A Worldwide Success
9/20/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
Sept. 20, 2006
EAST LANSING, Mich. - As golfers move forward in their careers, the stage they perform on grows larger and the level of competition grows with it. Many are able to succeed on the local and regional stage, but the number of golfers that are able to achieve that same level of success on the national and world stage is significantly smaller. Michigan State junior Sara Brown has proven she has the game to compete on each and every one of those stages.
In her two seasons at Michigan State, Brown has competed in every single tournament that the Spartans have entered. While being a lineup regular was an impressive feat for a freshman, the Tucson, Ariz., native was far from satisfied, providing motivation for her sophomore campaign.
"I think I just played so poorly my freshman year and I was tired of everyone telling me `Great job, you had a great freshman year," Brown said. "I appreciated that people thought I did great, but I knew it wasn't up to my standards. I think freshman year was a stepping stone for how I'm supposed to get things done in the years to come."
Brown's 2005-06 season will go down as one of the best individual seasons in the history of Spartan golf. She broke All-American Emily Bastel's single-season scoring record with a 74.18 average and had five top-10 finishes, including a runner-up finish at the Big Ten Championships. Despite the significant improvement and enormous success, Brown still is looking to improve areas of her game.
"One thing I need to get better at is finishing strong," Brown said. "For me, the last round always seems to be my highest."
Midway through the 2005-06 season, Brown received the news that she had selected to represent the United States at the 2006 World University Games in Torino, Italy.
"Last year at the Hooters Match Play, Jordyn Wells and I were staying in a room together when Coach (Head Coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll) rushed in and told me that I was selected for Team USA," Brown recalls. "At the time I really had no idea what the event was, but I was honored that I was going to play for my country."
As Brown's sophomore season closed at MSU, she turned her attention to summer events and continued to impress. Her summer included advancing all the way to the semifinals of the US Women's Public Links and finishing as low amateur at the Michigan PGA Women's Open. For Brown, the summer provides an opportunity to analyze her golf game from an individual standpoint.
"I think that your summer experience helps a lot because you are able to reflect on your game," she explained. "You worry about your game, without worrying about other teams, and you get your game in tune."
After returning to East Lansing for the beginning of the 2006 fall semester, Brown left for Italy to compete for the United States, Sept. 6-9. The World University Games gave Brown and her fellow athletes a chance to get a taste of the Olympic experience.
"They had the opening ceremonies in Torino's streets," she said. "We came out of a building, down a street and there was a parade right in front of us. There were police there and people on the side of the street watching."
While the United States sent five players to represent the country, only three of the players would be a part of the team competition while the other two would compete as individuals. To determine the three, the US players had two rounds of qualifying. Brown entered the week with the goal of being one of the Americans playing for the team title.
"I didn't go there to play as an individual, I wanted to be part of the team," Brown said.
Brown, along with Arkansas' Stacy Lewis and UC-Irvine's Selannee Henderson, qualified for the team competition. Their solid play carried over to the tournament as the United States captured the team championship, defeating second-place Japan by two shots. Brown individually had an exceptional weekend, finishing fifth overall with a four-round total of 5-over-par 293 (71-77-71-74). The only American to perform better than Brown was Lewis, who captured medalist honors at two-under-par 286.
Brown is the fifth MSU golfer to represent the United States in the World University Games, and the first since Sarah Martin in 2004. Brown joins Lisa Marino, who helped Team USA capture victory in 1987, as the only Spartans to be part of the winning squad.
One week after capturing a victory for her country, Brown returned to East Lansing and helped her school open the 2006-07 season with a victory. In its lone home event of the fall, Michigan State won the Lady Northern Invitational by a nine-shot margin over second place Northwestern, Sept. 16-17. Individually, Brown finished tied for fifth place, giving her four top-five finishes and eight top-10 finishes overall.
With slightly less than two seasons remaining in her collegiate experience, Brown's golf career is still in its infancy. Brown has made it very clear that she intends to join Bonnie Lauer, Barb Mucha and Emily Bastel as Michigan State golfers to have made the LPGA Tour. One can only imagine she'll continue her success when she arrives on golf's greatest stage.
Players Mentioned
