Aug. 23, 2016
2015 Fall Sports Media Day
Women's Golf
Head Coach Denise St. Pierre & Sophomore Lauren Waller
August 23, 2015
Opening Statement
Denise St. Pierre: Thanks everyone for being here today. Yesterday was out season opening meeting and we are ready to get out 2016-17 season on its way. I am very excited about our fall schedule; right out of the blocks we have an East-West match play type tournament at Michigan. I haven't been there in a few years and I am excited to take my team to another Big Ten site and it is a match play event. We play stroke play a lot, but this is an opportunity for us to get some experience in the match play format, which is the direction we have gone with our NCAA Championship. That will be an important event for us. Then we host our home invitational, which is important when you only get to host one home event each year. Wade hope to pump up the attention and get some local support behind us. It's always great to compete on your home course. Then, we round out the fall with two highly-competitive fields at the Cougar Classic and Landfall Tradition. The Cougar Classic is hosted by College of Charleston and the Landfall Tradition is hosted by the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. Both of those events have a long tradition of very strong fields, so it enables us get started and see where the bar is set and see where we sit with the best teams in the country.
Q: What do you prefer, stroke play or match play?
Lauren Waller: I play stroke play most of the time, so I am more used to stroke play, but I really like match play. I like how it is you against one other competitor. Anyone can take a hole at any given time, and it can come down to the last few holes. Personally, it brings out the competitor in me and I really prefer that.
Q: You have a very young team, what are you looking for during the first four tournaments this year?
DSP: It is a young team on paper, but I will say I have four returning sophomores and three of them were in my starting team last season. That group gained some great experience last season. So, even though we appear to be young on paper, we have a lot of talent and a lot of experience playing competitively. We are also excited about the three freshmen that are joining our program this year. I think any of the three of them can challenge for a starting spot. Those are all exciting things to look forward to and in a lot of ways, my youngest teams have been my best teams, so I am really excited.
What are some of the advantages/disadvantages of having a young team?
DSP: The advantage is that sometimes you are not penalized for what you don't know, and sometimes what you don't know is good. When you are young you maybe haven't experienced all of the baggage. Some of my seniors are hitting the grind. They are worrying about what am I going to do after college ââ'¬" I have to get a job, can I find an internship, and sometimes there is a lot more added to the mix that they have to juggle. My younger players are always so excited to be here and get started, and they hopefully feel ready. I had my team fill out some stuff for me yesterday ââ'¬" some questions about golf and about them ââ'¬" and one of the questions is about their favorite book. Many of their responses were Harry Potter, so I am going to call this my magical Harry Potter team, because that is the generation I am coaching now. I am excited, because I think we have a really strong nucleus of players right now and the sky is the limit.
Q: You had two women's in the U.S. Women's Amateur this year, what does playing on a big stage like that do for them heading into the fall season?
DSP: Yes, sophomore Jackie Rogowicz and Maddy Herr ââ'¬" who is one of our incoming freshmen from Pennsylvania, which I am very proud to say that half of my team is from the state of Pennsylvania, both got that experience. I tell my players to get out in the summer and play in these competitive tournaments, get around the best players in the country because that is where we want them to be coming into the collegiate season. We want them playing against the top players; not only in the country, but internationally. There are so many more international players in the collegiate game now. [Playing in those events] really make you better regardless of what happens in that event.
Q: How do you deal with all of the different weather you are going to see throughout the fall?
DSP: When you have players that have experience in junior golf, and what I mean by that is that they have played all over the country. They have played on Bermuda grass, they have played on bent grass ââ'¬" which is what we have. Going to Michigan is very similar [to playing in Pennsylvania], but going to the other two sites in the Carolinas will be different, but we have to adjust. That is where having players who have competed on the junior level, because they can adapt much quicker on those different conditions.
Q: What is something you will be focusing on this fall?
DSP: One of the things that is going to be in our favor this year…is that we will have a volunteer assistant coach in Katie Futcher, who played here at Penn State and on the LPGA Tour. Having that extra person around to assist will allow me and our assistant coach Andrew Breon to give more individual attention to our student-athletes. In golf each of our players need something different…everybody has their own game they have to play and pay attention too. Also, the one thing I told them in our meeting yesterday was that we are going to strive to be consistent; in all the right ways and all of the right areas. Those consistencies will be different for each player, but we want to be consistent across the board.
Q: How do you view the volunteer assistant role?
DSP: I want her to be a coach. I want her to be harder than I am on our players. The one thing you want from a coaching staff is balance, and I believe we have that right now and will continue to have that with Katie. I feel like adding her brings us more balance. Some of the things she can share with the team are different than what others bring ââ'¬" having played on the biggest stage. I would not have added her to the staff if I didn't think she would benefit our program. My biggest focus is always as to how I can help everyone in our program get to their potential and Katie will be a big part of that.
Q: Lauren, what are your goals for the season?
LW: I was pretty happy with how my freshman year went, both on and off the course. This year, on the course, I am striving to be better. I want to get better in all aspects of my game, every time I am on the course. I want to play well at the Big Ten [Championship], I want to win the Big Ten, I want to win all of the tournaments I can. I want to help my team make it to the NCAA Regional, the NCAA Championships. I have big goals for myself and with the coaches help, they will be a huge help, and my teammates all push me to better, as a player, teammate and student. Also, I have academic goals to be the best I can in the classroom, as well.
Q: Is Katie done playing on tour?
DSP: Yes, she has made some decisions to hang up her competitive shoes, right now, and focus a little more of her energy in [the coaching] direction. She had some opportunities to take some paid coaching jobs elsewhere, but she has such a passion for Penn State and this program that she wanted to come back and spend a little more time with us. We are excited and she is going to focus her attention elsewhere right now.
Q: How valuable a resource is it to have Katie on the staff now?
LW: It's great. Having her as a part of our team, she has been in our shoes and been where we are right now. She was also coached by Coach St. Pierre, so she knows how she operates. With her playing on the LPGA Tour, she can give us insight into what it takes to get there ââ'¬" if that is what we want to do ââ'¬" and she was also an exceptional student, so she can help us in that aspect, too. It also helps to have that experience and we are so excited to have her in our program.