Women’s golf freshman Sydney Brickey has had a tough hill to climb since switching to a left-handed club during the summer before her senior year of high school.

Now, in her second semester as a collegiate golfer, the change has started to make a positive impact on Brickey’s scores.

With strong play during the spring portion of the golf schedule, Brickey has had her name added to the NIU record book on a few occasions.

Things started going her way at the Islander Classic Feb. 24-25 in Corpus Christi, Texas. She shot a 54-hole total of 229, including a final-round 71, which was the fourth-lowest round in program history.

Head coach Kim Kester said Brickey grew up without much golf experience and didn’t get into competition until late in her high school days.

“She went to Shattuck-St. Mary’s for hockey; she wasn’t going there to play golf,” Kester said. “She was playing golf with her friends and family back home, but it wasn’t on a level that most kids who are heading to college would be playing on. She wasn’t always getting the direction or playing in tournaments and all that stuff; that came later in her high school career.”

Up until she was 16, Brickey was following in her father Scott’s footsteps. He was a successful athlete on the ice and had a brief stint in the NHL as an eighth-round pick out of high school to the St. Louis Blues in the 1985 draft.

Scott Brickey’s hockey career was derailed due to injury. After that, he decided college and golf was the best route.

Around 16, Brickey decided that after what transpired with her father among other factors, golf would be the route she should follow, as well.

“It took a couple months to really debate,” Brickey said. “For women, there are more opportunities for golf [than hockey], my family and I believe. … Like, ‘What if I was injured? What could I do?’ Being a women’s hockey player, your options are very limited; I’d have to be a women’s hockey coach. I think I wanted a little more opportunity to do different things.”

Changing sports was also a factor in the conversion of being more dominant with her left hand.

“I’ve always felt more comfortable doing everything left-handed,” Brickey said. “And when I quit hockey … since I was going to play golf full-time, I thought I’d make the decision to switch to my left hand because it felt easier for me even though I had never picked up a left-handed club before.”

In the Huskies’ most recent tournament, the March 7-9 Rio Verde Invitational, Brickey fired a 71 round for the second competition in a row, which placed her in first after day one. Her next two rounds (85-78) weren’t as solid but were good enough for her to finish tied for 37th out of 96.

“She’s late to the game compared to most college golfers,” Kester said. “There’s definitely an experience factor there that we had to overcome a little bit. Your freshman year is always going to be the toughest, but she’s doing fine, doing a little better than we expected. She’s going to have a couple hiccup rounds, and you just have to move on from it.”