MSU Athletics Minot State golfer Alexandra Demko taking an approach shot.

The worst round of golf Alexandra Demko has ever played taught her two valuable life lessons: Don’t quit, and never take your frustrations out on a golf course — the golf course will always win.

A wide-eyed, 14-year-old Demko needed that wake-up call.

“I’ve played a lot of rounds, a lot of bad ones and a lot of good ones,” Demko said. “The worst round I ever had wasn’t a score. It was how I handled it mentally… I was playing really, really bad, and the last few holes I blew up and didn’t want to play anymore. Since then, I’ve made it a point that no matter how bad I’m playing, no matter the score, I’m going to try and finish every hole the best that I can. So, that awful round ended up being one of the best things that could have happened to me because it completely changed my outlook on how I view the game.”

Resisting the urge to storm off the course as a traveling amateur was a turning point for Demko’s golf career — a journey full of twists and turns across North America with an ongoing cliff-hanger ending.

In a sad sense, everything came full circle.

While Demko held firm to her uncovered values and never gave up on the game of golf again, the current COVID-19 pandemic sweeping across the globe has temporarily ripped the sport away from her.

The somber ending to Demko’s senior season at Minot State was unexpected, like a picture-perfect tee shot drifting into the trees.

Now, in front of her, another hazard to overcome.

On the road again

Demko’s love for golf stems from her father, Michael Demko.

“He started bringing me out to the course and the range when I was really little, like (I was wearing) Winnie the Pooh boots,” Alexandra Demko recalled. “When I was 12, he asked me if I wanted to try playing in tournaments and do it competitively. I said yes, and that’s probably the best decision I have ever made.”

The girls junior golf scene around Demko’s hometown of Thunder Bay, Ontario, didn’t present enough opportunities for her to compete regularly. Traveling long distances to get in rounds became the norm.

“It was crazy, but so much fun,” Demko said. “I got to see new places and have these amazing experiences from a young age. Being able to travel is now one of my favorite things to do. It’s memories I get to share with my dad and my family forever.”

Growing up, Demko participated in the Optimist International Golf Championship at the PGA National Resort and Spa in Florida, as well as the U.S. Kids Golf Teen World Championships at the Pine Needles Golf Course in North Carolina.

Pine Needles is still one of her favorite golf courses.

“It was absolutely beautiful,” Demko said. “I got my dad to caddie for me. I just remember it being such a different experience than any other golf tournament I had been around. There were people from all over the world. That course was different because the course itself was green, but everywhere else was pine needles. It was stunning. It’s also a place where the world’s best golfers have walked through for years and years.”

While attending high school at Sir Winston Churchill in Thunder Bay, Demko finished second at the 2014 Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour’s (MJT) World Championship Qualifier and third at 2014 MJT National Championship. Demko then won the 2015 MJT Players Championship at Whistle Bear Golf Club in Cambridge, Ontario.

After years of chasing down future scholarships to play golf at the next level, Demko finally landed at Presbyterian College in South Carolina.

She played in seven total tournaments with the NCAA Division I program. Her best finish was tied for 27th at the Winthrop Invitational with a score of 164 (78, 86).

“It was good, but it wasn’t the right fit for me,” Demko said. “I didn’t want to give up on golf. I wanted to keep playing. I just needed a different place to do it.”

Enter Minot State.

Demko already had made prior connections. She met former MSU men’s golf coach Randy Westby a few years before at a junior golf tournament in Arizona. Westby then informed former MSU women’s golf coach Spencer Hilde, who watched Demko play a junior golf tournament in Canada.

With a few junior golf friends already in Minot as well, Demko decided to transfer to Minot State and move to North Dakota for her sophomore season.

“This was the place for me,” she said. “This is where I wanted to go.”

Going places that MSU has never been

Demko made an immediate impact for the Beavers. She played in all eight tournaments and led MSU with an 81.1 stroke average per round. Demko finished strong by shooting in the 70’s in six of her final seven rounds and took 11th overall at the NSIC Championships.

However, multiple coaching changes and the struggle of keeping stability to compete with more established Division II opponents was a challenge.

“We have definitely had our ups and downs in our three years together,” Demko said. “But my (teammates) have been amazing with their support system. It’s been a great team to be a part of.”

Demko made headlines last year when she became Minot State’s first golfer to qualify for the NCAA Division II Women’s Golf Championships.

Playing as an individual alongside fellow NSIC individual qualifiers, Demko wasn’t able to advance out of the Central Regional to play for a national championship back at the PGA National Resort and Spa in Florida.

It was still an experience she wanted to share.

“What I hoped for this year was that our whole team would have made it,” Demko said. “We would have won the conference, and we all could have gone. I hope future female golfers in the program can aspire to do that and even go further than what I did.”

Demko’s dream wasn’t an outlandish target.

Before COVID-19 canceled the rest of the women’s golf season, the Beavers won their final two tournaments together as a team in Las Vegas.

MSU shot 299 as a team in its final round, a Division II school record.

Individually, Demko won medalist honors and took second place over the two tournaments.

“The team was playing really well,” MSU women’s golf head coach Kyle Knutson said. “And I think we shot a score that showed we are capable of winning the conference meet. So, I think that added to the confidence they already had. Then, to be told shortly after we came back that the golf season was done, that was very difficult for them.”

Uncertainty of a new venture

Demko will graduate Minot State this spring after studying marketing and management.

Besides swinging golf clubs, Demko was also the vice president of North Dakota’s DECA and worked marketing internships with the North Dakota State Fair and the MSU men’s hockey team.

“She has been very active and is a go-getter,” Knutson said. “I’ve been here for a year, and Alex (Demko) has helped me out a tremendous amount. Not only being the person I go to when I have questions about the team, but also the person I went to see how we could make practices more fun or create a little more excitement in our rounds. I got a lot of feedback from her.”

With the coronavirus taking away golf, school and work, Demko is left pondering what to do next.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” she said. “I was trying to figure it out before all this happened. With everything so up in the air, I’m not too sure right now. I am just going to have to wait and see how things go with how the world is. Hopefully, things get better soon. Right now, I’m just enjoying my time at home and taking things a little bit slower and not rush into any major decisions. It’s kind of like the world is forcing me to take a step back and really think about what I want to do.”

Alex Eisen covers Minot State athletics, the Minot Minotauros and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @AEisen13.