Estero golfer Gianna Clemente found herself sitting next to former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at a dinner last spring before one of the world’s most prestigious women’s amateur tournaments, an event dominated by college golfers.
During their conversation, Rice asked Clemente, “What class are you?”
“I’m a freshman,” Clemente answered.
“At what college?” Rice asked.
“I’m actually a freshman in high school; I don’t go to college yet,” Clemente replied.
“She was very shocked to say the least,” Clemente explains when retelling the story.
Clemente, who turns 16 this month, has been shocking the golf world for a decade, besting golfers much older than her. “She’s been proving age is just a number for a really long time,” says her mom, Julie.
Gianna won her first tournament when she was just 5 years old. She qualified for the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship when she was 11, and she was the youngest winner of the American Junior Golf Association Ping Invitational at the age of 13. Even more impressive, she qualified for three LPGA tour events on consecutive Mondays when she was 14—only one of two golfers (and the youngest ever) to do that. And this year, Gianna is part of the Curtis Cup 12-member practice squad. She’s the youngest on this year’s squad and the second-youngest golfer ever to be selected.
“I think her potential is unlimited,” says Jay Burton, part of the team at WME/IMG, who represents her. Burton has no definitive answer regarding what makes her special. Maybe she was born that way, he notes.
Indeed, Gianna was exceptional from the time she was an infant. She hung out with her dad, Patrick, on putting greens when she was 18 months old. She never played with dolls and has loved sushi—still her go-to meal—since age 2. She started singing the “Star-Spangled Banner” at age 2 also, performing it at a minor league baseball game and a hockey match when she was 5.
Until she was 9 years old, she participated in other sports; then, she decided to contain herself to the links.
“When I was 9 or 10 it came into my mind, maybe I’m a little good at this,” Gianna recounts. “Slowly, I started playing more events every year, and playing in all those events and the competitiveness turned into a love for the game.”
Competitiveness, focus, and maturity define Gianna. She inherited at least some of her competitive edge from her parents. Patrick played golf at Youngstown State University in Ohio, where her mom was a cheerleader.
“It’s really with her,” Patrick says. “She’s a firecracker about everything she does.”
Gianna hates to lose at anything, her mom relates, but she has developed more patience and resiliency.
Burton noted her determination last fall when he invited Patrick and Gianna to stop at a restaurant to watch a Cleveland Browns football game following a Sunday morning practice session at Bonita Bay Club’s east facility.
Burton didn’t think much of it when Gianna’s head was buried in her cell phone. He figured she was a typical teenager. Then, Gianna started showing something on her device to her dad. “[At first,] I had no idea what she was showing him,” Burton explains. “It was her golf swing from that morning.”
After the meeting with Burton, Gianna convinced her dad to return to the course to work on her swing, promising to work exceptionally hard on schoolwork when they returned home.
“I’m thinking to myself: ‘who is this girl?’ This is not normal,” Burton adds.
But normal isn’t a word to describe Gianna. She was about 5 years old when she saw the 2013 documentary The Short Game about youngsters playing for the U.S. Kids Golf World Championship. She told her parents she was going to play in it. She did more than that; she won it twice (in 2015 and 2018).
She was about 10 when she learned about the Junior Ryder Cup. For several days, she went around telling her parents she wanted to make that team when she was old enough, displaying pictures in her bedroom of Rome, where the match was to be played, and other Ryder Cup reminders.
“It was how I reminded myself to keep going, to keep working,” she mentions. She made the team and played in Rome this past September.
“She just seems to be able to focus on those goals; that is amazing for somebody that young,” tells Lauren Collins, a resident of Bonita Bay, where Gianna practices and often plays.
Condoleezza Rice can be excused for mistaking Gianna for a college student. Physically, she’s a sturdy 5 feet, 5 inches, and she blends in with her college opponents. It’s her maturity that seems to set her apart.
“Her personal skills are so developed,” Collins says. “The way she interacts with adults is amazing.”
Gianna believes some of that is from being interviewed by media at a very early age. She’s been asked the same questions so many times her answers sound like they’ve been rehearsed, she thinks.
Some of her maturity comes from being an only child and spending plenty of time with adults. Her mom calls her “an old soul.”
Julie makes sure Gianna, who is an online student at a private Christian academy, is keeping up with her classes. While Gianna would rather be hitting golf balls than hitting the books, she boasts a 4.0 grade point average.
“If she is going to do something, she isn’t going to do it halfway,” her mom explains.
Mom and daughter have their share of fun, too. They love country music and Taylor Swift; they took in a Morgan Wallen concert together and saw Swift when she performed in Tampa last summer.
“I am very close to both my parents,” Gianna notes, “but especially my dad. We’ve spent many years together on the range and putting green together—so much time we’re almost the same person.”
When Patrick, a regional vice president for Hubbell Utility Solutions, isn’t working, he’s serving as Gianna’s coach and caddy. He has learned to separate his role as dad and coach. “When on the range and coaching and doing work we keep it at that,” he says. “She respects that, too.”
Their time together isn’t all work, however. They love to laugh and goof off. In fact, Julie calls them “Dumb and Dumber.”
“For as fierce and competitive she is as a player on the course, she is about as goofy and fun off the course; there are two different sides that make it really fun,” Patrick says.
Supporting a golf prodigy is not cheap. There are airplanes, hotels, dinners, clothing, equipment, and entry fees to pay for. Signing multiple name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals in 2023 has helped. So far, Titleist, Footjoy, and French company Amundi have hopped on the Gianna Express.
She caught Burton’s attention in August 2022 when she qualified for three LPGA events in a row. He had no plans to start a division signing amateurs to NIL contracts. “I thought to myself, this young lady is going to be a world leader,” he says. “I don’t want to wait until she’s a pro.”
Patrick says that, as Gianna becomes more independent, he is stepping back. She has two years to decide if she will attend college or turn pro. College coaches will be allowed to contact her in June, when she finishes her sophomore year; then, the recruiting trips begin.
She’s also changing her tournament schedule. She won’t play in as many junior amateur events. “You can’t play the same events over and over and think that’s going to make you better,” Patrick says.
While the tournament schedule is evolving and big questions about her future are pending, one thing remains the same for Gianna: her drive.
“I’ve probably gained more motivation since last year,” Gianna says. “This is all I want to be doing; that hasn’t changed at all.”
The Gianna Clemente File
Born: March 28, 2008
Hometown: Eight months of the year in Estero; four months in Warren, Ohio
Home Courses: Bonita Bay, Avalon Lakes
Best 18-Hole Round in Competitive Play: 63
Average Drive Off Tee: 255 yards
Holes in One in Competitive Play: Three
Average Time Spent Practicing Each Week: 25-30 hours
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