Author: Larissa Saco
For the first time ever, Occidental is fielding a full NCAA qualifying women’s golf team. This change was enacted two years after women’s golf was first introduced at Oxy, and it isn’t the only one being implemented this season. The men’s and women’s teams will also be participating in a split season – with practice and play during both the fall and the spring – allowing them to play throughout the course of the entire academic year rather than just during a single semester.
To officially qualify as an NCAA team, a school must have the combined scores of at least four players during tournaments. Most schools bring five or six players to each tournament, and only the top four scores are taken into account. Since the women’s team did not meet the minimum number of players the past few seasons, Oxy’s first and only female golfer Tori Leon (senior) could only turn in individual scores.
This year, however, the golf team is happy to announce that it currently has five women on the team and a potential sixth who has recently become interested in joining.
Interest in golf by women is somewhat lacking, mainly because the sport is new at Oxy. Occidental didn’t approve women’s golf as a fully funded NCAA varsity sport until late spring of 2008. Because the admissions deadline had already passed, no players were recruited that semester. Despite this, the college doubled the golf budget and added another coaching position.
During the fall of 2009, 21 recruited golfers applied to Occidental, but not a single student decided to attend Oxy. “This was a huge disappointment to the golf program,” Head Coach Eric Johnson said. No new recruits also meant that Tori Leon was once again the only woman on the team.
To avoid another single-player season, the golf team refocused this year and successfully recruited Sarah Frantz (senior), Alexis Holmes (first-year), Katie Park (first-year) and Mikayla Turkewitz (first-year). Because most of the new recruits are underclassmen, it is likely that the golf team will continue to be recognized as an NCAA team in the future.
Although the team finally has a qualifying number of players, recent injuries may set them back. Tori has tendonitis from the fingers to the forearm, leaving her arm unable to grip or move comfortably, Mikayla dislocated her shoulder in a rugby match and Alexis tore her ACL.
Still, the players are choosing to remain positive. “I have a torn ACL but it doesn’t really affect my golf swing all that much,” Holmes said. Others on the team are actively trying to recover. “[My tendonitis] feels like arthritis,” Leon said. “I have been doing physical therapy all summer so I am hoping I get to play soon.”
Despite this prevalence of injuries, the athletes are not cut any slack when it comes to training. The team currently practices for two hours, four times a week. On Mondays and Wednesdays the teams practice at Scholl Canyon Golf Course in Glendale, while on Tuesdays and Thursdays they practice at the Brookeside Golf Club in Pasadena.
“The girls are working every week and while they don’t love waking up for 6:30 a.m. practices, they are getting better every day,” Coach Johnson said.
Along with single-player teams and injured athletes, the women’s golf team has struggled with scheduling conflicts since its inception. To solve this issue, a split season was proposed by the men’s golf coaches to decrease the amount of missed class time for players, due to the fact that tournaments lasted all day and local country clubs only allowed tournaments to take place on weekdays.
Also, the weather regulates playing, and the team is often rained out during the spring semester, which leads to the hassle of rescheduling events. In pre-split season format, the NCAA allows for up to 18 tournaments. It wasn’t fair to ask the players to only look for classes on the Tuesday/Thursday format.
By splitting the season, the teams can play five competitive rounds first semester and less than 10 second semester. This allows the student athletes to attend class more often per semester.
These changes are promising, and the women’s golf team is looking forward to a strong season. The team has set its heart on winning most of the tournaments and going as far as it can in the SCIAC conference.
“I want our team to have a strong presence in the conference,” Leon said. “Since this is my last year, I just want to be with the girls and win it all.”
The first golf tournament will be held on Thursday, Oct. 14 against Cal Baptist University at Empire Lakes Golf Course.
This article has been archived, for more requests please contact us via the support system.
