Sienna Mosquera On Golf, Goals, Plans & More
[Written by Stephen Wright]
Sienna Mosquera’s passion for golf has steadily grown since first picking up a golf club as a nine-year-old.
Although her first sporting love was tennis, it was not long before Mosquera asked her parents whether she could turn her attention from serving to driving and drop shots to putting.
It was under the watchful eye of Kim Swan, arguably the island’s greatest golfer, that Mosquera learned the fundamentals of the sport during lessons at Port Royal Golf Course.
The 17-year-old said Swan, a former European Tour player, has played an influential role in shaping her career and remains a source of inspiration.
“Mr Swan has always told me I’m going to be an LPGA [Ladies Professional Golf Association] Tour player,” Mosquera told Bernews.
“Although he no longer coaches me, he still sends me coaching videos and shares his words of wisdom.”
Aged 12, Mosquera moved to Switzerland with her family, continuing her golfing education under Mari Carmen, a former Ladies European Tour Player, before returning to Bermuda three years later to continue working with Swan.
“By that point, I’d realised how much I loved golf, so I talked to my parents, and we agreed to switch from tennis,” Mosquera said.
Mosquera had already started competing in local tournaments when introduced to Dom Azzopardi, the coach of Australian player Lucas Herbert, who won the Butterfield Bermuda Championship at Port Royal in October 2021.
She began having online coaching sessions with the top coach, who also remains one of her golfing mentors.
“I started as a 35 handicap, and Dom and I planned for me to get down to scratch within the two years,” she said.
The next step in Mosquera’s career was to experience overseas tournaments, with the Bermudian playing on the Met PGA Junior Tour for boys and girls aged 10 to 18 in New York State.
She competed in several one-day tournaments, enjoying a few victories, and finished an impressive fifth out of 75 girls in the overall standings in 2022.
“I was playing against junior girls for the first time,” Mosquera remembers. “The competition was around my level, so it was the perfect starting point. It was amazing to see how my scores were improving.”
Mosquera has since progressed to the more competitive Hurricane Junior Golf Tour in Orlando, Florida, and the Future Series, a two-day event, in New York State; she also spent two weeks last summer at the Mike Bender Golf Academy in Lake Mary, Orlando.
“The Hurricane Tour and Future Series were different from the events I’d played,” Mosquera said. “They’re higher-level competitions, but that’s the challenge I’m looking for.
“I realised I wanted to play these events more often – even during school. Sadly, Bermuda doesn’t have many junior events, so I decided I wanted to come to the Mike Bender Golf Academy full-time.”
Last summer, Mosquera left Saltus Grammar School, where she founded a golf club for like-minded students to attend training at Belmont Hills Golf Club [the club now runs at Ocean View Golf Course] to continue the final year of her high school education at the Mike Bender Golf Academy.
“The coaches at the academy have helped me a lot,” she said. “I’ve improved so much. It’s been awesome – my scores have been so great.
“My handicap has dropped from ten to three and I recently broke [a score of] 80 for the first time.”
Competing alongside fellow local youngsters Dylan Muso, Sa-Qui Robinson, Oliver Betschart, and Aman Newton, Mosquera made her second appearance at the Butterfield Bermuda Junior Championship at Port Royal this month.
“It was awesome to get an exemption,” Mosquera said. “I’d played against many of the girls before in Florida, and although I didn’t play as well as I’d hoped, I was proud of myself, especially in my final two rounds. It was a great experience, but I could have done better.”
Unsurprisingly, golf was the subject of a documentary made by Mosquera, titled What it Takes to Go Pro, interviewing top local professionals such as Michael Sims and Camiko Smith about their journeys in the sport.
The documentary won Best Production Values [Cinematography and Editing] at the second annual Bermuda Youth Film Festival at the BUEI [Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute] in the Tradewinds Theatre last summer.
“It was great to hear their [Sims and Smith] perspective on golf and how they got into the sport,” Mosquera added.
With a busy schedule on the horizon, including the Hurricane Junior Golf Tour, starting with the two-day Disney Junior Open at the Palm Golf Course in Orlando, Florida, next month, Mosquera is eager to get back in the swing of things.
“I have a lot of goals I want to achieve in the sport,” she said. “I’d like to play Division 1 golf in college.
“It will take a lot to achieve, but I really want it. I plan to have a gap year after I graduate, stay at the academy, and continue to train.
“After college, the goal will be to become a professional!”
Go get’em young lady! This island is full of people that are punching well above their weight. Teresa Perozzi, Flora Duffy, Nahki Wells are just three recent examples of hard-working Bermudians that have reached the elite levels of their sports! Never quit. If you constantly start practicing earlier, and finish practicing later than your competitors your hard work will pay off. There will be bad days, there will likely be tears and suffering along the way. That just means you are passionate. Nobody ever won by quitting, so never give up on your dreams! With the right attitude, hard work and a little luck you will do it!