Aug. 30—Emree Cameron of Nevada High School in Nevada, Missouri, and Madison Moman from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, have been close friends for quite some time now. Maybe best of friends.
Professional golfer Bryson DeChambeau might have one of the most impressive long-range drives in all of golf. But his driving doesn’t have quite the range these two girls have.
With more than 1,300 miles between them, Cameron and Moman have managed to maintain a bond for a decade now since they first met at Trump National Doral Golf Club in Miami as 7-year-old girls.
Today, they’re both committed to play Division I golf at the University of Louisville.
“Representing Louisville is a huge honor. Even though we’re not there yet, we’re repping their name. And even after we graduate, we’re always going to be a Cardinal,” Moman said.
The two visited Louisville last year and did so just a day apart but had no clue either one had been talking with the university about playing golf. You know, life gets busy and sometimes you forget to share those things with one another.
Come to find out, they were talking and their parents were talking, and they realized they both had visits lined up.
It didn’t take long once they received their offers to play there. They knew almost immediately they wanted to be Cardinals and to be alongside one another in college.
“I definitely cannot see myself going anywhere else,” Cameron said.
“Same. … The moment my plane landed in Louisville, Kentucky, I knew I was going to go there,” Moman said. “Just seeing how Louisville is as a city, not just a college … it checked off everything on my list.”
“And how the people treat you,” Cameron added.
Like Moman said, they’re Cardinals today and will be long after they graduate from there.
If you look into some of the folklore about the cardinal species, you can see some similarities in the life of these two young ladies that live across the country from one another.
First, a cardinal is symbolic of positivity. Well, it’s also positive to have a friend you can count on.
For Cameron and Moman, that’s what they have developed in each other over a decade of being friends.
“We’re there for each other when the other needs it,” Cameron said. “We’re always going to be there. It’s not just a golf friendship. … Mads is one of my best friends as well.”
They met on the links at the age of 7, and that has linked to a decadelong friendship that will carry into college. But it just isn’t all about golf for the girls. They can count on each other to pick up the phone when they need it. A FaceTime call to see each other even though they’re 20 hours away can cure a bad day.
“We aren’t just golf friends. We’re really good life friends,” Moman said. “I’m very grateful to have golf. Because there are so many relationships and friendships of people that I have through golf, one of them being Emree. … I call her one of my best friends, and that’s outside of golf.”
Life has changed a lot since they met. Quite frankly, there’s just a lot more that happens at 17. But the two have been able to lean on one another through the tough times.
Folklore says that cardinals may visit as a reminder or a message during hard times. The popular one is that the red bird visits as a lost loved one coming to see you. The two teenagers aren’t getting a visit from a death in the family, but they are each other’s cardinal in the middle of a busy week when one needs to vent or just share about life.
“When you’re 10, all that’s on your mind is school and golf. When you’re 17, there’s a lot more. There’s college. There’s friends. There’s guys. There’s driving. There’s a bunch of stuff, and sometimes it’s nice to have someone that’s like a breath of fresh air that understands you,” Moman said.
The two are comfortable sharing anything with one another and say they can talk about random things, boring things and with no filter. They enjoy that comfort with one another.
“You know the response is going to be respected, nonjudgmental and loving towards you,” Moman said.
After initially meeting on the golf course, the two played together multiple times after that in Pinehurst, North Carolina, and other various locations. There was a stretch of a few years where they didn’t cross paths during golf tournaments and didn’t see each other.
But they both played at Pete Dye Golf Course in Georgia about a year and a half ago. That restored the friendship and really kicked it off.
“When I saw her at the Pete Dye, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh. It’s been years since I’ve seen Mads. She’s grown up so much,'” Cameron said. “We truly do have a connection. We’ve grown together and learned things from each other.”
Another word that folklore says the cardinal can symbolize is restoration. That meeting in Georgia was an act of restoration for the two as their friendship took off from there.
The friendship traveled from Florida to California and so many locations in between for tournaments they competed in together. The two were in Maryland together this summer as well as California.
As they look back over the years and how they stayed in contact and were able to piece together this journey to Louisville together, their parents played a role in that.
“It was really our dads staying in contact,” Cameron said. “They were getting us in tournaments and events together. Once we got older, that changed. But you don’t have phones at 7 years old.”
“The golf world is big, but also it’s a small world,” Moman said. “Everyone knows each other. It’s kind of like the seven-person rule. Everyone is connected in the junior golf world.”
The opportunity to play together at Louisville is one that is still shocking today but something that won’t be taken for granted.
“If you would have said that a year ago, I would have been floored. But now we’re here and we’re going, and I’m so thankful for it,” Moman said.
“For sure. It’s an amazing opportunity, and it’s going to be a lifetime bond and friendship with other girls we play with,” Cameron added.
There are seven girls on the golf team at Louisville right now. Two freshmen are good friends of Cameron and Moman. Bailey Burkett and Veronika Exposito are good friends of the girls from national tournaments.
Once they arrive, they both have a goal of taking the Cardinals to the NCAA Championships.
