November 1, 2007
Starting out young
Big West notebook: UCI's Chawalitmetha has been golfing for a long time.
By JANIS CARR
The Orange County Register
What started out as babysitting turned into a putting contest between Patty Chawalitmetha and her grandfather.
But those afternoon sessions on the green quickly became a contest with her grandfather routinely beating her. But one day, Chawalitmetha beat him and hasn’t lost many sudden-death holes since.
Now, Chawalitmetha is beating golfers on the collegiate level. A sophomore at UC Irvine, Chawalitmetha recently medaled at the Lady Aztec Fall Classic in San Diego, shooting a 140 to win her first collegiate title by three strokes to help the Anteaters win the tournament.
She finished tied for 33rd at this week’s Kent Youel Invitational in Hawaii to help the team place 10th.
Not bad for someone who didn’t particularly like the sport the first time her grandfather handed her a club.
“It took me a while to get good because at first I didn’t like to play,” Chawalitmetha said. “I felt pressured to play.”
But then the winning started and soon Chawalitmetha was moving up the junior rankings. At Wilson High in Long Beach, she finished sixth at the 2005 CIF State Championship and was runner up at the CIF-Southern Section Eastern Divisional Championship.
Later that summer, Chawalitmetha placed sixth at the State Girls Golf Championship and tied for 17th at the 2006 U.S. Girls Junior Championship.
But her crowing moment came earlier this year when she tied for medalist honors at the Hill Crest Country Club and earned a berth into the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship in Carmel, Ind.
It also was one of her lowest moments.
Looking to improve her game, Chawalitmetha changed coaches in July, right before the Women’s Amateur, and in hindsight she said it wasn’t a good move. The timing was wrong and she failed to make the cut.
“I had been with my first coach for seven years and it was time to move on,” she said. “I wanted to try something new. But I think I waited too long to make that change so I wasn’t used to some of the changes my new coach (pro John Brown) put into my game when I went to the U.S. Amateur.”
Chawalitmetha has settled in with Brown and is looking to take her game to the next level. She would love nothing more than another shot at the Big West title (she placed second last year) and U.S. Women’s Amateur.
UCI MEN’S GOLF TEAM UP NEXT
The Irvine men’s team will follow the women to Hawaii next week, competing in the Turtle Bay Resort College Invitational that begins Monday in Oahu.
Sophomore John Chin finished fourth at the Anteaters’ last tournament, the Del Walker Intercollegiate, shooting a 4-under 209, while junior Sean Shai was seventh at 210. Freshman Bryan Harris placed 20th to help the team tie for fourth at the Virginia Country Club in Long Beach.
NCAA TICKETS ON SALE
College basketball season is barely underway but it’s not too early to start thinking about postseason.
More than 2,000 tickets still are available for the NCAA Tournament first and second round games at the Honda Center in Anaheim. The early rounds, hosted by the Big West Conference, will be played March 20 and 22.
A limit of eight tickets can be obtained at the Honda Center box office or online at www.hondacenter.com/ncaa.
For more information call 704-2500.
SIX TEAMS, FOUR SPOTS
A half-dozen teams will be playing for spots in the Big West postseason women’s soccer tournament on the final weekend of the season.
Only three teams have been eliminated from contention -- Pacific, Cal State Northridge and UC Davis, leaving Irvine, Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State, UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly and UC Riverside to battle it out.
Five of the teams can still potentially win or earn a share of the conference title. Cal Poly and Fullerton only need to win once to qualify for postseason as they are tied for first with 15 points.
MORE BRITISH ARE COMING
Lisa Sutton of England recently signed a letter of intent to play tennis at Long Beach State, joining three other British players on the 49ers’ roster.
Sutton, ranked as high as No. 3 in Britain, is the seventh British player to compete for Long Beach State since 2001. Currently on the team are fellow Brits Hannah Grady, a two-time Big West Player of the Year, Jessica Weeks and Deborah Armstrong.
LOOKING FOR DONATIONS
The Bob Wuesthoff Endowment Fund is seeking donations that will benefit its former baseball coach and meet its goal of $150,000. Wuesthoff, who coached the 49ers 1964-69, is battling Parkinson’s disease.
During his six seasons, the 49ers went 161-101-4 and won the California Collegiate Athletic Association title in 1964.
Those interested can contact Dave Benedict at 562-985-4662.
UCI TO FACE NEW TEAMS
UC Irvine’s baseball team, under first-year coach Mike Gillespie, opens the season at Nevada on Feb. 22, then travels to University of San Francisco for the first time the following weekend.
The Anteaters, coming off their first Division I College World Series appearance, also play at Tulane (March 7-9) – another new opponent - then play Hawaii in their home-opener.
Irvine plays more new opponents in three of its next four games – Florida International, Northern Colorado and Harvard.