Taylor and Ashlan Ramsey spend hours outside in the heat and cold working on their golf games and spend days on the road playing golf tournaments. Their parents spend the money to make it all happen.

The sisters are tough competitors who recently played the final round of a tournament together in near silence as they traded leads. Their rigorous schedule allows them little time apart, said Taylor, who is 14 and a year older than Ashlan.

"I guess that's why we don't fight like normal siblings," Taylor said.

The sisters enjoy a healthy relationship, in spite of their battles on the golf course. Taylor admitted she once considered throwing a tournament so that Ashlan, who Taylor said was playing poorly and in tears, could win.

They plan to be in contention at this week's Charles Howell III Junior Championship. The American Junior Golf Association event will be held at West Lake Country Club, their home course.

Taylor and Ashlan said they feel they have at least some advantage, having played West Lake nearly every day they've been in town since picking up the game more than five years ago. They learned from watching their father, Al, on the driving range near the Ramseys' home at Reynolds Plantation.

About a year after the family moved to West Lake, Al's daughters asked when they might be able to play golf again.

Taylor and Ashlan began taking lessons, and soon after began playing competitively. Their tournament schedule now takes them all over the country.

Their goals are simple: rise on the AJGA ranking list, earn college scholarships and arrive on the LPGA Tour at the same time.

Ashlan broke through for the first time on the AJGA circuit in April, beating Taylor by a stroke after they swapped leads the first two days. Taylor said she and her sister, playing in the same pairing the final round, did not say more than a word to each other during the final 18 holes. When it was over, Taylor cried -- overjoyed by her sister's win but also crushed by the loss.

"We both get really into what we're doing when we play against each other," Ashlan said. "We both want to win really bad."

Taylor and Ashlan were home-schooled after they became serious about their golf games. The format allowed them to be on the golf course by 11 a.m., and they would play until dark.

Both re-enrolled in traditional schools last year -- Taylor at Augusta Christian and Ashlan at Stallings Island Middle. Ashlan's online classes allowed her to advance a year, so she and her sister are now one grade apart. Both are planning to attend Greenbrier High next year.

They said public school will offer them the chance for more interaction with girls their age. But golf will continue to demand the most attention.

Seven hours of school, golf course, dinner, homework, bed -- "That's our schedule," Ashlan said. "There's no hanging out with friends, not really sleepovers unless we don't have a tournament for a while. We know that we can't do that. It's not like we ask and get disappointed every time. We know that's not an option."

The schedule is up to the sisters. Al Ramsey and his wife, Carla, started a health drink company and helped start Augusta Junior Golf Magazine so they could be around to support their daughters golf habit.

"They both always wanted to be at the golf course all the time and spend time there," Al Ramsey said. "We let them try all the other sports, and they kind of gravitated back to golf."