May 17, 2024 • by Dan Davies
Long Beach State sophomore Jasmine Leovavo is one of the six individual qualifiers. Being a native of nearby Oceanside, she is particularly pumped about playing in front of a home crowd.
Jasmine, who has played with and beaten Trott at nearby Goat Hill Park, was accompanied on her walk around the course by Long Beach State Head Coach Alyssa Waite, who is keen to ensure that her player can feel the benefits of being a crowd favorite.
“We’ve done a really good job of promoting the event and trying to get as many local people to come out and watch,” said Coach Waite. “This is the first time we’ve had someone in the National Championships since 2007, so it’s a really special moment for both of us being local, to have our friends and family come out and watch us.”
“She is such a good player. She’s got a super power of staying mellow, whatever happens on the golf course.”
“It’s really pretty out here,” smiled Jasmine. “We’re looking at where to hit it and where to miss it but mostly we’re enjoying the view. My putting has been really good lately so I’m hoping I can ride on that. One advantage I have is length and I think that will come in handy here.”
Rachel Kuehn of Wake Forest is coming into her fourth NCAA DI National Championships. “We’ve been saving our best golf of the year for this week,” said the grad student who recently finished joint individual medallist at the Bermuda Run Regional.
“After last year’s win at Grayhawk, there’s a lot of experience. We’ve learned how long and gruelling the week is. It’s a marathon not a sprint.”
Asked what the key to success is in such a long week, the player currently ranked 15 in the National Collegiate Golf Rankings, replied: “Taking every moment as it comes.
Our goal is to put ourselves into contention and then trust the preparation we’ve done
“The goal is to go defend our national championships but before that we’ve got to play well to make the cut after the first three days, then we’ve got to make the top eight because anything can happen in matchplay. Our goal is to put ourselves into contention and then trust the preparation we’ve done.”
During her walk, Kuehn was working on understanding the best way to play the North Course, with a particular emphasis on finding the best misses around the greens.
“The course looks really nice,” commented Kuehn’s Wake Forest teammate Carolina Chacarra. “At first I was little scared because they were rebuilding the whole golf course and that was a lot of work to do in a short space of time. But everything looks awesome. We have’t been able to step on the greens yet but they look pure.”
Ole Miss Assistant Coach Zack Siefert likes how his team is coming into form at just the right time. “We’re feeling really good,” he said. “We’ve had a few great weeks of practice leading up to Regionals. The SCCs were a bit of a wake up call for the team but we came together and had a great stretch before Regionals and where I think we played our best golf.”
Like many others walking the North Course on an overcast, chilly day at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa, the Ole Miss players and coaching staff were focusing on lines off the tee and places to miss around firm, undulating greens, many of which are surrounded by run-off areas.
Maria Jose Marin of Arkansas has enjoyed a superb freshman season, rising to No.6 in the National Collegiate Golf Rankings. “I’m feeling really prepared,” she said, looking down the fairway from the tee on hole number 13. “This season has been really good. I’ve had some strong results, along with the team.”
“We’re looking for yardages and carry numbers,” explained the Colombian. “We can see the greens are tough so it’s definitely going to be a second shot course.”
Zack Byrd, Head Coach of Purdue, went all the way to the DI National Championship title as an assistant coach with Ole Miss. If he was hoping to get some pre-tournament course insights from the local girl in his team, freshman Jasmine Kahler, he was ulimately disappointed.
“We were going through the yardage book and she was saying, ‘That wasn’t there, that’s new, I don’t remember that.’ It’s so different. It is a new course but the bones of it are still the same. [Jasmine is] excited to be home and playing in front of a lot of people who will come out to support her. She’s really happy to be back in Southern California.”
“The course is in a lot better shape,” Jasmine said. “There are a lot more run-offs and a lot more slopes.”
The action gets underway on Friday at 6.40am PST.