The Details: Huskies Hunkered In The Bunker All The Way To Nationals
May 20, 2015 | General, Women's Golf
By Mason Kelley
GoHuskies.com
It was a simple idea. After the Washington women's golf program lost its top two golfers to the LPGA Tour in December, coach Mary Lou Mulflur asked the program's five remaining players to change the way they viewed the season.
She asked the Huskies, ranked No. 1 in the nation at the time, to play for each other, not just with each other.
It wasn't easy to lose players as talented as SooBin Kim and Jing Yan, but Mulflur told her team to “hunker in the bunker.”
It was an opportunity for the Huskies to show how much talent Mulflur had assembled.
They made it work. They kept winning tournaments, securing a school-record six wins, breaking the mark set in 1977 when Mulflur was a player. They played well enough to earn a trip to the NCAA Finals that begin Friday in Bradenton, Fla.
“It's been a roller coaster,” junior Charlotte Thomas said. “It's been crazy. We played really well in the fall with seven people. We had a very deep lineup and qualifying was intense. We were all constantly pushing each other to get better, and then suddenly we just had five.”
During the program's winter retreat, junior Ying Luo told her teammates she didn't think the loss of Kim and Yan was “something that should stop us.” She suggested the team focus on their individual games as a way to improve the team.
“This should be a motivation for us,” Luo said. “We can create a history that nobody has ever done before.”
That's exactly what they did.
“It's been crazy. We played really well in the fall with seven people. We had a very deep lineup and qualifying was intense. We were all constantly pushing each other to get better, and then suddenly we just had five.”
“We really care about each other,” Luo said. “I love the girls. We're all so supportive.”
When the roster featured seven players, the Huskies had to compete against each other for the opportunity to travel to tournaments. Knowing there would be two teammates left at home during each trip was hard on team chemistry.
After losing Kim and Yan, Washington needed each member of the team to contribute.
“We couldn't have any injuries,” sophomore Eimi Koga said. “We couldn't get sick. There was nobody left behind.”
It wasn't a typical midseason transition, but the Huskies embraced the challenge.
“It was kind of a weird transition where we didn't have to do the intense qualifying, so that stressful part of college golf was out for a while, and it was kind of nice,” Thomas said. “It brought us closer together as a team and that has helped us a lot.”
Koga added, “We've experienced everything together, every second of it and we've pretty much stayed together 24 hours a day and I really like that. We're a really close team.”
As a freshman last season, Koga was often one of the Huskies who would stay behind when the team traveled to tournaments. She had a lot of time to practice on her own, but it was a struggle.
It wasn't a typical midseason transition, but the Huskies embraced the challenge.
She learned a lot both as a person and a golfer.
This year, “I can see a difference,” Koga said. “I'm more confident now.”
After finding a way to endure and advance for most of the season, confidence is something that has spread throughout the Huskies' program.
Now there is one more tournament left to play, one more chance for the Huskies, ranked No. 1 by Golfweek and No. 7 by Golfstat, to “hunker in the bunker” and make a statement at the NCAA Finals.
“I want to win it,” Thomas said. “I really want to win it, and I think we can. I just have so much faith in this team. We're so close and we're so focused on what we want, I think we can win the whole thing.”
To sign up for e-mail alerts for each posting of The Details, click here. To contact Mason Kelley, click here.
Players Mentioned
