USC's Fab Four Savor Post-Season Trek
May 26, 2002 | Women's Golf
May 26, 2002
BY LISA ANTONUCCI, SPECIAL TO GOLFWEEK Auburn, Wash.
Teeing it up in the NCAA Division I Women's Championship is a daunting prospect for any team, no matter what the circumstances. The words "national championship" can cause young women to grip the club a little tighter, swing a little faster and face nerves they never knew existed. That's why it's great to have five players in the lineup -- so a team can happily throw out the day's highest score.
But what happens when a team doesn't have the luxury of a fifth player's score?
Just ask the Southern California Trojans. They have been playing their post-season schedule with a distinct disadvantage. Despite missing a fifth team member, the foursome of juniors Mikaela Parmlid, Becky Lucidi, Yon Yim and sophomore Anna Rawson have carried the Southern California banner right to this week's national championship at Washington National Golf Club.
All four players had to count all four scores through three rounds at the West Regional two weeks ago, securing the last qualifying spot for nationals by four shots. This week, the quartet stands tied for 15th through three rounds in Washington. Despite how far from first this team finishes, its success is already firmly engraved in the players' hearts and minds.
"This has been a really special season," said coach Andrea Gaston, now in her seventh year at Southern Cal. "It would be great to be a team that is a contender here. It's something all of us would love. But all of us love this, too."
Sitting around a patio table munching on cheeseburgers, this unlikely circle of teammates smile warmly at each other and speak openly about the experiences that have bonded them together this season. Their similar dress of khaki shorts and yellow sweatshirts masks the vast differences between them, beginning with their nationalities.
Parmlid hails from Gothenburg, Sweden; Yim has her roots in Korea. Rawson has come all the way from Adelaide, Australia, while Lucidi -- the lone American -- is from San Diego, Calif. Even their missing link -- phantom fifth player Leila Chartrand -- is a foreigner from Victoria, British Columbia in Canada.
Speaking of the "missing link," there has been more than one kink in the Southern Cal chain this season. Sophomore Anna Lee, who played tournaments for the Trojans this year, left the team in February for personal reasons. Chartrand, the team's only senior, missed all of the fall and most of the spring because of pain caused by chronic sciatica. She returned to action in April and played three events before pulling herself from the lineup two days before the team left for regionals.
That development did little to deter the Trojan Four, who were making plans as if they had their tickets to nationals already in hand.
"There was no question they were going to nationals," Gaston said.
That is, until the last round at Pac-10s when they started the day in ninth place and had to fight their way into the top eight. They described that final day, when they shot 292, as a "huddle moment."
"It was such a great feeling that day to make it as a team," said 10th-ranked Parmlid, who would have likely qualified as an individual otherwise. "It's really been the four of us all year, and I wanted it to be the four of us going to nationals. That has been our goal all year and to live up to that goal really sparks our confidence."
The team talks a lot about their terrific chemistry, although it's something that did not come easily. The players point to their week at San Jose State in March as a turning point, when they had adjoining hotel rooms and never closed the door. But Gaston marks one long day in February as the real turn around. That's when she gathered her players for a five-hour team building session.
"There were some breakdowns," she said of the intense meeting, "but there were also breakthroughs."
Those breakthroughs resulted in a team that doesn't see adversity, but rather opportunity. With growing trust in each other and diminished room for error, players latched onto their new-found confidence.
"I found myself getting mentally stronger because I knew my score was going to count," Yim said. "At first I was getting frustrated but then I started playing better."
Rawson described the fact they are at nationals as a foursome "like it's meant to be." While they could have filled out their roster with a fifth player from their walk-on list, the players felt confident on their own. "Besides, we get more attention from coach," Rawson said.
"Most teams consist of five players," Lucidi said, "but our best team really consists of four."
Highlights from the spring season include many a social occasion -- post-round dinners and late-night talks. They say what they'll remember most from this year isn't a single event, but simply "each other's company." In that vein, they already have plans to visit each other during the upcoming break. Rawson is heading to Sweden while Lucidi wants to visit Australia and Korea.
For Gaston, what she'll take away from Washington may be less tangible, but just as meaningful.
"Looking at the four of them," said Gaston, surveying the faces around the table, "I feel pride. To have the opportunity to work with four courageous young ladies who have risen above the situation, and to have the opportunity to be here -- that's what I'll always remember."
