by Craig Morgan, theSunDevils.com writer
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Way back in March, Sun Devil golfer Olivia Mehaffey made a bold proclamation.
"I would never hesitate to say we can win a national championship," the Belfast, Northern Ireland native said.
Maybe it was the innocence of a freshman talking. Maybe it was the knowledge that the Sun Devil women's golf team had three players among the top-15 in the women's world amateur rankings, a boast no other collegiate team could make, and a reality that pinned the preseason favorite bulls eye squarely on the Devils' backs.
Maybe it was just her fearless spirit talking, the one that led Mehaffey to request the leadoff spot in ASU's lineup for match play at the NCAA Championship at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Illinois this week.
Whatever the source, the Sun Devils walked the talk, turning Mehaffey into a prophet.
ASU's NCAA-leading eighth national title was remarkable in its own right, given the withering championship format, the way the Sun Devils rallied in the semifinals against Stanford and then dominated Northwestern in the final -- in the Wildcats' home state, no less.
The achievement is downright jaw dropping when viewed in the bigger picture of ASU's May performance.
The Sun Devils won the NCAA Lubbock Regional by a whopping 21 strokes, senior Monica Vaughn won both the Regional and NCAA individual titles, and the Devils capped the month with the school's 24th overall NCAA national championship in a rain-delayed, darkness-delayed format that lasted a week.
"On the set of the Golf Channel [Wednesday] night, I looked around at the girls and I said 'am I dreaming? Did we really do this?'" said coach Missy Farr-Kaye as a large crowd greeted the team upon its return to ASU Karsten Golf Course on Thursday. "This has been our goal, we've been talking about it, we've been working towards it, we've been training for it.
"It's such an exhausting and emotional week and then to walk into this response is phenomenal."
By now, you likely know the particulars of ASU's improbable rally. Stanford already had two matches in the bank in the semifinals and Cardinal freshman Albane Valenzuela was 1 up on Vaughn in the fairway on the par-5 18th hole when ASU elected to halt play due to darkness.
"Stanford wanted to play and Mo was going to hit a 230-yard shot off of a tight lie over a tree and we can't even see the green," Farr-Kaye said. "Mo was struggling in her match when she came back out after the break. She was just tired. It's too much of a letdown. Your adrenaline drops and it's really hard to pull yourself up again for the third time.
"We had the option to stop and I said 'let's come back. There's too much at stake.' It worked in our favor. We came back fresh, with a good night's sleep and we were ready to roll."
Vaughn got things rolling with that aforementioned 3-wood shot from the fairway.
"She just nuked that shot and then almost holed out," Farr-Kaye said.
Vaughn eventually won her match in extra holes, but her rally also put a charge in sophomore Linnea Strom, who was playing in her favorite position in the anchor match, but was two down after 11 holes. Strom shaved one stroke off on No. 12, pulled even on No. 16, and had to make a 7-foot par putt on the 18th hole to extend the match and win it.
"In my final match, the first nine I played OK," Strom said. "Then when she made [a birdie], something woke up in my brain and I just got going. I kind of need something like that so that's why I want to have that last position. That's when I play my best golf. I can't explain it. It's not a feeling I can force."
Former Sun Devil coach Linda Vollstedt, who led ASU to six national titles and coached Farr-Kaye and assistant coach Michelle Estill, was watching the match at home with her iPad and laptop open, her phone nearby for texting and her TV on full volume.
"That was one of the most remarkable comebacks in any sport I have ever seen," she said. "To see players that you have coached turn into coaches and be so successful coaching the team and bring another national championship home -- there's nothing like it. Quite frankly, this is better than any of the national championships that we won when I was coaching. It's just heart warming."
In his address to the throng of media members in attendance at Karsten, Vice President for University Athletics Ray Anderson delved into the past to tell a story of Farr-Kaye's job interview in 2015. In that interview, Farr-Kaye pulled out a photo of her great grandmother's diploma from the Tempe Normal School, dated 1899.
"That was part of her telling me the family legacy and why this [job] was hers and no one else's," Anderson said to laughter. "No one has that family tie to ASU like you have. I'm telling you, that was it. We knew we had absolutely had the right person to lead us."
While Anderson was looking to the past, and Thursday's crowd was focused on the present, Mehaffey was already looking to the Devils' bright future.
"Coach K and I were on the plane talking about next year," she said. "We lose Mo and that's hard because she's a true leader, she's amazing and she's the national champion, but we've got a great group of recruits coming in, we've got an incredible girl coming in from Spain and we still have four girls who won a national championship.
"We're confident. I have no doubt in saying we can win this again for sure. We can win this for four straight years."
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Way back in March, Sun Devil golfer Olivia Mehaffey made a bold proclamation.
"I would never hesitate to say we can win a national championship," the Belfast, Northern Ireland native said.
Maybe it was the innocence of a freshman talking. Maybe it was the knowledge that the Sun Devil women's golf team had three players among the top-15 in the women's world amateur rankings, a boast no other collegiate team could make, and a reality that pinned the preseason favorite bulls eye squarely on the Devils' backs.
Maybe it was just her fearless spirit talking, the one that led Mehaffey to request the leadoff spot in ASU's lineup for match play at the NCAA Championship at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Illinois this week.
Whatever the source, the Sun Devils walked the talk, turning Mehaffey into a prophet.
ASU's NCAA-leading eighth national title was remarkable in its own right, given the withering championship format, the way the Sun Devils rallied in the semifinals against Stanford and then dominated Northwestern in the final -- in the Wildcats' home state, no less.
The achievement is downright jaw dropping when viewed in the bigger picture of ASU's May performance.
The Sun Devils won the NCAA Lubbock Regional by a whopping 21 strokes, senior Monica Vaughn won both the Regional and NCAA individual titles, and the Devils capped the month with the school's 24th overall NCAA national championship in a rain-delayed, darkness-delayed format that lasted a week.
"On the set of the Golf Channel [Wednesday] night, I looked around at the girls and I said 'am I dreaming? Did we really do this?'" said coach Missy Farr-Kaye as a large crowd greeted the team upon its return to ASU Karsten Golf Course on Thursday. "This has been our goal, we've been talking about it, we've been working towards it, we've been training for it.
"It's such an exhausting and emotional week and then to walk into this response is phenomenal."
By now, you likely know the particulars of ASU's improbable rally. Stanford already had two matches in the bank in the semifinals and Cardinal freshman Albane Valenzuela was 1 up on Vaughn in the fairway on the par-5 18th hole when ASU elected to halt play due to darkness.
"Stanford wanted to play and Mo was going to hit a 230-yard shot off of a tight lie over a tree and we can't even see the green," Farr-Kaye said. "Mo was struggling in her match when she came back out after the break. She was just tired. It's too much of a letdown. Your adrenaline drops and it's really hard to pull yourself up again for the third time.
"We had the option to stop and I said 'let's come back. There's too much at stake.' It worked in our favor. We came back fresh, with a good night's sleep and we were ready to roll."
Vaughn got things rolling with that aforementioned 3-wood shot from the fairway.
"She just nuked that shot and then almost holed out," Farr-Kaye said.
Vaughn eventually won her match in extra holes, but her rally also put a charge in sophomore Linnea Strom, who was playing in her favorite position in the anchor match, but was two down after 11 holes. Strom shaved one stroke off on No. 12, pulled even on No. 16, and had to make a 7-foot par putt on the 18th hole to extend the match and win it.
"In my final match, the first nine I played OK," Strom said. "Then when she made [a birdie], something woke up in my brain and I just got going. I kind of need something like that so that's why I want to have that last position. That's when I play my best golf. I can't explain it. It's not a feeling I can force."
Former Sun Devil coach Linda Vollstedt, who led ASU to six national titles and coached Farr-Kaye and assistant coach Michelle Estill, was watching the match at home with her iPad and laptop open, her phone nearby for texting and her TV on full volume.
"That was one of the most remarkable comebacks in any sport I have ever seen," she said. "To see players that you have coached turn into coaches and be so successful coaching the team and bring another national championship home -- there's nothing like it. Quite frankly, this is better than any of the national championships that we won when I was coaching. It's just heart warming."
In his address to the throng of media members in attendance at Karsten, Vice President for University Athletics Ray Anderson delved into the past to tell a story of Farr-Kaye's job interview in 2015. In that interview, Farr-Kaye pulled out a photo of her great grandmother's diploma from the Tempe Normal School, dated 1899.
"That was part of her telling me the family legacy and why this [job] was hers and no one else's," Anderson said to laughter. "No one has that family tie to ASU like you have. I'm telling you, that was it. We knew we had absolutely had the right person to lead us."
While Anderson was looking to the past, and Thursday's crowd was focused on the present, Mehaffey was already looking to the Devils' bright future.
"Coach K and I were on the plane talking about next year," she said. "We lose Mo and that's hard because she's a true leader, she's amazing and she's the national champion, but we've got a great group of recruits coming in, we've got an incredible girl coming in from Spain and we still have four girls who won a national championship.
"We're confident. I have no doubt in saying we can win this again for sure. We can win this for four straight years."