BOZEMAN — As a young girl in Costa Rica, it was always Scarlet Weidig's dream to play golf at the highest level.
That dream brought her to the United States in 2020 to golf for the Kansas Jayhawks, but the sport she grew up loving quickly became something she resented.
There was uncertainty if she even wanted to continue to golf, but since transferring to Montana State this past year her passion for the sport was reignited now leading her to one of the biggest golf tournaments of her life.
Competing in the Olympics is every athlete's dream, and for the redshirt junior, that dream is on the cusp of becoming reality.
“It's crazy to think that I could be in the Olympics, I could be walking down with my country and the flags and all the other countries," Weidig smiled.
The Bobcat golfer is in El Salvador this week competing in the Central American and Caribbean Games, which is an Olympic qualifier that could put her one step away from the Paris summer games in 2024.
“It's so much more exciting to go into a tournament knowing that I have every single possible ability to win at just like every other girl there, but just being able to be a competitor makes it so much different than just being somebody who participates in the tournament," she explained.
Weidig has competed on this stage twice before, first at 15-years-old in Nicaragua and most recently in Columbia in 2018.
However, this year she brings familiarity to the El Encanto Country Club.
"She's played it before, so she's seen it," Bobcats assistant golf coach Joey Lovell stated.
Weidig shared that she played the course five years ago, but the real familiarity accompanying her this week is Lovell.
“When she first asked me (to caddie) I kind of had to pinch myself — like is this a real potential experience that you're in the Olympic trials to get to Paris in the Olympic games?" Lovell recalled. "Super exciting and just excited that I could potentially lend a helping hand to make her achieve what she's trying to do.”
While this will be her third time competing at the CAC Games, Lovell is the first caddie she’s ever brought.
"We mesh pretty good together and I was like, 'Might as well just give myself the best opportunity to win a medal,' and if that means bringing Joey, then I'm going to take Joey," Weidig laughed.
The two were able to get a practice round in before match play begins Tuesday morning, mapping out a game plan for a course that Scarlet says is quite “tricky.”
"It is very hilly, very tree-line," she explained. "It's tight, so it'll be very interesting to see the scores that come out of that golf course.”
Medaling at this week’s tournament would qualify Weidig for this fall’s Pan American Games, which will take place in Chile. If she were to medal there, Weidig would earn a spot on Team Costa Rica for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
