The O’Neal School’s Nicole Adam (2020) has rapidly climbed the national girls golf rankings on the heels of a tremendous summer in which the junior won two prestigious tournaments, CGA Dogwood State Junior Girls in Chapel Hill, NC (72-73-74-219) and the US Kids Teen World (15 – 18 girls) in Southern Pines, NC (71-73-74-218) and finished top 5 in numerous other tournaments.
Her strong play continued in the fall during high school matches as she finished runner-up in the state championships (NCISAA Division 2) shooting a 5 under par 139 at the Country Club of Whispering Pines in October.
Golfweek, Junior Golf and Carolina Golf Association currently rank the future North Carolina Tar Heel as the top junior in the state and 3rd overall. Nationally, Golfweek ranks Adam 17th amongst her junior class competitors and 66th overall. Adam started the summer ranked 170th nationally.
Adam wins the CGA Dogwood State Junior Girls Championship
Adam’s strong summer also included a 4th (tie) place finish (74-76-71-221) in the prestigious North South Junior Girls at Pinehurst, NC; Runner up in the Carolinas-Georgia Junior Girls in Augusta, SC as well qualifying for the US Junior Girls in Pebble Beach, CA where she placed 36th(tie) in medal play (73-74 -147) which qualified her for the match play segment. Adam lost her first match on the 18th hole to birdie.
Adam’s passions aren’t solely focused on golf as she takes her studies very seriously and maintains a 4.0 grade average and recently was invited to be a member of the National Honor Society. She pushes herself in the classroom at O’Neal receiving AP credits last year in European History and currently is pursuing AP credits in Biology and Language and Composition.
Her ascent up the golf rankings isn’t a surprise to her swing instructor, Donna Andrews (7-time winner on LPGA tour and member of Virginia and North Carolina Golf Hall of Fame) or her O’Neal golf coach Buck Warren.
Coach Warren and Adam at State Championships at CC of Whispering Pines 2018
Andrews is proud of her pupil. “Nicole is a very talented student with a great work ethic. She is very coachable and has been a joy to work with over the past few years. She is not only a good golfer, but she is also a great person that will succeed in whatever she chooses to do.”
Warren has been impressed by Adam’s drive to succeed. “Nicole exemplifies that it is not all about talent. Dependability, consistency, being coachable, being faithful to put in the work to improve and sustaining that hunger to compete has helped put her things in another gear. She just loves to compete. She is captain of our O’Neal team and I can’t think of a better role model for our young players both on and off the golf course.”
Though she’s the only lady Falcon, Nicole is among three other O’Neal students who have verbally committed to play golf for Division 1 programs upon graduation.
Feature photo: Playing for O’Neal, Adam is runner up in the NCISAA Championship.
