A five-star script

Winning the NAIA championship on its home course this week would be a perfect ending for talented Cal State San Marcos women's team

By Tod Leonard
Staff Writer

May 15, 2007
Jennell French didn't mind the assumption made by her friends and supporters, as long as she was able to offer a quick and firm rebuttal.

A senior on the Cal State San Marcos women's golf team, French is in her final college season, and just about everybody the Oceanside native talked to figured she wanted to call it a career during the NAIA National Championship at some exotic locale.

They'd try to commiserate when they discovered she'd be traveling all of a couple of miles from the campus to the Cougars' home course, Lake San Marcos Country Club.

French waved off the pity party.

“To sleep in my own bed, to see my family and friends, I wouldn't have it any other way,” French said cheerfully. “I wouldn't want it anywhere else.”

Certainly not in South Bend, Ind., where the last two nationals were contested.
“Last year it was horrible there,” French said. “We had a storm delay where we didn't see any clouds and then 30 minutes later there was lightning and rain! Not the ideal golf situation.”

Playing on your home course is, especially for the Cougars, who may have their strongest team ever and are coming off a second straight Region II title.
“We can play Lake San Marcos in our sleep,” French said with a laugh.

It is a badge of courage, of perseverance that French has come this far, and to play at home for a national championship, beginning today, is something French views as a just reward.

French, who turns 22 tomorrow, has won four tournament titles in her career, including a school-record three this season, but it has been a stay that has included some heartache.

Just before last season, Cougars head coach Fred Hanover was suspended by the university amid allegations of ethical misconduct. The team seemed on the brink of disintegration, although it would go on to win the Region II title. French, dismayed by Hanover's absence and what she said was poor treatment of the team by the university's administration, said she considered transferring.

Then Hanover was reinstated before this season after winning an arbitration case.

“This year has been a great year, getting Fred back,” French said. “He has had a lot to do with my success on the course.

“To get fourth in nationals last year, I thought was horrible,” she added. “We were in second place after the second day and should've gotten second. I didn't think it was a productive year, and personally my game was horrible. I want to be on the Futures Tour and I wasn't getting any attention to further my career.”

French refers often to the Cougars as “my team,” and she has clearly been a hard-working role model. Hanover lauds her for getting a degree in four years, and he said she is so meticulous in her time-management that she plans her free time in writing.
“A lot of adults I know can't do that,” he said.
It is an ethic adopted by seemingly all members of the team, including the national starting five: French, senior Christina Austin, juniors Kate Hansen and Carly Ludwig and sophomore Ellyse Siu, who tied French for medalist honors in the Region finals.

“That's what makes me so proud of this group,” said Hanover, who also coaches the men's team, along with Cory Scoggin. “The guys are always looking for a shortcut, and that's normal for 18-to 22-year-old guys. What the women have done ... I may not have another group like this for quite some time.”

No one has showed more grit than Hansen, who transferred this season from Moorpark College. Hansen didn't start playing golf until her freshman year in high school, but she had worked herself into having mid-70s potential. Then she got off to an awful start as a Cougar, and her confidence was so tattered that she shot 100 at the Vineyard in a spring team qualifying round.

“Rock bottom,” said Hansen, who was so mortified she considered quitting.
“It was clear that I completely choked during that qualifying round and something needed to change,” Hansen added.

Hansen sought out a sports psychologist, Erica Howard, who helped her eliminate her numerous negative swing thoughts while setting goals.

Incredibly, just weeks later, Hansen shot 76-77 while playing near her home in the Northridge Invitational – and won the tournament.

It may have been a life-changing experience.

“It kind of opened my eyes to what I can do,” Hansen, 20, said. “I have capabilities I didn't realize I had. Instead of being close-minded, I'm like, 'Wow, if I can do this, look how many doors I can open.'”

Can French or another Cougar pull off the same feat near home?

French's laughing exaggeration about playing in their sleep aside, the Cougars are an underdog on their home turf. Oklahoma City has won the last two NAIA titles and beaten CSUSM by 75 shots.

While acknowledging a certain home-course advantage, Hanover cautioned, “A golf tournament is such an unpredictable event, to say who's going to win or place at a certain level is foolhardy.”

French, not surprisingly, was far more lively in her prediction.

“There's no reason we can't go head-to-head with them (Oklahoma City),” French said. “They are not guaranteed a win. We didn't have as strong a team last year. This year, it's going to be straight up. We're going to make them run for it if they want it.”