Olivia Mehaffey could have turned professional after her junior season at Arizona State.
Instead, she broke a bone in her hand from a fall while hiking in June 2019, making it impossible for her to adequately prepare for LPGA qualifying school.
So the three-time All-America returned to ASU for her senior season, which started rocky due to the broken hand and ended early because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“I had a very rough fall,” Mehaffey said. “I came back too early. That was quite difficult. I wasn’t really ready to be competing. The spring I felt things were getting going and obviously the team was doing well so I feel like things were only going to go up. I was more comfortable again. I put a lot of pressure on myself to come back and perform well. I was in a happier place and enjoying it more.”
ASU was ranked third nationally and coming off a 19-stroke tournament win in Hawaii before the NCAA cancelled all spring championships, ending the 2019-20 college sports year before the men’s and women’s national tournaments could be played for the first time at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, also NCAA men’s and women’s host in 2021 and 2022.
But COVID-19 also shut down most pro sports, in Mehaffey’s case taking away the LPGA/Symetra Tour qualifying tournament and Q-series that she again planned to play. But because the NCAA gave an extra year of eligibility to all spring athletes, she still had the option of returning to ASU as a post-graduate for a fifth season.
Mehaffey took her time before deciding in late May that a shot at another national title — she contributed as a freshman to ASU’s eighth NCAA championship in 2017 — and opportunity to become the first five-time All-America in the sport was better than the uncertainty of when she could become a full-time LPGA player.
“I had quite a few conversations with Missy (Farr-Kay, ASU’s coach),” Mehaffey said. “We really talked everything out. All I ever wanted was to get an undergrad (degree) so coming back to school to get a master’s was kind of a big thing because I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do more school.”
Mehaffey, with a bachelor’s degree in sociology, settled on organizational leadership for her post-grad work, figuring it’s applicable to the business end of golf. “I’ve been in quite a few leadership roles before,” she said. “If I was going to spend another year studying, I wanted to really find something I enjoyed.”
ASU will return its entire team next season including 2020 All-Americas Linn Grant and Alessandra Fanali while adding freshmen Ashley Menne and Breyana Matthews, both coming from Phoenix Xavier Prep.
“She’s the leader, she’s most vocal,” Farr-Kaye said of 22-year-old Mehaffey. “It’s very natural for her and it’s really been her team for two years. The team is excited to have her back. There’s a comfort level, she’s our special senior next year.”
Grant of Sweden is 10th and Mehaffey of Northern Ireland is 17th in the most recent Women’s Amateur Golf Ranking. Mehaffey is planning to play as an amateur in the ANA Inspiration, an LPGA major tournament, Sept. 10-13 in Rancho Mirage, Calif. Until then, she’s been quarantining with her family in Banbridge, recently getting back on the Royal County Down and Tandragee courses near her home.
“We were in very strict lockdown for seven weeks,” Mehaffey said. “It was kind of strange. I did a lot of short game in the garden (where she has a green and bunker) and spent time doing mental work. Even deciding whether to come home or stay in America, there’s pros and cons to both.
“I thought if I stay, I’d be able to golf more, but if I didn’t come home at all it would be very tough. I’ve got my family out golfing. My mom’s only hit the car once so that’s not too bad. Just making it fun and trying to find things to pass the time.”
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