Strong "fresh" start

Freshman Laura Luethke stands out on new women's golf program

By Ryan Smith

Just surviving the first year of college is considered by most incoming freshmen as a success.

But for freshman golfer Laura Luethke, success means more than passing her classes and adjusting to a new campus.

For Luethke, success means winning her first college golf tournament two weeks ago in Colorado, earning the respect of her upperclassmen teammates, becoming an All-American and one day playing on the professional tour.

It sounds like a lot to accomplish for a true freshman, but for Luethke, she’s just getting started.

“Laura is a phenomenal player,” women’s golf coach Angie Cates said. “I knew she would come in and impress people right off the bat. I knew she would win early in the season but I didn’t know that it would be the first tournament.”

The women’s golf team played its first tournament of its inaugural season, two weeks ago in Colorado finishing in eighth place. But, it was Luethke who stole the spotlight.

Luethke shot a third-round 71 (-1) to finish the tournament at 213 (68-74-71), winning the tournament by two strokes.

“She’s got a great swing, a great golf game, her course management is excellent, we’re just trying to get her nerves in check for most tournaments,” Cates said. “She is in position to win so many times, that she is going to be nervous. Every time you have a chance to win, your’re going to be nervous.”
And no one could fault Luethke for being jittery.

Her domination of the women’s high school golf scene while at Buchanan High School propelled her into the recruiting limelight at the end of her senior year. After signing with the Bulldogs, Luethke knew the expectations were going to be high.

“I just don’t want to get ahead of myself,” Luethke said about all the attention she has received. “I was excited to win my first one, but that was [two weeks ago] and now we have a tournament today and three or four in October, so I just keep on looking to the next one and I can’t dwell on the last one.”

Another newcomer to the Bulldogs, Cates is also trying to live up to expectations. One of her first priorities as coach was to build a strong team, and one player key to the team’s foundation, Cates said, was Luethke.

“I knew we wanted to get Laura right away,” Cates said. “She’s local, she’s a great player, heavily recruited, we got into the game late on the recruiting side and we almost lost her.

“It was a very stressful time trying to get her to come here and we are just so fortunate that she is here because she is a huge key to this program’s success.”

While Luethke’s rising success has found her at the fore-front of the team, Cates said it hasn’t caused any resentment among the upperclassmen.

“I don’t think it bothers them—they knew coming in that Laura was probably going to be the No. 1 player on the team,” Cates said. “They know she is a good player and they really feed off her success. They want her to win every tournament and they’re there to support her. There are no hard feelings at all.”

In the end, Luethke said her decision to go with Fresno State was based solely on her trust in Cates and her father, Ed, a former All-American at Fresno State and golf instructor at Fresno’s Riverside Golf Course.

“I really like Angie and I can work with my dad here,” Luethke said. “He helps me with my swing and I just felt the most comfortable here.”

One person vital to Laura’s success is her father, who has been by her side since she hit her first golf ball when she was about 10 years old.

“He took me out to the driving range and it was just something to get me out of the house, I think,” Laura said. “My dad owned a driving range in Madera and I would just go out there with him in the morning and we would stay there until closing and I would just hit balls.”

Laura said it wasn’t until she started playing in tournaments three years later that she realized she wanted to play more seriously.

Laura’s father said, though, that he thinks it wasn’t until she tried out for the junior high school golf team—an all boys team—that her desire to play became more serious.

“I think she really started to get serious when she tried out for the junior high team, which was an all boys team,” Ed said. “When she did that and made the team, that is when she really got started.”
Ed’s support didn’t stop there, though.

Throughout Laura’s golf career, Ed has not only shared his technical expertise with his daughter, but his moral support as well.

Laura attributed some of the success of her last tournament to advice her dad gave her before she played that week, as well as advice he gave her on how to deal with success.

“He kind of gave me motivation before the tournament,” Laura said. “He didn’t want me to be intimidated just because it was my first college tournament. He doesn’t want me getting too caught up in the fact that I won my first college tournament.

“He made me realize there are so many more tournaments this year. You can’t really look back too much and to just keep on working—but I was glad that I accomplished what I did.”

While Laura tries to remain humble about her success thus far, Cates isn’t afraid to express her predictions about Laura’s future.

“She is going to have a really great college career,” Cates said. “She started out with a bang, winning her first college tournament, and I know there are going to be so many wins to come and Laura handles pressure really well. We’re shooting for an All-American for her this year.”

Cates went one step further in her predictions about Laura’s future, a prediction that Laura has been working toward each time she picks up a golf club, which is a career in professional golf.

“She is going to graduate first,” Cates said. “But I really think she’ll turn pro after she graduates.”