In January, the reigning national champion Arizona women’s golf team reconvened for the start of its spring season.
The Wildcats have been working tirelessly to refine their craft and strengthen their minds since ending the fall season with a climatic win at the Pac-12 Previews. They know, after all, that repeating as champions is harder than winning the first time.
The women will open their title defense Sunday at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge in Palos Verdes, California.
“I think we just have to work twice as hard” to repeat, senior Bianca Pagdanganan said. “I think that as the reigning national champions ... that’s what we need to do. ... Just work twice as hard. We can’t be complacent, we can’t just sit back, so we have to focus on the tiniest things just to become better.”
A championship mindset has swooped over the program since last May’s dramatic playoff victory against Alabama. Haley Moore’s championship-winning putt on a playoff hole propelled the Wildcats to their first national title since 2000.
Coach Laura Ianello said her teams have always been loaded with potential. Except now, the group’s efforts have been affirmed.
“Nothing’s changed from this last year to two years ago, we’re still the same school, still the same coaches,” Ianello said. “But just winning that title. ... It validates everything.”
That’s been the word of choice for Ianello’s bunch: Validation.
“I feel like U of A was finally on the map a little bit more than it had been in the past,” Ianello said. “The fact that the NCAA Championships was televised really helped give us some notoriety, but also as a coaching staff (it) validated the fact that we’re doing the right thing here.”
Springing back into action
The Palos Verdes Golf Course will provide an early challenge for the Wildcats — and not in the ways you might think.
“We’re playing a very hilly golf course coming up, so we’ve been getting fit,” Ianello said. “We’ve been doing some hiking trips, we’ve been walking a lot, playing a lot of different golf courses in town that give us some uneven lies.”
The Wildcats got off to a blistering start in last year’s Northrop Grumman challenge, finishing the first round tied at the top of the team leaderboard. Moore paced her teammates, scoring 1-under par on Day 1, but fell in the final two rounds and ended up finishing tied for 30th.
This time around, the defending national champs will hope to stay mentally strong.
“As a coach I would say that we’re continuing to work on mental composure, maturity, and with that, consistency on the golf course,” Ianello said. “(Our) three seniors are really talented young women, but they’re nowhere at their potential yet ... and I know that, so it’s our responsibility to keep pushing them.”
Moore believes her hard-learned lessons from a year ago will pay dividends this weekend.
“I feel like I have a lot more experience on that course,” Moore said. “There are scoring holes, but then there’s also some holes where if you can just get out with par, that’s fine.”
The Wildcats will need strong performances from more than just Moore, however, if they hope to win. Pagdanganan, junior Sandra Nordaas and sophomore Yu-Sang Hou will all have to deliver.
A total of 16 teams, including Arizona and six other Pac-12 foes, will compete head-to-head. Ianello and her players are all aware of the importance of starting strong.
“Just got to stay healthy and make sure everybody is doing their due diligence to be the best every day,” Ianello said. “And, (then) we’ll see what happens come May.”
Best of the best
The Wildcats don’t have to go any further than their own conference to find the nation’s top contenders. Seven Pac-12 teams are ranked in the top 25, according to Golfstat’s preseason poll. USC is ranked No. 1 nationally, followed by Arizona State (8), Arizona (9), UCLA (12), Stanford (13), Washington (19) and Oregon State (25).
“It’s pretty intense,” Pagdanganan said. “I would say that all the teams in the Pac-12 are really good teams.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to be exposed to all these top golfers, not just in college but also in the world.
“Just to know the schools in your conference are also the ones on top of the college rankings, I would say that it definitely intensifies and makes the atmosphere a little more competitive.”
That’s why the Wildcats’ fall accomplishment was so impressive. The Pac-12 Preview in Kailua Kona, Hawaii, was virtually a practice test for what the team will face later this season.
“Winning the Pac-12 Preview back in November was a big deal because (we) beat the No. 1 and No. 3 schools in the country,” Ianello said. “We know if we’re battling day by day with our Pac-12 rivals, we’re doing pretty good.”
Trifecta at Augusta
Moore called her decision to play at the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur “pretty special.”
“I was actually in Australia when I received it, so my mom texted me my invite,” she said. “It came in an envelope like the actual Masters invite.”
Moore soon discovered that she’d be playing alongside two more Wildcats — Hou and her younger sister, UA recruit Vivian Hou — on golf’s grandest stage. The tournament invites the 72 top amateurs to Augusta National, golf’s most iconic course.
“I was pretty happy because I knew Yu-Sung had worked hard all fall season, and moved up the rankings,” Moore said. “For her to get in last minute is pretty special. ... We have a recruit coming, too ... so that’s going to be pretty special to see three of us there.”
Vivian Hou will be joining the Wildcats next fall to team up with her older sister. Like Yu-Sung, Vivian was one of the top international prospects before pledging her commitment to the UA.
Final ride
Moore and Pagdanganan both could have left the team in pursuit of their professional dreams this offseason.
Instead, they returned for their final campaigns, eager to defend their national title.
“I still think I had a lot more to learn in my last two semesters of college, and I really wanted to take advantage of that, especially since I do want to play golf after I graduate.” Pagdanganan said. “I really think that education is important so, honestly, it wasn’t a very hard decision. ... That was my plan even before I got to college.”
Moore said she didn’t think about leaving school a year early, even though she could have.
“When I first stepped on this campus I knew that I wanted to stay here all four years no matter how I was performing,” she said. “I just knew that (a) college education was great to have because you never know if something might happen, you might have to go a different route. ... I felt like every year we got better and better and I knew that one year we’d definitely compete to win a national title. ...
“(After) doing it last year with my team, I knew that I wanted to come back because we’d have the same girls and we could do it again.”
