Sisters swing a mean club, qualify for USGA event

PALMER — Speak softly and swing a big club.

That seems to be the mantra for Rynae and Madison Baca, a pair of sensational teen golfers who placed first and third respectively last weekend to qualify for the 2012 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links tournament June 18-23 in New Jersey.

For 17-year-old Rynae, it’s familiar territory. She’s been winning tournaments and beating boys years older since she was about 9, said dad, Roger Baca. This is her fifth time qualifying for the PubLinks, but for the first time, when she tees off at that tournament against the best amateur women’s golfers in the country the field will include her 15-year-old sister, Madison.

Faithful Frontiersman readers may recognize the Baca sisters. Rynae made local news in July 2007 when, at age 12, she won the Alaska State Amateur Handicap Championship. In 2008, the 13-year-old shot a 79 at Settler’s Bay Golf Course to qualify for her first PubLinks event.

As a 12-year-old in 2009, Madison placed fourth in the Alaska Golf Association’s adult state amateur tournament and was fourth in her age division at the World Masters of Junior Golf.

The sisters have been pushing each other on the golf course almost literally since they could walk, Roger said. As a junior golf coach at Settler’s Bay for a number of years, Roger would find a then-4-year-old Rynae following him to work. So, he started bringing both girls (Madison was 2), who began swinging their specially made clubs.

“Why so young?” Roger said he is asked often. “This was the deal. I’ve played golf forever and I got involved in junior golf at Settler’s Bay when I built my house out there. My wife plays golf, also, so I saw it as a family thing. They wanted to hang out with dad.”

It didn’t take long for Roger to realize his girls had more than a passing talent for the sport.

“They had the knack,” he said. “I realized they had real talent, I’d say, when Rynae was about 6.”

By the time the girls were 9 and 10, they were competing in tournaments against boys 15 to 17 years old, Roger said — and winning.

Both girls said they’ve caught their share of ribbing about playing against the boys, but by the end of the day, it’s usually their competitors who are on the receiving end of the teasing.

“I’ve actually made boys cry before,” Madison said of the reaction she sometimes gets when she defeats much-older male golfers.

And that type of reaction isn’t reserved for youth, Roger said, recalling a day when Rynae was 11 and they were put with a pair of men to flesh out a foursome on a local course.

“This is what happened,” he said. “Rynae is playing from the men’s tees, and that’s where her handicap is established from (she’s now a 2.4 handicap). By the second hole, one of the guys says, ‘look, I’m going to play through. I can’t take this anymore.’ He was literally kind of upset Rynae was beating him and his buddy was giving him such a hard time about it.”

For those who have tasted defeat to the Baca sisters, you’re not alone. Roger hasn’t been able to beat Rynae since she was about 12, and consistently loses to Madison as well.