All-First Coast girls golf: Senior Nancy Cox served multiple roles for Ponte Vedra Sharks
Adrienne Siewert isn't sure what she's losing now that senior Nancy Cox has struck her last golf shot for Ponte Vedra High School.
First and foremost, the Sharks girls golf coach is bidding farewell to a three-time Times-Union All-First Coast conference player and the team's No. 1 player for the Sharks in the last three seasons when they went to the state tournament and finished tied third.
Siewert is also losing her team leader and captain — and for the second year in a row, the Times-Union girls high school golfer of the year after a season in which Cox won her third post-season tournament and then tied for second in the Class 2A state tournament.
And when injuries plagued the Sharks late this season and Siewert was forced to play two sophomores and a freshman in the district, regional and state tournaments, Cox became a combination of an assistant coach and big sister, helping Siewert guide a painfully young team to a district championship, second in the region and third in the state.
Siewert said Cox leaned on her experience as a freshman on a veteran team in 2020 that won district and regional titles and finished fourth in the state tournament.
"Being so young, they tended to put a lot of pressure on themselves," Siewert said. "She knew what it was like to be a freshman at the state tournament, so she worked with the young girls. And I think they've seen her example of leadership and I expect a couple of the sophomores we had to carry on that tradition next year."
Cox, who will play golf at Florida Atlantic, is anticipating the future for her teammates.
"The girls on this team have become some of my best friends over the years and I can hardly wait to see what they can do when I'm not here," she said. "I'm going to continue to support them throughout their high school career like other players supported me."
Cox won her second district title
Cox repeated as a district champion with a 72 at Fernandina Beach. She faltered in the region tournament with a 77 at Quail Heights but that was after she made an 8 on the first hole, a par-4, and Cox played the next 17 holes at 1-over and tied for 11th.
Cox lost her tee shot, hit three off the tee into a water hazard and as it turned out, 8 was a pretty good score.
"I made a mess of that hole but I kept my composure," Cox said. "I knew I had a lot of holes left."
She bounced back with her co-runner-up finish at the state tournament with Sofia Rivera of Beachside. It was Cox's second top-five finish in the state tournament and her eighth post-season finish among the top-10.
Cox was pushed by Beachside freshman
The high school golf season also resulted in an unexpected rivalry: Cox vs. Rivera.
Both won their respective district tournaments, shooting the same score — even-par 72.
Rivera tied for fifth in the regional tournament, topping Cox by four shots. They both shot 1-under 141 at the Mission Inn Resort Las Colinas Course in the state tournament, with Rivera leading the Barracudas to the school's first-ever state championship.
The difference for Cox, other than being a senior, was beating Rivera head-to-head twice during the regular season. Cox won 34-38 in the only nine-hole match the two teams played and then beat Rivera 69-74 in the Jacksonville Beach Varsity Invitational.
Beachside girls coach Mackenzie Parks said Rivera displayed remarkable maturity and poise for a freshman in leading her team to the state title.
"She had one of the best mindsets about the game that I've seen for someone her age," Parks said. "Her approach is the same, whether she hits a good shot or a bad shot and never gets down on herself. She really brought everyone on this team together."
Cox had high praise for Rivera and anticipates matchups in the future in junior and amateur events.
“I love playing with Sofia,” Cox said. “She’s one of the steadiest players I’ve ever gone against. She never makes high numbers. She’s fairways and greens and a great competitor. I think it’s very similar to how I play and we both drove each other to be better.”
Cox, swing coach have a master plan
Cox's rebound from her only bad hole of the post-season is part of her overall development under swing coach Jordan Dempsey of the TPC Sawgrass Performance Center. Dempsey said that a year ago he consulted with Cox's father, PGA Tour rules official Stephen Cox, and formulated a plan with an eye towards Nancy Cox's college career.
Cox has a slender frame and her strengths have been accuracy, short game and putting. But Dempsey said getting more distance isn't all about brute strength and Cox is learning the value of center-face hits.
"She's always gotten by on talent in the past and it was a matter of coming up with a plan for her lessons and practices, sticking to it and being consistent," Dempsey said. "Aside from that it was more or less cleaning up her contact. To get more distance, it's all about sequence and that comes from the center of contact, on the face. It was important for her to create a swing where the sequence matches up to where she can hit the middle of the face more often."
Cox said distance is becoming just as much a part of the women's game as for the men.
"I'm working on betting stronger and hitting the ball farther and faster," she said. "That's pretty much my goal."
Cox also has improved her iron play, learning to compress the ball better, which has helped her hit closer to the hole.
Dempsey thinks her ceiling is unlimited.
"She's out here every day," he said. "I think she will really blossom in college golf."
Nancy Cox profile
What's in the bag: Driver, Titleist TSi3; 3-wood, 5-wood, Titleist TSi2; 4-hybrid, 5-hybrid, Titleist TSR; irons, 5-pitch, Titleist T100; wedges, Titleist Vokey; putter, Scott Cameron Newport2; ball, Titleist Pro V1.
Holes-in-one: One, at the 2021 FSGA Parent-Child Tournament at Celebration Golf Club in Kissimmee, third hole, 7-iron, 143 yards.
Low score: 67 at Quail Heights in Lake City.
Favorite player: Matthew Firzpatrick.
All First Coast girls golf team
First team
Sahana Chokshi, Fr., Episcopal: Peaked at the right time, with a tie for second at the district, solo third at the region, and tie for eighth at the Class A state tournament.
Nancy Cox, Sr., Ponte Vedra: One bad hole, the first in the region tournament, likely kept her from posting top-five finishes in all three post-season events. Shook it off to tie for second in the Class 2A state tournament.
Karlee Gainey, Sr., Columbia: The only girls player in the area to win the individual district and region championships.
Maddie Rathjen, Sr., Beachside: Provided vital leadership for a young team on the rise and had top-10 finishes at every level of the state playoffs, capped by a tie for sixth in the Class 2A tournament.
Sofia Rivera, Fr., Beachside: Led the Barracudas to the Class 2A team title, the school's first in any sport, with a tie for second at the state tournament. Also won the district and tied for fifth in the region.
Second team
Fiona Clancy, Jr., Beachside; Chloe McGrath, Fr., Bolles; Kalia Polete, Sr., Fleming Island; Ralienne Nacional, Sr., Beachside; Elle Reisner, Fernandina Beach, Fr.
Third team
Alexandra Drum, Sr., Ponte Vedra; Cambree Hodge, Sr., Fleming Island; Stella Moritz, Soph., Ponte Vedra; Anaiya Nahar, Jr., Bolles.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Senior leader, mentor, champion: Nancy Cox filled many roles for Ponte Vedra
