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Insider: Linam lines up vs. best
8/1/2019 10:57:00 AM | Women's Golf, Paul Coro, Lopes Insider Blog
GCU junior takes improvement to U.S. Women's Amateur
When Alexis Linam left Liberty High School in nearby Peoria, her golf game still had room to grow because Linam barely started playing before high school and never entered a non-school tournament until she was a junior.
GCU became the environment to foster that growth. After Linam's first two seasons with the Lopes, her improvement has been apparent and is now will be evident to all when she tees off Monday at the U.S. Golf Association's 119th U.S. Women's Amateur Championship.
Linam and Texas A&M player Elizabeth Caldarelli earned Arizona's two spots at a June qualifying tournament, the type of event where Linam's maturation shows. She finished second at two major state amateur events after setting a GCU program record earlier this year with a round of 65, one stroke off the national low for the NCAA Division I season.
Linam arrived at GCU with a booming long game, but her improvement has stemmed from her dedication to her short game and mental approach.
"I'm a lot more confident because my mental game is better," Linam said. "I don't go into a tournament scared to play it. Now, I'm thinking I can actually win it."
Linam is among 156 qualifiers for the U.S. Women's Amateur Championship, which will be played at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Miss. After two stroke-play rounds Monday and Tuesday, the field will be cut to 64 players for five days of head-to-head match play that will air on Fox Sports 1.
"I am super-excited," Linam said. "This will be one of the biggest tournaments that I've ever played in, so I'm thrilled for the opportunity as a learning thing and an experience thing."
Teammate Siripatsorn Patchana, also a junior, competed at Arizona's U.S. Women's Amateur qualifier with Linam. The 2018 WAC Championship medalist is an alternate for the U.S. Women's Amateur but thrilled for her close friend.
"I see so much improvement in her," Patchana said. "It's obvious with the short game and the mental game. She really improved them. I'm really proud of her that she qualified and took that big step."
Linam still is nervous entering every tournament but channels that feeling into adrenalin and often starts tournaments well, such as when she birdied the first hole of the U.S. Women's Amateur qualifier. She makes it fun from there and the results showed while she represented GCU last season, when she dropped her scoring average by 1.4 strokes per round from her freshman year and had the breakthrough 7-under-par round to finish second at the Fresno State Classic in April.
"It was definitely something that helped me a lot confidence-wise because I would do that a lot in practice rounds, but that never means as much as a tournament," Linam said.
"I've been working so hard and I have so many great people around me who have been helping, not just the coaches but also my friends and family. I owe it to them for helping me out and I work super hard. I think I've come a long way."
Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.
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GCU became the environment to foster that growth. After Linam's first two seasons with the Lopes, her improvement has been apparent and is now will be evident to all when she tees off Monday at the U.S. Golf Association's 119th U.S. Women's Amateur Championship.
Linam and Texas A&M player Elizabeth Caldarelli earned Arizona's two spots at a June qualifying tournament, the type of event where Linam's maturation shows. She finished second at two major state amateur events after setting a GCU program record earlier this year with a round of 65, one stroke off the national low for the NCAA Division I season.Linam arrived at GCU with a booming long game, but her improvement has stemmed from her dedication to her short game and mental approach.
"I'm a lot more confident because my mental game is better," Linam said. "I don't go into a tournament scared to play it. Now, I'm thinking I can actually win it."
Linam is among 156 qualifiers for the U.S. Women's Amateur Championship, which will be played at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Miss. After two stroke-play rounds Monday and Tuesday, the field will be cut to 64 players for five days of head-to-head match play that will air on Fox Sports 1.
"I am super-excited," Linam said. "This will be one of the biggest tournaments that I've ever played in, so I'm thrilled for the opportunity as a learning thing and an experience thing."
Teammate Siripatsorn Patchana, also a junior, competed at Arizona's U.S. Women's Amateur qualifier with Linam. The 2018 WAC Championship medalist is an alternate for the U.S. Women's Amateur but thrilled for her close friend.
"I see so much improvement in her," Patchana said. "It's obvious with the short game and the mental game. She really improved them. I'm really proud of her that she qualified and took that big step."
Linam still is nervous entering every tournament but channels that feeling into adrenalin and often starts tournaments well, such as when she birdied the first hole of the U.S. Women's Amateur qualifier. She makes it fun from there and the results showed while she represented GCU last season, when she dropped her scoring average by 1.4 strokes per round from her freshman year and had the breakthrough 7-under-par round to finish second at the Fresno State Classic in April.
"It was definitely something that helped me a lot confidence-wise because I would do that a lot in practice rounds, but that never means as much as a tournament," Linam said.
"I've been working so hard and I have so many great people around me who have been helping, not just the coaches but also my friends and family. I owe it to them for helping me out and I work super hard. I think I've come a long way."
Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.
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Players Mentioned
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