Mya Wimer finds right course with golf scholarship, making move to North Dakota
Published 12:10 am Tuesday, April 4, 2023
- Mya Wimer, center, is joined at her college scholarship signing by her parents, Andre Wimer, left, and Sara Wimer, right. (Clayton Eaves/Special to The News)
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NEDERLAND — The sound of applause echoed off the walls of the Nederland dome gym on Thursday as Mya Wimer lifted her pen from the paper, signifying her official commitment to the University of Jamestown in North Dakota.
The venue was well attended by family, friends and mentors, all of whom were sporting orange and black, the school colors of the Jamestown Jimmies.
“My grandpa was an amazing athlete, so I credit a lot of that to him,” Mya said regarding her inspiration. “Just him pushing us — my sister and I both — to our full abilities in sports and school. I credit him for that too.”
Mya has been playing golf since 11 years old, but it started off in what some would call whimsical fashion.
“We drove by a Top Golf when I was in fifth grade, and I was like, ‘that looks fun, I want to try golf,’” she said. “So after that I signed up for a golf camp and just stayed with it.”
Mya Wimer stands with private coach Billy Thillet III. (Clayton Eaves/Special to The News)
From then, Wimer pursued swimming and golf deep into high school. Though, it wasn’t until her junior year that she realized she wanted to pursue golf in college.
“I honestly thought I’d be here for swimming,” she said with a smile. “Going into my junior year I decided that swimming wasn’t what I wanted to do in college. So I decided that I was going to go for golf. We made some adjustments. I advanced my play, and I got better.”
Wimer hones her craft at BT3 indoor golf facility in Beaumont every Friday to work on swing mechanics. Her coach, Billy Thillet III, has been her private coach there for the past two years, and he had high praise for her.
“Mya is very self-driven,” Thillet said. “She doesn’t need an environment in order to improve herself. She’s just trying to be better than she was before, and I think that’s a really good attribute to have. Especially with golf being an individual sport. She’s always playing against herself, and not so much the level of her competition.”
With her competitive nature and dedication to improvement, Wimer’s future plans in Jamestown include getting an undergraduate degree and then going on to veterinary school.
When asked why she chose to attend the University of Jamestown, a small private university with 1,200 students, Mya kept it simple, “I wanted to experience something new and play golf while I was doing it.”
Written by Clayton Eaves
