Clemson’s Pancake Thrives Amid Change

Clemson’s Pancake Thrives Amid Change

Indiana’s own Annabelle Pancake was featured in a recent article by Global Golf Post highlighting her playing in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur

By Julia Williams

Annabelle Pancake’s super power lies in an ability to adapt.

Here’s a player who grew up in the Midwest (Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Indiana, to be exact, where her dad, Tony, is the director of golf), has competed largely in the Southeast as a member of Clemson’s women’s golf team and has made deep match-play runs at women’s amateur events everywhere from the Chicago suburbs to University Place, Washington, to Sandwich, England.

Adaptability is just the start, and really more of a byproduct of prioritizing attitude and preparation.

Pancake, 21, can’t quite put a finger on who, in her head, she felt she was playing for as a junior golfer. But in the past two years, a firmer grasp on her faith has cleared the way for some of her best golf yet 

“My goal for every day is to have fun, glorify God and beat the golf course, and if I do those three things, I’m going to be pretty dang good,” she said. “That kind of is where I’ve shifted over the past couple years, and I feel like that’s really helped me.” 

In 2022, Pancake was a finalist at the Women’s Western Amateur and also reached the round of 16 at the U.S. Women’s Amateur hosted by Chambers Bay Golf Club, a course that many pros struggled to figure out during the 2015 U.S. Open. The game-changer, however, was Pancake’s runner-up finish at the 2023 Women’s British Amateur at Prince’s Golf Club in England.

Pancake almost didn’t go overseas to the Women’s British Amateur – she had an internship and other things going on – but former teammate and friend Savannah Grewal helped talk her into the idea. As a national championship, the event qualifies as one that Clemson can help a player with financially, so Pancake went. She and Grewal sampled links golf, drank tea and soaked in the culture.

“The people there are so cool; the golf courses are amazing,” she said. “It’s just such a different environment, but it was something I’ll never forget and I’m so glad that I decided to go last-minute. I had heard it was such a great tournament, so I was like, ‘Why not?’”

Remarkably, Pancake ran through the match-play bracket and became the first American to reach the final since Stephanie Lau in 2018.

Pancake had decided she’d adapt to the wind and shot shaping on the fly at Prince’s. Her links introduction consisted of a mere 27 holes over two days, though she had experimented with a fairway-wood bump-and-run shot around the greens back home and had focused on learning to be more creative in general with her short game.

“That was one of the things about that tournament that I loved was that it gave me a chance to put that into play,” she said.

A month after the Women’s British Amateur, Pancake reached the round of 16 at the North & South Women’s Amateur, played at Pinehurst No. 2. Her Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking eventually climbed to a career-high No. 72, and in January she unlocked an invitation to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. Clear the way for another display of shot-making, this time at a course famous for side-hill and tight lies.

Clemson head coach Kelley Hester can’t wait to see how Pancake performs next week at Augusta National under tournament conditions. Pancake has twice gotten to play the course with her Clemson teammates. She’s the fourth Tiger to be invited – the last being Grewal who, two years ago, used one of her allotted tickets to bring Pancake along.

Hester thinks the absence of pressure plays a big role in Pancake’s ability to perform in major events at unfamiliar venues.

“You try to teach your players that they are not their score, and she embodies that,” Hester said.

Hester can’t think of any better way to define Pancake than as a good teammate and someone who brings out the best in others. No one goes to Pancake, she said, to complain about their golf game. They won’t get anything other than optimism.

Grewal, who has since earned her LPGA card and left Clemson for the tour, found that out during Clemson’s 2023 Atlantic Coast Conference title run. She was hitting range balls after a bad round when Pancake sought her out, praised her ball-striking and told her not to let one bad round define her. Grewal took that confidence into the next round.

“She’s also very good at being up-front and honest with you,” Grewal said. “She will 100 percent tell you when you’re in the wrong, that you’ve got to find a solution to the issue. You can’t just be complaining about the issue. She will straight-up tell you that, which I love about her, too. 

It’s unsurprising that the most important item left on Pancake’s to-do list at Clemson revolves around the team. She wants the Tigers to reach match play at the NCAA Women’s Championship in May.

“To me, I’m not done until we make it there,” she said.

But first, Augusta National. As the ANWA approaches, Pancake has found herself thinking about one element of that iconic golf course more than anything else: getting off the tee. She understands it will take an arsenal of shots.

“I think mostly it’s going to be shot shaping and being confident and knowing I can pull off that shot when I need it in that moment,” Pancake said. “Obviously, short game, too. But tee shots have been on my mind a lot for [Augusta], because I feel like if you miss the fairway there, it’s rough. It’s pretty stressful.”

As if the second cut could rattle Pancake.