Between chipping and putting with her father, riding in the cart with her dad and playing rounds of golf with him, Vera Liu must have hit thousands of shots in front of her father.<\/p>\n
Asked what her father would do when she shanked a Titleist, she said, \u201cLaugh at it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vera, 16, is a junior at Torrey Pines High School. Her sister, Tara, 14, is a freshman at Canyon Crest Academy.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re two of the county\u2019s top junior golfers. And they carry happy memories of their father with them every day.<\/p>\n
Fred Liu died in a car accident last February. He was 53. On the nightstands beside their beds, both teenage girls have a picture of their father.<\/p>\n
Speaking of her late husband, Holly Liu said: \u201cThe motivation was to get them to go to the course to play golf with him. It had nothing to do with competition. Nothing to do with college or scholarships. We had no idea they would go this far.\u201d<\/p>\n
Said golf teaching pro Chris Smeal, who coaches both girls and coached their father: \u201cHe loved golf and he loved his\u00a0 kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vera was 9 years old when the family headed to Temecula for a getaway. Fred played a round at Temecula Creek Golf Club. Vera played a few holes with him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was fun to hit the balls far and make putts,\u201d Vera said.<\/p>\n
Holly is a certified public accountant. Fred was a Realtor. Holly said that because of her late husband\u2019s job flexibility, he was the girls\u2019 primary caregiver when they were babies. His car was the one that carried car seats. When they were babies, he often plopped them down while working the phone or internet.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were quiet. They were good girls. They\u2019d sleep all the time,\u201d said Holly.<\/p>\n
Fred\u2019s swing was smooth and easy. Smeal said Fred\u2019s handicap was about an 8.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know he could shoot in the 70s,\u201d said Smeal.<\/p>\n
What the girls remember most about their father is his sense of humor.<\/p>\n
\u201cCelebrations, like Christmas and holidays, he would make it more fun,\u201d said Vera.<\/p>\n
When Vera was 8 and Tara 6, the family drove to Anaheim. They stayed at a hotel near Disneyland, then the next morning, unannounced to the girls, went to \u201cThe Happiest Place on Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Because of monotonous hours on the driving range and putting greens, golf can be a test of patience. Fred Liu made the game more fun by creating chipping and putting competitions. Vera, Tara and their friends often played friendly rounds with their golfing parents. Dessert was at stake with competitions dubbed \u201cThe Ice Cream Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n
Said Tara: \u201cWe weren\u2019t happy when they won.\u201d<\/p>\n
Out of 384 high school girls golfers in the CIF San Diego Section, Vera is ranked 11th. Tara is ranked 47th.<\/p>\n
Tara is the younger sister, but at 5-foot-7 compared with Vera\u2019s 5-4, she isn\u2019t the little sister.<\/p>\n
Including roll, Tara hits the ball about 230 yards, 15 yards farther than Vera.<\/p>\n
Said Vera: \u201cIf we\u2019re playing together and I hit a nice drive, I might say, \u2018Oh, I hit mine soooo good.\u2019 Then when we drive the cart up to the ball, she laughs and says, \u201cMine\u2019s still 10 yards farther.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vera\u2019s game is noted for its consistency.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe consistently shoots under par, in a lot of tournaments, and fairly big tournaments,\u201d said Smeal. \u201cShe works hard. She\u2019s not the longest hitter, but once she hits it farther, she\u2019ll turn some heads. She\u2019ll play college golf, Division I.<\/p>\n
\u201cTara\u2019s also a superstar. She\u2019s probably going to be the player to beat around here pretty soon. She has a very simple swing. Very powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sitting inside a coffee shop just a driver and lob wedge from Torrey Pines High School, Vera was asked what she misses about her father.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust everything,\u201d she said. \u201cAfter school, driving to Fairbanks Ranch and practicing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of little things,\u201d said Tara. \u201cHe would joke around a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both girls are excellent students. Vera has earned a 4.17 GPA. Her current class schedule includes Honors Math, English, Advanced Placement U.S. History, AP Physics and AP Chinese.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been very busy,\u201d their mother said, \u201cand busy has been a plus.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smeal said Fred Liu had a magnetic personality. Smeal recalled a time at a junior tournament two years ago when Fred invited him to a dinner celebrating Tara\u2019s 13th birthday. Smeal said he had an obligation and couldn\u2019t go.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy the time we walked three more holes, I canceled our plans,\u201d said Smeal. \u201cHe wasn\u2019t letting us not go.<\/p>\n
Smeal paused about the time it takes a golfer to bring the club back, then said, \u201cHe had a huge smile. You could see it a mile away.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Between chipping and putting with her father, riding in the cart with her dad and playing rounds of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":917746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,34956,3914,85],"class_list":["post-917745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-golf","tag-high-school-sports","tag-latest-headlines","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=917745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/917746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=917745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=917745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=917745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}