Chapman’s women's golf team has set itself up this year to reach heights that have not been attainable in the past. 

Head coach Ming Lao emphasizes the expectations he has for his athletes. Even with being an NCAA Division III golf team, Lao navigates the world of academics and athletics in such a way that allows his players to find success in both departments. He sent the five best players he had to their first tournament of the season at Olivas Links in Ventura on Sept. 11 and 12, including two freshmen who rose up to the occasion. 

“The new scoring and ranking systems are super biased towards head-to-head,” Lao said. “The win-loss against particular opponents is super critical. In terms of beating Redlands, we have lost to them twice, and that hurts. But, we have beaten other schools in our conference. By far, this is the best women's conference in (Division) III, hands down.”

Lao has set his hopes high for Emily Cho, a junior broadcast journalism and documentary major who is currently co-captain of the women's golf team. 

“That girl is a wonder kid,” Lao said. “She leads by example. She works hard. She is always up. Rarely do I see her down. At the end of all this, it is still a game, and playing college sports is really a privilege.”

During the team’s recent tournament at Olivas Links, Cho added a 155 to their 602 total. At the end of each hole, the golfer with the lowest score wins the hole for their team, earning a point. Each hole will be rallied up by the lowest score from each team member and that will be the overall score for that team.

“All of us shot pretty mediocre, and we still got fourth. Our hopes are high for this year, hopefully beating Redlands and having a chance to go to nationals, which is something we didn't consider last year,” Cho said. “Last year, we had no chance. I think we were six out of eight teams.” 

Inspired by Sharpay Evans’ golf swing in “High School Musical” Cho gives credit to the Disney movie for inspiring her to take on golfing. Cho started getting more competitive and taking the sport more seriously in high school. Cho explained that her high school career differs from playing at Chapman, saying that her high school coach had never played golf which differs greatly from Lao’s success as a NCAA Division I former athlete at Long Beach State College.

“I would not be playing college golf if it weren't for (Lao). He’s very chill compared to other college coaches. Something rare he does that other colleges don’t do is that he doesn’t mandate practices,” Cho told The Panther. “You make the practices around your schedule because golf is a very individual sport, and you don’t need the whole team there while you practice.”

Lao stated that as a Division III school, athletes usually only practice an hour and a half a day. He goes on to explain that it would be counterintuitive to the academic and athletic ratio of a DIII school to mandate practices.

“To build a schedule around a very short fall season is super (counterintuitive) to our student-athletes, so the scheduled practices are available to athletes, but we meet them individually. I think that is very productive,” Lao said.

The Panther had the opportunity to speak with Kaila Higgins, a recent transfer who initially came to Chapman as a freshman in 2020, where she took her expertise to represent Chapman at the national level. 

“We can be individually selected, say we didn’t do well as a team, but Higgins played well,” Lao said. “Our team didn’t do well, but she stood out, and the committee selected her to go to Michigan for the National Championships her freshman year.”

Higgins transferred out of Chapman during her sophomore year to experience a Division II school at Cal State San Marcos, but she realized that the demands of additional practices put on by a Division II school were not what she was looking for. She then asked to transfer back to Chapman during her junior year. 

“I think if we do increase our rankings in front of Redlands, we have a really good shot at Nationals this year,” Higgins said. “That is something we are striving for as a team. We haven’t been to Nationals as a team before. If we had the chance to go as a team, that would be amazing.”

Higgens praised Lao for his expertise. 

“He has a lot of knowledge about the golf swing. Whatever you want to get out of it, he will be there for you, or if you want to chill, he matches your level of intensity,” Higgins told The Panther.

Nationals are set to take place from May 17 to May 24, giving the team about seven months to prepare.