NCAA Championships - Albuquerque Regional Central
SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Kristin Le might be the only Santa Clara women's golfer headed to the NCAA Championships, but she'll have plenty of support when she tees off Monday at the Albuquerque, New Mexico, regional.
Not only will head coach Krystal Kelly, who brings experience playing in the NCAA Championships, join the junior but also two members of her family will be in attendance.
Le, just the second-ever Bronco to reach nationals, grew up in Honolulu, Hawai'i, more than 3,000 miles from the University of New Mexico Championship Course where 18 teams and six individuals will seek to advance to the NCAA Championships, which will be held May 19-24 at Rich Harvest Farms, in Sugar Grove, Illinois.
Despite the distance, Le's father, Lam, joined by her brother, Eric, will make the trek to New Mexico for the 54-hole tournament, which features one round per day and concludes Wednesday.
"It actually worked out really well that my dad would be in the mainland for some meeting, so he's actually coming and so is my brother, so I'm really excited to at least have a little bit of a little bit of comfort on the road," Le said.
Albuquerque, like the other three regionals, will be extremely competitive. From each regional, only six teams and three individuals not from one of the advancing schools will reach the finals.
Kelly, in her sixth full season as head coach, was a member of the 2004 UCLA Bruins squad that won the NCAA title.
"She told me just prepare and think of it as just any other tournament," Le said. "She knows from experience and from seeing other people. It's a higher level and everything, but just treating it like any other tournament and preparing that way I think has helped me prepare better and feel more relaxed going into it."
Le is trying build off an impressive season, which concluded with a seventh-place showing at last month's West Coast Conference Championships, earning the second first-team all-league honor of her career.
Despite possessing the second-best scoring average (74.34) in school history, there is always room for improvement.
"Definitely putting, just being more confident and committing to whatever line I choose and not worrying about if it makes it," Le said of working on her game. "And also my driver, making sure that's hitting it where I want to go because that's really important to set you up for the next few shots."
She is no stranger to the venue having played in the 2013 Girls Junior American Cup, held on the par-72, 6,637-yard course.
"Actually me and my teammate, Isabella Salant, played that one, and so I have seen the course before," Le said. "I'm excited to go back and give it another go."
For the second-straight tournament, altitude comes into play.
The WCC Championships was played in Provo, Utah, which is about 4,500 feet above sea level. Albuquerque is roughly 800 feet higher.
"We saw it in Utah for sure, because they lengthen the course, so normally our courses are like 6,100 yards maybe 6,200, but in Utah and in this one it's 6,500 and 6600," Le said. "I definitely have seen a gain in distance with all my clubs except for like my wedges, so you have to take that into account."
She is joining select company. Miki Ueoka is the only other Bronco to reach the NCAA regional. Ueoka, as a sophomore, advanced to the 2009 NCAA Championships, playing in the Tempe, Arizona, regional.
Le will play a practice round Sunday, but not much has changed in her preparation.
"We've had the same type of practice as normal team practice, just without my teammates," Le said.
Without her teammates, Le will look to Kelly and her family for encouragement at the regional.
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