It wasn’t until three years ago that Samantha Postillion was able to best her mother, the woman who introduced her to the game, in a golf tournament. 

Defeating her mother was no easy task. Kerry Postillion played college golf at Washington before turning professional. Even though she had to put her professional dreams on hold after just one year, she continued to compete as an amateur once she met her husband and started having children. 

Around the time Samantha was born, she was ranked the No. 1 amateur women’s golfer in the world.

“She, despite having kids, was able to accomplish a lot,” Samantha said. “And she probably could have turned pro (again), but that just wasn’t her focus. Her focus was raising a family.”

The Postillion family would grow to have four children, Samantha being the third eldest of four. While her main sport was not golf early on in her life, she did eventually dedicate herself to what had become a family activity. Her parents and older brothers are all avid players, but it was her mother who was the catalyst for her playing career.

“My mom has had a huge impact on my game,” she said. “She’s always motivated me to get out and play, and she’s never been one to push me into golf, so she’s always made it a decision of my own. But being able to see her do well tournament after tournament, I grew into wanting to do the same thing as she did.”

Samantha recorded rounds of 71, 75 and 73 at last week’s Marsh Landing Invitational, tying for 11th place and recording a team season-low tournament score for the year. Her first round 71 also ties her for a low round of the year for the Illini. 

“Right now, I think it’s all just coming together for her,” assistant coach Jackie Szymoniak said. “She’s one of our more mechanical players. She works quite a bit on mechanics leading up to a tournament. This past tournament was by far the best short game that she has had all season long.”

Her up-and-down score — the percentage of times a player can get the ball “up” onto the green and “down” into the hole in two shots from off the green — was 94 percent for the tournament. Szymoniak described this as an “extremely impressive” score, especially on an unfamiliar course.

The performance comes during a time in which Postillion says she is feeling confident in her overall game, even the parts that are not the most consistent.

“She has put a lot of time in with her putting recently because that is one of those areas that has kind of been a little bit on the streakier side for her,” Szymoniak said. “Yet, that’s an area that she also feels is a strength of hers. So she’s worked on a couple things with that, and it was awesome to see it pay dividends.”

Even with such a solid performance, both Postillion and her coaches know there is still room to get better.

“This past tournament, she actually did not have her ‘A’ game and she would readily admit that,” head coach Renee Slone said. “But she was able to find a way to score … and obviously her short game was absolutely phenomenal, and that’s what really saved her and carried her through.”

Slone has also noticed a “new level of maturity” in Postillion throughout this season.

“She’s a competitor, and she isn’t one to get frazzled,” Slone said. “If a bad shot, a bad swing happens, she is able to put that behind her … it motivates her in a way. She finishes a number of rounds strong.”

At the Insperity Lady Jaguar Invitational at Augusta, Ga., back in mid-March, Postillion shot an 85 in her first round. 

She finished her next two rounds with scores of 77 and 74 to come in second among her teammates. Her coaches also point out that her quietly confident approach to the game also tends to rub off on her teammates, who very much appreciate it.

“She’s been such a great addition to the team,” teammate and roommate Kaitlyn Wampler said. “Sam’s an extremely hard worker, probably one of the hardest workers we have on the team. She loves to be competitive, and so she encourages competitiveness within the team, which is something we need and something that makes us better.”

The competitive encouragement that comes from Samantha can be traced directly back to her mother. Just as Samantha has done with her team, her mother used the game of golf to keep her family close. The family’s passion survives years after her mother moved on from her professional career.

“Now, I just want to accomplish even more than she was able to accomplish,” Postillion said. “She’s really driven me to play the best golf I can.”

Alex can be reached at [email protected] and @AlexOrtiz2334.