For those that get a chance to watch LSU women’s golf this season, do not think you are seeing double. Melissa and Nicola Eaton, twins on the same team, are playing well at the same, which is a good thing.
The two 5-foot-4 South African freshmen are separated in age by five minutes, and share far more than the same birthday.
The two have identical sports backgrounds. Both played hockey, swimming, tennis and golf in Port Shepstone High School. They also both began golf at age 12.
In December 2000, both were invited to join the Ernie Els Foundation, a non-profit organization started by the South African PGA star to help develop junior golfers through 2003. The Eaton twins tied in the 2002 KZN junior championships at Royal Durban with a score of 147.
LSU coach Karen Bahnsen said she is glad to have both Eatons on her team.
“They played pretty decent, they’re close to being pretty good,” Bahnsen said about this past week’s tournament, where LSU finished third out of the 17 teams competing. “They missed a couple shots, but that’s due to improve.”
Bahnsen said she is not concerned with the Eaton twins or the rest of her relatively young team, as matches become more important as the season winds down.
“They’ve already proven that they can win,” Bahnsen said. “The more they get in situations like the one this weekend, the better they will get.”
Both twins said they are happy to be here because of the quality of the school and golf team, and that they are able to be with each other.
“When we first applied, we just wanted to get in school, we didn’t think we would go to the same school,” Nicola said. “We knew we wanted to go to LSU when a friend of ours told us what a great school LSU was, and from that point on we knew we wanted to be at LSU.”
Melissa agreed that life would be tougher without her sister.
“It would be completely different, Melissa said. “We share experiences, we talk a lot, having her around all the time would make it a lot easier. She makes it a lot of fun. We go shopping, eating and to the clubs together, we do more than just go to school and play golf.”
There is some separation between the twins. In 2001, Melissa was selected to represent the South African Golf Foundation in the Junior Dutch International event, placing sixth. Melissa is ranked No. 10 in the South African Ladies Order of Merit, while Nicola finished No. 18. Melissa also was selected Sportswoman of the year in 2001 for Port Shepstone Country Club.
“We’re very competitive,” Melissa said. “I think the main thing is to get better. We always try to do our best against each other. People always look to see who’s on top.”
Melissa said her more successful resume does not cause problems between the two of them.
“It doesn’t bother her,” Melissa said. “It’s never been because I was more talented, it was because I was stronger in mind and because it took her more time to click. But now she’s been playing better. We’re very much the same, we know we can achieve the same.