Interview With USC Women's Golf Coach Andrea Gaston
May 24, 2000 | Women's Golf
May 24, 2000
Sunriver, Ore. - The USC women's golf team, currently ranked No. 3 in the country, begins play today at the NCAA Women's Golf Championships being held at the Crosswater Golf Course in Sunriver, Ore., from May 24-27 (Wed.-Saturday). The Women of Troy are led by freshman sensation Candie Kung, who has already set USC records for lowest stroke average in a season (72.3) and lowest round (65). Fourth-year coach Andrea Gaston has led the Women of Troy to consecutive seventh-place finishes at the NCAA championships and looks to place even higher this year. Coach Gaston sat down after practice this past Tuesday for the following interview:
Where has the women's golf program been and where is it heading?
"I am completing my fourth year here at USC. I took on a team that was ranked 31st in the country when I arrived, and now it has been ranked at No. 3 throughout this year. USC has become a force to reckon with. It is something I envisioned for us, and I've always felt that USC teams as a whole should be there at the top competing with the best. We're as strong as we've ever been. I think back to (1998 NCAA champion) Jennifer Rosales and her being out on the LPGA Tour now. I had the opportunity to coach her for a year and a half and she won a national championship as a freshman in only a half season and yet we were not as strong as we are now. It brought a lot of notoriety to our team and now here we are ranked third without her. We've got a player in Candie Kung has competed time and time again: her stroke average is lower than Jennifer's and yet the competition is much more fierce. Looking at Candie, her scoring average is also the best in USC history yet she is not ranked No. 1, whereas a year ago, Jennifer was ranked No. 1 and was the College Player of the Year. In Candie, I look at her and I say `wow, what a force' because she is just one of the hardest working players around. She plans on staying four years and getting her degree, which is exciting and bodes well for our future. We are planning on improving every year."
With two top 10 finishes in a row, is the ball starting to roll as far as building a winning women's golf tradition at USC?
"That's what you hope for, but I don't think you ever have the opportunity to let up, because the competition is tough out there and the minute you think you've got it, someone else who is a little hungrier is going to come out and snatch it away from you. So you can't let up. I know Arizona is at the top of its game right now. They have a great chemistry on that team. That is something that we strive for. We've got the makings of that: we have three freshmen now and three more coming in. But we're still young and as much as I would love to relax, we can't. We need to continue to improve, work with the players we have and develop our work ethic. There's a lot involved. I have a blueprint for success that I try to follow every year. It all starts with making a mission statement for the team and helping the players get to that. This is our third year in a row at the national championships. The players expect to be here, but they're still young. They don't totally expect to win quite yet. I get a sense that they want it, but I think if you really want to thirst for it, there must be more work involved to get to that level."
How important is chemistry to a golf team? Is it more important considering the multi-national makeup of this squad?
"We are a team, yet we're individuals. You can have one player playing great and the other having a bad day. But sometimes the one bad day by a player can affect the whole chemistry of the team that day. It's really important to teach them all that this is a team effort. I think chemistry is important. They need to learn how to respect one another. This is the most culturally diverse team I've ever had. I think it's an exciting opportunity. I'm learning more from them than I think they're learning from each other. Just by dealing with these disparate personalities, how I communicate with each one of them is very different. It's important for them as a team to come together and respect one another. We try to create an environment where there is a lot of team spirit. It's very real and necessary."
Your team has been one of the more successful ones for USC this athletic season. Do you feel added pressure to come through with a national title?
"I look at what tennis did this past week and look at track and field--and basketball, what an exciting year that was, even though we didn't get as far as we wanted--but I think we're so close. All the athletes at USC need to realize that there's a lot of work involved and a lot of sacrifice. They need to see what a great opportunity it is for all of them to come to a tremendous school with a lot of tradition and history, where athletics is really at the forefront. We've finished seventh the last couple of years. I want finish higher than that this year. I think we have a shot to win, but we're an underdog. If the putts fall this week, there's no telling what can happen. It's definitely a tough course and it's a long-ball hitter's course. Now we just have to believe in ourselves and then, wouldn't it be great if we can pull off a championship? But I'm more excited that our men's team made the nationals and now both men's and women's golf has a chance to compete for a title."
What kind of experience has it been with this year's team?
"There's been some tough moments, but this has by far been one of the best experiences I've had with my teams. The Pac-10s were a turning point, I think. We were in the middle of final exams and we went out the first day and shot even par and I thought that given all the pressure that they were under, it was really an awesome day. Then we had the setback with Mikaela at the end of the tournament (she was disqualified due to an incorrect scorecard). But we took the negative and made something out of it. We decided to go out and show what we're made of. So we came out to the NCAA West Regionals and played with a lot of dignity and a lot of heart. The first day was tough, but the girls just impressed the heck out of me on the second day. Candie shot the lowest round (65)in school history. Just to see that showed they had heart. I challenged them through out the year when we were having tough times. I wanted them to show me the scores we needed to shoot to make it to the nationals and also to contend at the nationals. And each time I presented that challenge to them, they rose to the occasion. It's been very exciting."
What is your team like? Have any of your players surprised you in any way this season?
"They all have. They've all grown in different ways. Leila Chartrand has shown tremendous leadership in her sophomore year. Linda Ishii was the team captain and it has been a great experience for her, because she's a little bit more shy and tends to back off a little. I figured Candie would come out and be a buzzsaw and just play. She's so easy to bring into any situation--she fits right in. Yon Yim is very quiet and we need to bring out more in her. She needs to stand in the mirror and say `I've got pride.' Nicole Dalkas has matured tremendously heading into her senior year, and is not having quite the spring she was hoping for but I think she'll refocus and be back strong next season. Then Mikaela Parmlid, there's a tiger. She's bold and very confident. This spring she has stepped up. As she matures, she'll be phenomenal."
How has recruiting gone?
"We have some good recruits coming in for next year. We've added Anna Lee from Hacienda Heights, and Anna Rawson from Adelaide, Australia. We expect for both of them to contribute immediately."
Anything more to say to Trojan fans out there?
"We hope that people are out there watching us. I hope they take a lot of pride in knowing that the Women of Troy are just a fine group of young women and delightful people to know. There is certainly an opportunity at our fundraisers to meet them. We've been very fortunate because the USC network is so vast and these women get the opportunity to meet the alumni and get into the Trojan Family. My hopes are that we see more fans out there. I know we travel a lot, but it'd be a lot of fun to see some of those people come out and watch us play. It is so exciting to watch collegiate golf. So come on out and watch! Watch us strut our stuff!"
