The Point Loma Nazarene University women’s golf team’s season has begun, with two tournaments under its belt. They finished sixth out of 14 at the Ruidoso Junior Golf Association Shootout (RJGA) at Estrella in Goodyear, Ariz., hosted by Western New Mexico University on Sept. 16. They finished second in a field of six teams at the Bulldog Desert Classic, hosted by Union University on Sept. 29.
Typically, PLNU travels with five golfers, and the top four’s scores are combined for final team standings. For each tournament in the fall portion of the season, Head Coach Lance Hancock said his goal is to break a combined score of 300 for the top four. Of the five competitive rounds they’ve played, they did that once, when they shot 299 on day two of the Bulldog Desert Classic. Overall, Hancock said he is pleased with the start they’ve had.
“We’re leaving strokes on the golf course, made by unforced errors,” Hancock said. “We’re doing things that we need to clean up. But in their defense, they need time with us to help them clean those up, and for the amount of time that they have with us … I think they’re doing a great job.”
Of the eight players on this year’s squad, only four are returners. Giana Gunasayan, Allie Nguyen and ClaraGrace Plath are all first-years. Annika Yturralde is a third-year transfer student who previously played at Creighton. Hancock said the turnover has been a net positive for the team.
“We needed to change the culture here,” Hancock said. “The first thing we needed to do was get a little tougher. We needed to understand that golf is a hard game and there are going to be tough days. We have to understand how to manage that crisis versus surrender to it and let it defeat us. That’s what we did a lot last year … and it is not something that I wanted to continue with.”
Despite the roster turnover, third-year Isabella Gunasayan said the transition has been seamless, and team camaraderie is strong.
“The people that we’ve gotten are very solid players; they’re very consistent and we’ve all come together pretty quick,” Gunasayan said.
In particular, she’s been most impressed with Nguyen, a first-year marketing major from El Macero, Calif. Nguyen has been the top individual finisher for PLNU at both tournaments. She tied for 13th out of 74 at the RJGA Shootout and eighth out of 37 at the Bulldog Desert Classic.
Both finishes included bounceback rounds that propelled her up the leaderboard. At the RJGA Shootout, she followed a round of 76 with a 71, shooting her 12 spots up the leaderboard, from T25 to T13. At the Bulldog Desert Classic, she scored a 78 on day one, only to follow it with 72 on day two and 74 on day three.
“I feel like my mental game has been pretty good,” Nguyen said. “My coaches and my teammates have been super supportive, so I feel like there’s not a lot of pressure for me being out there … I’ve been pretty consistent with hitting fairways and hitting greens, so that’s helped a lot.”
Part of the reason Nguyen’s mental game has been strong is due to the shift from junior golf, where players are solely focused on their individual play, to college golf, where individual performance is important, but there’s also an incentive to show up for your teammates.
Hancock said he sees a bright future with Nguyen and believes she’s close to taking her game up a level.
“She is at the place where I need to work very specifically with her on a couple of decision-making skills so she turns 73s into 69s,” Hancock said. “She is everything and more than I thought she would be.”
Some of the other top finishers for the Sea Lions have been Yturralde, Avery Sky, a third-year and Giana Gunasayan.
Giana Gunasayan was PLNU’s second best finisher at the RJGA Shootout, finishing nine spots behind Nguyen in 22nd. Yturralde was the third best finisher at the Bulldog Desert Classic, finishing tied for 13th, just four spots behind Isabella Gunasayan. Sky’s best showing came at the latter tournament, where she finished 17th in the field of 37.
Isabella Gunasayan, who finished ninth in the Bulldog Desert Classic, only one spot behind Nguyen, said she has been pleased with the start to the season and sees potential in this year’s women’s golf team.
“I can see scoring pretty high on the leaderboard for conference, and then hopefully, the team or some individuals are able to move on after that,” Gunasayan said. “But I definitely see a first place in our normal tournaments coming up soon.”
PLNU’s next tournament is the East Bay Fall Tournament in Hayward, Calif., at Stonebrae Country Club. The tournament is on Oct. 27 and 28, and it’s their last tournament of the fall. Their season picks back up in early February in a tournament against Cal State L.A.
Whether or not Hancock’s goals for this team will be met will be determined in the spring.
“First, we’re going to win our conference,” Hancock said. “That is the number one thing … And if we do that, then everything else will take care of itself. Win conference and we’ll move into a regional tournament, and then we can start working towards loftier goals.”
Ava Bailey-Klugh