Gile Bite Starkute's growth may be just what the Wildcats need in seeking their fourth NCAA title

Gile Bite Starkute is known for her birdie on the biggest stage that helped the UA women’s golf team defeat Stanford in a playoff hole to advance to the 2021 NCAA Tournament semifinals.

While that was a great moment in Arizona women’s golf history, there is more to Starkute than just that one putt.

The senior leader, who has already declared she will be back for her fifth year next fall working towards a master’s in marketing, has grown tremendously on and off the course over the last two seasons.

She has reduced her scoring average, become stronger in the weight room, gained confidence, maintained a 4.0 GPA and owned the leadership role.

“Gile is just that type of woman who will succeed, and even if she’s not succeeding, she’s on the path to succeeding,” said UA coach Laura Ianello. “She’s going to find a way to be successful and do the right thing,”

Starkute’s teammates will rely on their team captain’s knack for success this week as No. 5-seeded Arizona starts the journey in seeking its fourth national title at the Raleigh (N.C.) Regional from Monday through Wednesday.

The Wildcats, who are competing in the NCAA regionals for the 30th consecutive time, won it all in 1996, 2000 and 2018 and were runners-up in 1992 and 2002. Ianello has won it all as a golfer (2000) and as a coach (2018) at her alma mater.

The Wildcats, who are the No. 26 seed nationally, need to finish in the top five of the 12-team regional to advance to the national event in Scottsdale.

Wake Forest is the No. 1 seed in the regional, which will be played at the Lonnie Poole Golf Course at NC State. The other top seeds in the regional include Arizona State (2), Florida State (3), Florida (4) and North Texas (6).

In two consecutive seasons, Starkute’s scoring average has gone down (.63 of a drop last year and .67 this season). Her average this season is 73.46, and she has five top-10 finishes and six top-20 finishes in 11 events.

Starkute put in the work in all aspects of her game. Ianello said some of the jump over the last few seasons is maturity and Starkute understanding what it takes to remain competing at a high level. Starkute is also motivated by her goals for what’s next — playing professionally and in the Olympics for her home country, Lithuania.

“Gile, this year, is a much stronger specimen on a golf course. She has increased her clubhead speed, her muscle mass, and she’s hitting the ball a lot farther,” Ianello said. “Her short game, you can tell her she has spent many, many hours perfecting her short game — chipping, wedging, pitching to where she has more opportunities to save par if she does hit the green.

“(She’s) still working on perfecting her putting but she has the ability to win and she’s been close a couple of times this year to winning. She’s gaining confidence. What’s great is that she’s put herself in position. I think she knows that she can win. And I think she will in time, but she’s just again she’s maturing with the mental game, physical game, and really all aspects.”

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Growing up in Lithuania, Starkute played badminton and golf. When she was a teenager and started competing in golf tournaments abroad, representing her country, she realized quickly that to improve — and win — she needed to devote all her time to one sport.

Along the way, she also fell in love with the game that she started to play by just following her dad to the course when he wanted to practice.

“You can never have the exact same round of golf ever,” Starkute said. “Even if you play on the same golf course. There’s weather — there’s wind and rain. There are different grass types. There are different layouts of the golf courses. Your mood. Every single day is different and that’s the thing I love because you have so many different things to manage in golf, that it challenges you psychologically, it challenges you physically. It’s the constant challenge for me.”

Prior to playing at UA, she was a three-time winner of the Lithuanian Championship and won back-to-back Latvian Amateur Open Championships.

At Arizona, Starkute has soaked up having some of the top golfers in the collegiate game as her teammates. This includes the Hou sisters, Vivian and Yu-Sang, who are now professionals. She saw up close how Vivian Hou drives straight every single hole and is working on adding that consistency to her game.

Bianca Pagdanganan is another former Wildcat who Starkute has studied. While the two didn’t play together, Starkute watched from afar in the fall of her freshman year as Pagdanganan trained in Tucson prior to turning professional. Starkute was amazed at her long drives as Pagdanganan went on to be one of the longest drivers in the LPGA her rookie season.

In the offseason before her senior season, Starkute, who stands at 5 foot 8, spent a lot of time in the gym to gain strength and add that distance. She worked on golf-specific exercises for explosive power and rotational exercises to not only prevent injuries but build strength. She’s seen much more distance this season and is driving it closer to UA’s top long hitters, including freshman Julia Misemer.

Starkute has also looked to her coaches, especially Ianello, who has motivated her every day to keep at it.

“All my coaches are an inspiration; when you have someone coaching you who you can look up to (it makes all the difference),” Starkute said. “For example, coach Laura, she has the most amazing short game that I’ve ever seen. When she beats me in chipping competitions every single time, I want to get better.”

Starkute has taken all these lessons to heart. This week as the Wildcats strive to become one of the 30 teams advancing to the national tournament at Grayhawk Country Club in Scottsdale after missing out last year, Starkute will remind her teammates of what a “privilege it is” to play in this tournament.

“Even under a lot of pressure, that’s where we all strive the most,” Starkute said.

“What I’ve seen from the previous nationals, you can have a lot of good individual players, but if there’s no chemistry where you want to fight for your other teammates, you’re not going to succeed. I think that’s why we were that strong in (2021) Championships because we were all locked in together as a family. … I think the most important thing is becoming a family, which we really already are.

“Hopefully that leads us to where we want to be.”