April 6, 2009
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - In between tournaments, junior Jamie Nonaka sat down with SantaClaraBroncos.com to talk about golf, her plans for the future, and what she does off the fairways. The Haleiwa, Hawaii native is tied for third in all-time career wins.
SantaClaraBroncos.com: How long have you been playing golf for?
Jamie Nonaka: It's coming on about 11 years now.
SCB: Who introduced you to the wonderful game of golf?
JN: My dad. One of his friends from work was teaching his kids to play, so they taught us all together.
SCB: Why did you decide to come to Santa Clara and play golf?
JN: I wanted to play golf, but I put academics first. So it worked out really well that Santa Clara was where I wanted to go academically, and then I got to walk on to the team.
SCB: Do you have any pre-round rituals?
JN: I listen to my iPod when we are warming up. Just to black out the other things like other people talking and anxiety and stuff.
SCB: Do you have a favorite club in your bag?
JN: I really like my 7-iron. It's just a solid club.
SCB: What do you like to eat when you are out on the course?
JN: I really like trail-mix with raisins and M&M's in it. Sometimes I just really need a boost when I'm out there and chocolate really does the trick.
SCB: If you could play golf with any three other people, who would they be? And where would you play?
JN: I would play with my mom, Tiger, and I'd let my mom choose the last one. It would be great if we could play Pebble Beach, just because of the history behind it and all the great tournaments that have been played there.
SCB: Do you have a favorite memory or moment playing golf?
JN: I made a hole-in-one during a practice round in one of our tournaments.
SCB: Do you play any other sports?
JN: I played tennis for awhile, and it was kind of between golf and tennis in middle school and I had to choose one. Sometimes I wonder how that would have turned out if I had chose tennis.
SCB: What do you want to do after you graduate from Santa Clara?
JN: I'm trying to get into Nike Golf. I'm a marketing major so I think working for them would just be a perfect fit.
SCB: What is your favorite home cooked meal?
JN: Anything that I can make from my parent's recipes at home. Schu yu chicken is definitely my favorite.
SCB: What is your favorite movie?
JN: I recently saw Slumdog Millionaire and that was really good, but I haven't waited long enough after I've seen it to really rank it up there yet. It has some potential.
SCB: One last question. If you were stranded on an island and could have three things, what would they be?
JN: My laptop, my dog, and a friend. An unfortunate friend to be stranded with me.
- - SantaClaraBroncos.com - -
