Under the bright sun and quiet pressure of the fairway, Payton Schmidt has made a name for herself as a rising star for the UW-Whitewater women’s golf team. Through the various ups and downs of the golf season, the young sophomore has seen substantial growth since her freshman season. Schmidt was named to the women’s golf second team All-WIAC following the fall season, where she finished tenth at the 2025 WIAC Championship.
The Royal Purple had an opportunity to talk with Schmidt about her growth, success and future goals.
Q: Going into the spring what personal goals do you have?
A: I’m always setting score goals, but I would love to improve my ball striking. That’s something I’m going to be working on in the off-season. I set goals based on mindset, on the course and things that I’ve learned that I want to improve on.
Q: What has been the biggest challenge playing collegiate golf?
A: I would say the biggest challenge has been the time management of everything. We’re gone a lot over weekends. This year in the fall we even played during the week. So with that, we missed quite a bit of school and trying to keep up during the first five weeks is not particularly easy. And golf is a long sport. We’re out there for four to six hours, and that doesn’t include warm up and travel. Just staying on top of everything while still improving our golf skills.
Q: What keeps you focused when things aren’t going your way?
A: We talk a lot about having an out when things aren’t going our way. What can we put in our head that gets us on a different path? And so it’s something each person has to do individually, but I always try to find what I am grateful for that day.
Q: How do you think your relationship has developed with your teammates?
A: I love my team. We all constantly get along and we do so much outside of golf. We’re just so supportive of each other and it’s always fun.
Q: What does earning second team All-WIAC mean to you?
A: It means a lot. It’s always cool to be able to represent our team, our school, our program and what the golf program has been able to do the last 10 years as a powerhouse of the WIAC. So kind of happy that I was able to keep the tradition going a little bit, but still room for improvement in the future.
Q: What has been your favorite memory with the golf team?
A: Our 2025 national championship trip was my favorite. That was during my freshman year. It was in Williamsburg, Virginia, and it was a wild week of exams while we were there. It was raining, but we just all had fun together, embracing it all”.
The journey for Schmidt is just getting started. While she was just named to the second team All-WIAC, the work hasn’t stopped. Schmidt has a busy winter ahead of her as she prepares for the spring season and a shot at competing in the NCAA Championship.
