Gonzaga sophs tee up with USGA

Athletes that make it to a national championship typically have a few weeks to prepare for the event. Such was the case for Gonzaga sophomore Victoria Fallgren, who qualified for the 34th annual U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links championship on June 3, 18 days before it began.

Fellow sophomore Genna Dodge, however, was selected for the event four days before the scheduled practice round.

Dodge originally qualified as an alternate by finishing third in the Tacoma, Wash., regional, from which only two golfers automatically advanced to the Public Links. She was selected for shooting one over par, a lower score than many automatic qualifiers from other states. It marked her first experience with a United States Golf Association (USGA) event.

"All the tee boxes are set up with signs that say ‘Welcome' and ‘You've Made It,'" Dodge said. "The whole atmosphere was exciting knowing you are in the top 150 of all the people that tried to qualify."

Fallgren was competing in her fourth USGA event, having played previously in the 2006 Junior Girls Championship and the 2007 and 2008 Public Links.

"The atmosphere was more laid back than some of the other USGA events I've played in," Fallgren said. "The practice rounds and the first few days of qualifying were very laid back because it's a bunch of friends and we haven't seen each other all winter. As the week progressed and the field got smaller, the tension definitely got higher."

The championship was held at the Warren Golf Course on the University of Notre Dame campus in South Bend, Ind. On the 6,092-yard, par 71 course, 64 players from the original field of 156 would make it through qualifying and onto the match play round.

Dodge shot an 82 and an 84 for a combined 166 in the qualifying rounds. Fallgren shot a 77 on the first qualifying day, leaving her tied for 80th place. On her first nine holes of the second day, Fallgren shot a 4-over par 40.

"My dad and I were walking down the first fairway, which was my 10th hole of the day, and I looked at him and said ‘If I can come in at two-under for the rest of the round I might have a fighting chance,'" Fallgren said. "I came in at one-under for the back nine and thought I was out."

That score turned out to be just enough, as Fallgren snuck under the cut of 152 by one stroke and qualified for match play. She had prior experience with match play in smaller tournaments, but nothing that compared to the big scale of a USGA event.

"It's still golf, but in another sense every hole feels like it could make or break you because to a certain point you can lose the hole and make it up on the next hole, yet it's still a lost hole," Fallgren said. "It's a lot more difficult on the nerves."

Fallgren came in seeded 55th and was matched up with 10th-seeded Tiffany Lua, of California. The golfers went back and forth over the first 13 holes, before Fallgren won the 14th, 15th and 17th to secure the match. On the second day of match play, she fell to 23 seed Joy Trotter after bogeying six of the last seven holes.

"It wasn't as challenging as some of the other USGA courses I've played, but it was a good test of golf," Fallgren said. "There were a couple of holes with a long approach and a couple of greens with challenging undulations."

Both golfers did not have the benefit of regular advice from Gonzaga women's golf head coach Brad Rickel.

"It was by far different from our college tournaments where we have a team base to come back to and talk about our day," Dodge said. "The first day I wasn't conservative enough with my tee shots, and normally that's what coach would help me with."

The championship was held for the first time at a college campus, yet for Dodge and Fallgren it hardly had the feel of a collegiate match.

"The USGA is up there with the LPGA as far as the quality of tournament they put on," Dodge said. "Many of [the other players] are big names from big schools like Oklahoma State and Georgia Tech, schools Gonzaga doesn't normally compete against."

"It was similar to past events in that the USGA treats you very well," Fallgren said. "For the junior girls event and for the first [amateur competition], looking back I wasn't ready and I was in over my head, and for this event I felt like I belonged there and that I could compete."