When Girls Preparatory School senior Mary Alice Murphy of Lookout Mountain was in the eighth grade, she was a determined swimmer.

However, her father, Pat Murphy, a local attorney and former standout wrestler at Hixson High and UTC, thought her competitive energy might be more productive in golf.

“He said I could have more success in golf,” she recalled recently. “He’s a very smart man and I guess he just knew.”

Although she continued as a varsity swimmer through the 10th grade, Miss Murphy did slowly realize that strokes came a little easier for her on terra firma than in water.

After putting extra emphasis on golf beginning in early 2008, she soon saw the fruits of her labor when she won the prestigious Willow Creek Junior Golf Classic in Knoxville that summer.

Last fall came the crowning moment of her effort – the individual championship in the TSSAA Division II state tournament. With the victory, she became the first GPS student to win the individual state title since then-sophomore and future Wake Forest golfer Charlotte Grant won in 1976, when the tournament was played in the spring.

Miss Murphy’s two-day total of 3-over-par 147 at Old Fort Golf Club in Murfreesboro put her three shots ahead of second-place finisher and Baylor School senior Kaleigh Toole, who led the Lady Red Raiders to their TSSAA-record 15th consecutive state team title.

“It was a lot of fun,” said Miss Murphy. “I really tried to enjoy myself because it was my senior year. I really just wanted to go out on top and have a great finish.

“I could have always played better, but it was good enough to get the job done.”

After the tournament, Miss Murphy received a congratulatory e-mail from Ms. Grant, who had been a pioneering GPS varsity golfer along with Debbie Walker, Julie Johnson and Nita Drinnon, among possibly others.

Miss Murphy has also received correspondence from colleges wanting to offer scholarships, and she is hoping to decide in the near future which to accept.

What she is definite about, however, is that she loves the sport she was somewhat late to embrace.

“I am happiest on the golf course,” said Miss Murphy, whose mother, Mary Margaret Lawwill Murphy, played tennis at Alabama. “I just love every part of it.”

She said she particularly enjoys what the sport reveals about people.

“It’s very telling of who you are as a person,” she said. “If you play a round of golf with someone, you know who they are. That’s the best way to get to know someone is to play golf with them.”

Miss Murphy, who plans to major in political science in college, admittedly does not care to watch that much golf on television, even though she is considering a professional golf career as a possibility.

But she still has a deep respect for the game, and is appreciative that she found a sport in which she was able to make quite a splash after all.

“Playing golf has made me grateful for everything,” she said. “My parents have done so much for me. There are so many people who have helped me.”

Jcshearer2@comcast.net