Ever since she arrived on the scene in 2016, UTSA golfer Madison Kidd has been a key contributor and member of the UTSA women’s golf team. Kidd has played in 26 events during her time here and has earned herself two top-10 finishers. The UTSA women’s golf team won the conference championship at the end of last season. Although Julie Houston and Ana Gonzalez stole the show with their performances, Kidd turned in rounds of 75, 78 and 75 to tie for 25th place out of 60, and added to the team’s solid performance. Golf is a game of patience, skill, strategy and mental strength. The players must not only calculate and think out every shot, they also must execute it. Golf is a difficult sport to master, but luckily for Kidd, she’s been playing since she was five-years-old.
Even though Kidd started playing golf at a young age, she has played many other sports as well.
“When I was growing up, I played team sports like soccer and softball, but I just fell in love with golf being an individual game,” Kidd said. “If I win then I won, and if I lose then I can’t blame anybody else. It’s all on me.”
Kidd grew up in the town of Lake Jackson, Texas where she attended Brazoswood High School. While there, Kidd was a three-time district champion, three-time state qualifier and even placed fourth one year at the state tournament. However, when it came time for her recruiting process, Kidd says the experience was nerve-racking.
“It just got into my head like oh no that coach is watching me,” Kidd said. “If I don’t play well, I’m not going to go anywhere. So, my scores at that time didn’t accurately represent my ability.”
However, even though Kidd was in a bit of slump, UTSA didn’t give up on her.
“UTSA always saw my ability and my potential,” Kidd said. “Towards the end, it was either UTSA or nothing, so it was really easy to make my decision in the end.”
Now in her third year, Kidd has recently switched her major from kinesiology and is now studying biology to pursue her dream of becoming a dentist.
“I have always wanted to be a dentist,” Kidd said with a smile. “Even from when I was itty-bitty, I would always say I wanted to grow up to be a dentist.”
Student athletes rarely get much free time, especially when their sport is in season like golf had been up until last week. So, when Kidd is not flushing iron shots and draining putts on the golf course, she enjoys taking time for herself and relaxing.
“Sleeping has definitely become a favorite hobby of mine,” Kidd said lightheartedly. “But when I can, [I] love to read, watch Netflix or hangout with friends. Just anything that can get me relaxed.”
Kidd also really enjoys listening to different types of music and says her tastes change depending on what she’s doing.
“If I’m walking to class, I like to listen to rap because it makes me feel all big and bad,” Kidd said. “But I really like any type of music that doesn’t scream at me.”
Kidd takes an interest in other sports aside from golf and likes to watch football, but especially baseball. “I love to watch baseball,” Kidd said. “The Astros didn’t get to go to the World Series this year, but they’re still winners in my heart.”
Kidd says she isn’t slated to graduate until 2020, so she still has plenty of her college golfing career left. Having gone through two years at UTSA, her favorite part about competing for the Roadrunners has been her relationship with her teammates.
“Our team dynamic is that we’re a family and we always support each other,” Kidd said. “Even if one of us has a bad day we know we’re each trying our best and that’s all we can ask of each other.”
Golf has been a big part of Kidd’s life since she first picked up a club at the age of five and it still continues to shape her life in many different ways.
“Golf has taught me that there’s some things in life that you just can’t control,” Kidd said. “Like if I hit a shot that I think is perfect and it bounces off a tree root and goes out of bounds, I can’t control that. Just like in life, there’s only so many things that you can control.”
With the fall leg of their schedule completed, Kidd and the rest of the UTSA women’s golf team will begin preparing for the spring of 2019. They’ll open their spring slate of tournaments at the Texas State Invitational in early February.
