Head Coach Myra Blackwelder spoke to the media Monday reviewing her team’s recent rise in the national rankings, and previewing this week’s upcoming home tournament.
Kentucky hosts the annual Lady Wildcat Fall Invitational, Sept. 29-Oct. 1. The field features five teams ranked in the top 50 of the country, including the host Wildcats at #23.
Press Conference Quotes Myra Blackwelder
Opening statement?
?I?m thrilled with our start. We started out at the close of last season ranked 156th in the nation. I think we moved up to 118 by the preseason rankings. After the first event they (Golfweek) moved us up to 31st, and then after this past weekend, although we didn?t play, they moved us up to 23rd. The first day we started out, the girls shot a +2 at the Vanderbilt Tournament, which was a great start for us. Twelve of the top 13 teams in the country were at that event, with UCLA winning, shooting -13 under par. Basically it was a mini-NCAA tournament, and at the end of the first day, our girls found themselves tied for seventh, so we were tremendously excited. The girls are really trying to work on improving their personal weak points. We are hosting an event this weekend at the University Club, and in that event, the one thing that we wanted to work on was to strengthen our field. So we?re really excited that we have five SEC schools as well as several Florida schools in what is a very big field.?
On why the team has improved so much?
?Golf is the kind of sport with five girls on the course at once, but it?s still an individual game. What we?re trying to do here at UK, having watched team golf from a parent?s viewpoint, there were some strong ideas I had that I saw were going on which made it difficult to succeed. We want to really personalize everything we do towards each individual, rather than coach in what I like to call a herd mentality. Rather than having all the girls work on their putting or on driving the ball, we?re keeping really detailed statistics on each player before sitting down and figuring out how to make that girl better. The girls are really responding very well to that idea. For example, all three of the girls that were returning players from last year were here over the summer for summer school, so we started attacking their swing issues. All three of those girls have really retooled their swings in the last four months, which they?ve really been good about doing. So those changes are really starting to take hold.?
On increasing interest in high school golf around the state?
?I?ve thought a lot about that since I?ve been here. During the last 15 years, I?ve worked a lot with high school players, so I kind of understand how to work with them. If we are able to be in a position at UK to keep our best players from our home state here, than we can compete with any school. There?s no doubt that I really want to engage with high schools around the state. I?m really trying to plan some satellite camps to broadcast around the state here from UK, which is hopefully something that we can do after this season and into the future.?
On coaching her daughter Mallory?
?It?s been great. Mallory really likes UK a lot and has adapted really well. Our team chemistry is great. We?ve got two young players from Sweden and one from Florida, and each new player has meshed well with the returning players. Basically when we practice, Mallory?s out there with everyone else. Luckily for us, I obviously worked with her in the past, so she?s kind of on auto-pilot right now, which gives me some time to focus on some of the other players. But obviously if she were to get into a swing problem, than I?m going to work with her just as I would any other girl and help her deal with it. My philosophy is that if a golfer is playing well and hitting on all cylinders, than you just try to keep them rolling.?
