Yoon shoots for Big West title
by Sean Horejs, Outpost Staff
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Both the Wolf Pack women's golf program and its hottest golfer Angie Yoon are in their second seasons. So far, both have fended off the sophomore jinx.
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Photo by Sean Horejs |
April 19-20, the pack women duked it out for the Big West Conference title at Boise State. The pack finished second overall in the team competition to New Mexico State and Yoon also finished second individually behind New Mexico's Sasha Medina. Yoon fired rounds of 73, 68, and 74 respectively adding up to a tournament score of 215. She was also named MVP of the conference. A big tournament from Yoon was key for the pack.
"We're definitely going to need a strong performance from Angie to win it all," said women's golf coach Carl Laib Saturday before the championship.
Yoon just missed winning it all last year, and she was ready to give it another shot.
"It (Big West championship) would mean a lot to me," Yoon said. "That was my goal last year, to win a Big West title and I came close, but I was a freshman and didn't really know how things worked."
Yoon, a San Diego native, won two tournaments last season as a freshman on her way to a fifth place finish in the Big West.
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This year, Yoon has won only one tournament, in Hawaii, but her lowest tournament finish has been 12th place. Her consistency has helped earn respect for not only her game, but also for the pack program.
That consistency has also become a benchmark for her teammates.
"She's shown me what I need to do to be a top college player like she is, " said fellow golfer and Carson High grad Linda Upton.
For Yoon, winning the Big West title would have been a huge accomplishment considering what little time she and her teammates have had to practice due to the unseasonably cold weather through March and early April.
Although Mother Nature had taken a toll on her short game, the rest of her game more than took up the slack. She drives in excess of 270 yards off the tee, and this season she's managed to shave two strokes off her freshman season average of 76.
Her skills are really something to behold.
"You watch her out on the golf course and her attitude and her game…it's like, effortless. And the kinda scary thing about it is I don't even think she's hit her prime yet, she's still got two years of college left," Laib said.
Yoon knows her potential well, and a big part of it is enjoying herself.
"I'm having loads of fun," Yoon said. "This is probably the best times of my life out here with the team, being in college, playing college golf."
Posted April 25, 1999
Copyright 1999 Nevada Outpost
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Copyright 1999 Nevada Outpost
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