Growing up, Austin Ernst was destined to either love golf or hate it. Her father, Mark, is a PGA professional at Cross Creek Plantation in Seneca, and, as a kid, Austin spent many hours at the club. Austin’s older brother Drew was a topranking high school golfer, and the family toured around the Southeast watching him compete. But despite growing up surrounded by golf, Austin was never pushed into the game. “There was never any pressure to play,” she says. “As a kid I played everything, softball in the spring, basketball in the winter, then golf in the summer. When I got to be twelve, I said, ‘okay, I’m just going to play golf,’ because that was what I was the best at, that’s what I enjoyed doing the most. I would spend the days at Cross Creek and play with the ladies in the mornings, then with the cart boys in the afternoon, and we’d play until dark.”
