," said de Groot when asked about competing in the NCAA Regionals that first year. "Being from Australia, I wasn't really sure what it all meant. I was just so proud to be a Moc and wanted to do myself and the team proud.
"It wasn't until later that I really understood the achievement that it was. I remember being surrounded by some of the best collegiate players in the country, and it was a huge motivation to keep pushing to be the best I could be."
Her best was really, really good. In fact, the 2011 SoCon Women's Golfer of the Year still holds a majority of the season and career records for the Mocs, including six career wins, 20 top 5s and 24 top 10s. She is the only Moc to win at least one tournament every year she played.
"It was exciting to start with a clean slate," said de Groot, who is currently a golf professional at the Hamilton Golf and Country Club outside of Toronto, Ontario. "There were no expectations, no one knew what to expect from the team and we were able to create the culture we wanted right off the bat. We knew the team had great potential, so we were excited to show what we could do."
de Groot (2nd from Right) with her teammates at the 2009 NCAA Regionals, where they qualified for the NCAA Finals in just the second year of the program.
In just the second year of the program, the Mocs qualified for the NCAA Regionals as a team. Not willing to be satisfied, de Groot led the Mocs to a top eight finish in Columbus, Ohio for a spot in the NCAA Championships. An amazing accomplishment for a two-year old program.
"Incredible" is the word de Groot used to describe that run in 2009. "We worked so hard, and we were such a young program. We came from all over the world and were able to become a family and achieve great things quickly."
That run kick-started five straight SoCon team titles for the Mocs. de Groot was a part of two of them, finishing runner-up as an individual in 2010 and winning the title as a senior in 2011.
"We certainly had some ups and downs as a team," she recalled. "I remember our freshman year we lost a player and had to play with only four girls for a number of events. We had a walk-on from the soccer team play some events with us just so we were eligible for the postseason.
"But we always knew we had a talented and underestimated team. The only one who didn't underestimate us was Coach. She knew we had potential and pushed us every day to be the best we could be."
With all of her success, there was one win that stood out among the others. Being so far away from home, it wasn't always easy for her family to see her compete.
de Groot with teammate Christine Wolf at the 2011 SoCon Tournament.
However, they made the trip her junior year to Gainesville, Fla., for the 2010 SunTrust Gator Women's Golf Invitational. There she shot a 2-under 68 in the final round to force a playoff, winning in three holes over Michigan State's Laura Kueny.
"I was lucky enough to win a number of events while my family was watching, but winning the Gator Invitational in a playoff in Florida stands out the most," she explained. "I had my Mum, aunt and Nan with me, and we were playing against some strong competition. To come out on top there really showed me I was able to compete against the best, and to have that success in front of my family was the cherry on top."
With teammates like Christine Wolf, Maria Juliana Loza and Jordan Britt, de Groot helped solidify UTC as one of the top women's golf programs in the region. But for her, there was more to it than just the championships won on the course.
"The friendships I built while at UTC will last a lifetime," she added. "We had such an international team that we really had to lean on one another and we became family. Golf is an individual sport, so to be able to spend four years being part of a team is something I'll cherish forever."
de Groot blazed a trail for women's golf at UTC, and she joins Day in the Mocs Hall of Fame on Friday, Feb. 28. She helped to lay the foundation for success for the program and is the first of many from this era who will eventually join her in the Hall of Fame.
"I was so proud," added de Groot when she learned of her induction. "It was fun to help forge a path for women's golf at UTC, and all you want to do when you're part of a team is leave some kind of legacy behind.
"To know I am now part of the school's history forever makes me feel very honored."
