Diné golfer Myra Yazzie looking to qualify for state

WINDOW ROCK

Earlier this month, the Arizona Interscholastic Association released the current state leaders for fall golf in Division I and Division II.

The AIA is taking the top 12 teams and 18 individuals not from a qualifying team for the state golf tournament, which is scheduled for next week.

Among those leaders in that Oct. 13 listing included Glendale Independence senior Myra Yazzie, who grew up in the Page area before her family moved to Valley at the start of her freshman year.

With the last day to qualify taking place on Thursday, Oct. 23, Yazzie is looking to make the cut for her second state qualification at the Division II level. The state tournament for that division is slated for Monday and Tuesday at Aguila Golf Course in Laveen Village, Arizona.

“Last year was my first time qualifying and the year before that I fell short,” said Yazzie, who also plays on the Independence girls varsity basketball team.

Yazzie is from the Towering House clan and born for the Mexican People clan and her parents are Raymond and Barbara Jensen.

At last year’s state tournament, Yazzie finished 49th overall by shooting a 180 during the two-day tournament. This year, she’s looking for a higher finish.

“I’m ready for state,” Yazzie said. “One of the things that I’ve been working on is my mental game because in the past, every time I hit a bad shot, it would get in my head and then I would start to overthink things and that would ruin my game.

“I feel like that I really fixed that and it’s showing with my rankings and my results,” she added.

According to that AIA list earlier this month, Yazzie was ranked No. 8 among individual qualifiers. As for her division, the Independence senior says she was ranked as high as No. 21 this season.

“We have some of the top players in our division,” Yazzie said. “I compete mostly against private schools, so it’s really competitive.”

Still, Yazzie believes she can hold her own as she practiced and played with the Independence boys squad this season since she’s the only female on the team.

“I’m the only girl on the team and I’m actually the No. 1 player on the team,” Yazzie said.

By playing with her male counterparts, Yazzie said she had to up her game, knowing that they were not going to give her any slack.

“I feel like the bar was set higher,” she said. “I had to keep up with my skills, especially when I played against other boys from other schools.

“They probably thought that since I’m a girl, I’m not good enough,” she added. “I wanted to prove them wrong, so it made me want to work on my game.”

According to her mom, Barbara Jensen, Yazzie has received compliments from other parents and other coaches for her skills and dedication to the sport.

“They come up to me and they’re like, ‘Oh my God, she plays on the boys team,’” Jensen said. “They enjoy seeing her and even other coaches from other schools say they’ve been watching her for all four years, and they’re just amazed with the way she plays.”

Jensen says her earliest memory of Yazzie playing golf was with her maternal grandpa, Robert Stevens, in Coppermine, Arizona.

“My dad had a golf club at the house, and he used that to move things around,” Jensen said. “One day they got golf balls, and they started hitting it from the wood pile.

“She was always hitting golf balls with her cheii back home,” she added.

Yazzie said that early introduction sparked an interest, but she didn’t start to take the sport seriously until she enrolled at Independence High School.

“I started to take lessons when I was like 10, but I was very consistent,” she said. “I kind of stopped for a while and I didn’t start golfing until my freshman year when I joined the team. For me, I joined because I loved the game.”

Initially, Yazzie moved to Glendale with her father, who took up a promotion with his banking job. They lived in the Valley for about nine months before the rest of the family relocated.

“When I moved here, my mom was still living in Page so I kind of felt alone and golf made me feel really at home,” she added. “It made me comfortable and honestly, I love being around nature. When I was in Coppermine at my grandparents’ house, it was in the middle of nowhere. All I saw were sand and trees and I loved it.”

Yazzie says part of her golf journey includes getting closer with her dad.

“My dad has been in my life since I was 7-years-old and he would play golf on weekends with his friends,” Yazzie said of Raymond Jensen Jr. “I just fell in love with golf, and it connected me with my dad more. Before he was in my life, I didn’t have a father figure and with golf, I was able to connect with him. We were able to communicate, and it helped me build a stronger relationship with him.”

Besides her parents, Yazzie added that she has a great support system, which includes her nálís Raymond and Gay Jensen and maternal grandma Marilyn Stevens.

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