Anika and Anci Dy take golf to the next level
By Craig Manning
If you’ve followed Michigan high school girls golf at all over the past several years, you’ve probably read or heard the last name “Dy.”
For five years straight, a member from this Traverse City family has been on the Division 1 state championship podium. It’s a mini dynasty that has made sisters Anika and Anci Dy (pronounced Dee) two of the most promising young golfers in the state.
Anika is one of the best female high school golfers in state history. Now heading into her sophomore year on the women’s golf team at the University of Michigan, Anika won three Division 1 individual state titles in a row from 2016 to 2018. In 2015, her freshman year, she came in second, missing a 4th title by a single stroke.
She twice led her Traverse City West High School team to state titles. All three years Anika claimed a state championship, she was also named ‘Miss Golf.’ Only five other female athletes in state history have won that award twice; Anika was the first to win it three times.
Anci is building an impressive legacy, too. Heading into her senior year of high school, the younger Dy sister was the runner-up at the Division 1 state championship in the fall of 2019, missing the title by three strokes. It’s her second top-5 state finish (she placed fifth in 2018) and her third time in the top 10 (as a freshman in 2017, she came in 6th).
While this could be an easy recipe for sibling rivalry, both Dy sisters emphasize that having one another to learn, practice and play with all the years has been instrumental to their successes. The two started golfing when they were young — Anika was 6, Anci was 4 — and gradually built up their considerable skills.
With Anika at U-M, it’s the first time they have lived apart after years of sharing everything — from a high school team to a bedroom.
“I do miss having her home to talk to and to unwind with, and I especially miss my practice buddy,” Anci said.
“It was so fun to have somebody I knew so well on the team with me, and to be able to play together and support one another,” Anika added. “I miss it.”
Together or apart, it’s clear that both Dy sisters are headed toward big things when it comes to golf. In June 2019, Anika won the Michigan PGA Women’s Open Championship, becoming just the second amateur ever to win the professional tournament — and at then age 17, the youngest winner in history. (As an amateur, she couldn’t accept any prize money.) Just recently, she was runner up in the 2020 GAM Women’s Championship.
And while Anika admits that playing at the Division 1 college level has been “a struggle” and “quite the adjustment,” she still finished as U-M’s top golfer during her first career start at the University of Carolina Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational last October, before the spring season was cancelled.
Anci, meanwhile, has two priorities: one more year of high school golf this fall (and one more shot at the Division 1 state title) and following in her sister’s footsteps to play collegiately.
“I want to play D1 golf in college, hopefully on a scholarship,” she says. “I really just want to get a feel for that higher-up level of competitive golf, to see if I eventually want to try professional golf.”
