It’s not often that Charlotte Mayorkas doesn’t know
where to go or what to do on the golf course.
The senior golfer on the NCAA champion UCLA women’s golf
team has played hundreds of rounds in her golfing career, each one
a little different from the last.
But nothing could have prepared her for what she experienced in
Sylvania, Ohio, over the last five days.
When Mayorkas stepped onto the grounds of Highland Meadows Golf
Club to play a practice round last week, she hesitated on the
driving range, not exactly sure she was following the proper
routine.
For this was foreign territory ““ not the golf course, but
the nature of the event.
In what may be perhaps the first step in fulfilling her lofty
goals in golf, Mayorkas earned one of two sponsors’
exemptions to compete in the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic, her
first professional LPGA tournament.
Over the course of the four-day tournament, Mayorkas battled the
field as well as her new surroundings as she finished tied for
56th, shooting a 7-over par (291).
“I didn’t know the little things you were supposed
to do,” Mayorkas said. “I didn’t want to get in
anyone’s way.”
So far, in Mayorkas’ relatively young golfing career, the
only thing getting in her competitors’ way is her name at the
top of the leaderboard.
While still retaining her amateur status at the LPGA event,
which means she couldn’t accept prize money no matter where
she finished, Mayorkas has made it no secret that she would like to
become a professional golfer.
The only question is when.
In the 2003-2004 season, Mayorkas compiled arguably one of the
finest resumes ever for a collegiate golfer.
The senior led her team in claiming six of seven spring
tournaments, including the national championship, while notching
three individual championships along the way. Her stroke average
was nearly one-and-a-half shots less than anyone else on the Bruin
team.
However, the prospect of giving up her final year of eligibility
and attempting to jump to the LPGA was never more than a fleeting
thought.
“I thought about it,” Mayorkas said, “but
there’s nothing wrong with continuing to play amateur golf.
Going into college and being recruited, I never thought about
turning pro while still in college.”
And though she watched playing competitor and Pac-10 rival Erica
Blasberg from Arizona attempt the transition with a year of
eligibility remaining, the calling of the tour didn’t sway
Mayorkas.
Currently the No. 2 collegiate player in the country, Mayorkas,
a history major, has maintained that finishing her senior year at
UCLA and obtaining a degree rank up there with golf as her top
priorities.
Therefore, the checks with her name on them can wait.
“I’m so close to being done; why go through all of
that and not get your degree?” Mayorkas said. “Turning
pro will always be there, college experience
won’t.”
“The only drawback is not making money next
year.”
When she returns this fall to Westwood, Mayorkas will be
rejoining a team whose nucleus from last year’s NCAA
championship-run remains intact.
Along with sophomore Hannah Jun and junior Susie Mathews, the
women’s golf team will welcome a consensus top-3 national
recruit in local standout Amie Cochran.
If each golfer lives up to her billing, the squad is posed to be
even stronger than last year’s and will be favored to defend
its championship.
“We’ll definitely be contending again,”
Mayorkas said. “Definitely.”
While she’s nearly completed everything on her checklist
for what she wants to achieve in collegiate golf, Mayorkas still
has a few goals remaining.
“To win nationals as an individual would be cool,”
Mayorkas said.
But before she resumes her position as the leader of the
defending champion women’s golf team, Mayorkas still has a
full slate of events to compete in all over the globe, including
the U.S. Women’s Amateur which begins today in Pennsylvania.
So far this summer, Mayorkas has already led the United States
collegiate team to a victory over the Japanese collegiate team in
Japan while also claiming the California State Amateur at Pala Mesa
Golf Course in Fallbrook, Calif.
“I need to stay in the groove,” Mayorkas said.
“It never stops.”
But she knows if she wants to make it on to the LPGA tour, this
is exactly the road she must traverse. It’s already got her
this far.
“I guess I belong,” Mayorkas said.