'They know we'll be back': Gile Bite Starkute, Wildcats see bright future after making NCAA semis

SCOTTSDALE — With one putt, Gile Bite Starkute etched her name into Arizona women’s golf lore.

That’s not easy to do. The UA is, after all, home to the likes of Annika Sorenstam, Lorena Ochoa, Haley Moore and Bianca Pagdanganan, among others.

On Tuesday, a new entry was added. Starkute made a 30-foot putt from the edge of the green to sink top-seeded Stanford and secure Arizona’s spot in the semifinal round of the NCAA Championships. This was after her remarkable recovery shot on the previous hole forced moved her match against Stanford’s Angelina Ye to sudden death.

“It was Bianca-like; it was Haley Moore-like,” UA coach Laura Ianello said, naming two recent UA stars. “It was one of those moments where we have a little magic there at the end of the round … That’s what Wildcats do. We bear down.”

Eighth-seeded Arizona beat Stanford 1-up before falling 3-2 to No. 4 Ole Miss, the eventual national champion, in the afternoon semifinals at Scottsdale’s Grayhawk Golf Course. Along the way, the Wildcats proved that anything is possible — especially when it comes to match play golf.

Tuesday might have been the high point so far of Starkute’s college career. The sophomore arrived at the UA a year ago as a three-time winner of the Lithuanian Championship, a back-to-back winner of the Latvian Amateur Open Championship and a member of the Lithuanian National Team.

Starkute’s first season was interrupted by the COVID-19 shutdown, and her second year wasn’t much easier. With Ya Chun Chang, Vivian Hou and Yu-Sang Hou in Taiwan until mid-March because of the pandemic, the Wildcats didn’t even know it they would field a full team. They all eventually returned, but Vivian Hou suffered on a torn labrum in her hip.

Still, the Wildcats made the NCAA Regionals and qualified for the NCAA Championship. With the team facing the cutline in stroke play on Saturday, Starkute knew something had to change. She had just shot an 85.

“I was more than frustrated and kind of mad at myself. After that I was like, ‘This is not how we’re going to end it,’” Starkute said.

The next morning, Starkute shot a 4-under 68 and followed it up with a 3-under 69 to help the Wildcats make the cut. Arizona made the eight-team match play tournament, securing the final open spot. They drew the top-ranked Cardinal in the quarterfinals.

Once the Wildcats advanced to the match play portion, Starkute and her teammates knew they had a chance to do something special — including, as a No. 8 seed, upsetting the top-ranked team in the country. It’s something the Wildcats did in 2018, when they topped No. 1 UCLA on the way to a national championship.

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Ianello said the Wildcats “just know in our hearts” that anything is possible in match play.

“I think they do they go out there fearless, knowing we’ve done this before we can do it again,” she said.

Starkute explained that match play is “a different type of golf — every single hole is like a little tournament.”

“It was just like the feeling itself when you’re playing for the team — like she’s trying to win every single moment,” she said. “You have to keep fighting until the last shot.”

Tuesday evening, the Wildcats huddled up for the final time after the semifinal loss to Ole Miss. Ianello’s message to her players was clear: She was proud of them.

“It was an honor to be their golf coach,” Ianello said. “I appreciated their work, their work ethic this whole year through the COVID year, with all the testing and all the other stuff that went on with the team issues — players coming back, maybe not coming back. (It was) just a lot.”

Ianello became emotional when talking about Yu-Sang Hou, the Wildcats’ departing senior.

“She’s been such a huge contributor to our team but not just on the playing field, but this is a person on the team, a leader, as a friend. A coach is probably not supposed to be friends with their players, but I love that kid,” Ianello said. “She’s like a daughter to me and that that hit me pretty hard.”

Even with a little emotion from their coach, the Wildcats seemed to take Tuesday evening’s loss in stride. They were composed and happy when they received their trophies for finishing as semifinalists.

“I think they know we’ll be back,” Ianello said. “(The NCAA Championship) is going to be here the next two years; it gives us confidence to know that we can keep working hard. Next year, we’ll get a whole new season ahead of us. We just earned the invitation to the East Lake Cup again by being in the semifinals here. We have good things to look ahead to. I think we know what’s here, (and) we can prepare for that and play for it. This is not going to be our last year (competing) for the national championship.”