Indigenous Championship Lures Rachelle Nielsen Back To The Golf Course

Summerland Native Rachelle Nielsen Earned A Degree In Mechanical Engineering While Playing Collegiate Golf In Texas - BC Golf Photo

By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

(OLIVER, BC, May 30, 2023) — Some students on athletic scholarships take the ‘easy’ route when it comes to declaring their academic majors. Not Rachelle Nielsen.

The Summerland native majored in mechanical engineering when she headed south to Texas A&M University-Kingsville. It was quite the balancing act, trying to juggle a competitive golf schedule at an NCAA Division II school with the demands of an engineering degree. But Nielsen persevered.

It took her five years — not unusual for a varsity athlete — but Nielsen earned her degree in mechanical engineering and graduated in May of 2020.

“First and second year was definitely like a learning curve for sure, but one of my best friends on the team was a civil engineer so both of us would go to practice together, then go to engineering hall and then go to the library together,” she said.

“My (university golf) coach was also an engineer and we had some other engineers on my team. So we could all work together and our coach was very understanding with school projects and time commitments and that fun stuff.”

Nielsen hasn’t played much golf since graduating as she focuses on her career, but she teed it up in this week’s inaugural B.C. Indigenous Championship at Nk’Mip Canyon Desert Golf Course. “I’m trying to remember how to hit a golf ball,” Nielsen said with a smile before beginning her final round. “It was a struggle yesterday, but I finished confidently.”

Yes she did, birdieing her final two holes to shoot an 81. She beat the goal she had set before the round, which was to break 85. “I hit like two fairways yesterday,” she said. “And I spent a lot of time in the desert.”

Nielsen is now working on getting her professional designation as a mechanical engineer while working at Fortis BC’s Kelowna office. She jokes that about the only time she gets to golf is when she is asked to play in corporate events through work.

Nielsen was encouraged to play in the Indigenous Championship by her friend Kylie Jack. The two grew up together playing junior golf, much of it at Nk’Mip. “Kylie and I grew up together playing junior golf and her parents are members here, so sometimes they would pick me up driving through Summerland and we’d play here.”

In 2016 Nielsen received the Premier’s Award for Aboriginal Youth Excellence in Sport. In 2014 she won the under-17 gold medal in golf at the North American Indigenous Games in Regina.

Nielsen is happy to see British Columbia Golf start an indigenous championship. “I think it would be cool for it to be an annual event and maybe rotate through various indigenous courses in B.C. like Talking Rock, Musqueam and St. Eugene. It would also be fun to have something you could qualify for like a national championship.”