When Catholic’s Reagan Zibilski qualified to go to the U.S. Open as an alternate last summer, she had to keep her composure when she saw her favorite golfer, Nelly Korda, the number one ranked women’s golfer in the world. “Like you’re sitting on the range next to them and you’ve got to act cool and calm and collected,” said Reagan. “And I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s Nelly Korda.'”
This isn’t her first go-round at one of golf’s highest stages. Before she led the Fightin’ Irish to three straight state titles as a team, and before she won back-to-back individual state championships, she qualified for the U.S. Open in 2019 at just 15 years old. “I felt very small,” Zibilski said. “But I was also like, ‘Wow, this is really fun. This is something I would really like to do for a living.’ I didn’t feel completely out of place. It kind of lit a fire inside of me.”
So far, so good. Reagan just wrapped up a breakout junior season at Arkansas, winning her first individual tournament and setting a school record in the process. “That was always my dream was to play for the Razorbacks,” Reagan said.
Reagan helped those Razorbacks win four straight tournaments in a historic season, earning her first All-American selection. And just last month, she tied a course record to win the Missouri Amateur Championship by 12 strokes. “Winning it was fantastic,” Reagan said. “I’ve always wanted to win the Missouri Am. I played in my first amateur when I was 12. That was my lowest 54-hole score by five shots.”
She’s playing her best golf ever. And now she’s back here at Hickory Hills in Springfield trying to get even better.
“This summer I’ve kind of started getting more into the professional golf routine with the fitness and the practice and also just organization,” Reagan said. “And getting myself prepared for that next step.”
When asked if she’d like to have her name on a sign outside the golf course she grew up training at, she laughed.
“I don’t know if I’d like that,” Reagan said. “But no, this place is great.”
Her game is getting greater. With one more year in hog heaven to go.
