Tag: Missy Farr-Kaye

Hosts Arizona State use ‘birdie goal’ to climb into contention at women’s NCAA Championship

“When you feel that you can make birdies, you don’t worry about a bogey here or a bad shot.”

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Coaches have different tactics to motivate their players.

After the Arizona State women made just nine birdies in the first round of the 2022 NCAA Div. I Women’s Golf Championship – well off the mark of their usual 18-20 – Missy Farr-Kaye decided to pull out the big guns for Saturday’s second round: dessert. The Sun Devils had a “birdie goal” of 20 they had to meet, which they achieved on the last hole of the day.

The reward? Ice cream.

“It gets them in that mode of being aggressive and assertive,” explained Farr-Kaye. “When you feel that you can make birdies, you don’t worry about a bogey here or a bad shot. It changed our whole tone.”

Leaderboards: Team | Individual

That it did. ASU was in 16th place out of 24 teams after the first round and now sit T-8 with USC at 16 over following Saturday’s round of 2 over as a team. The Sun Devils were led by sophomore Ashley Menne, who shot a 4-under 68, which tied Texas’ Bohyun Park, Oklahoma State’s Maddison Hinson-Tolchard and San Jose State’s Natasha Andrea Oon and Kajsa Arwefjall for the low round of the day.

“Everything just felt better today, my driver and putting was really good. The weather really made a difference,” said Menne. “Yesterday was gusting like 20-mph winds and it was hot and pace of play was just not it. Just everything today was awesome. I think my team also played really great. We had good energy throughout the entire round.”

Despite playing for the host school, the Surprise, Arizona, native doesn’t feel any pressure as Grayhawk hosts for the second of three years.

“Honestly, this year feels almost more relaxed than last year. I think everything’s kind of settled in a bit and people are used to having it in Arizona,” explained Menne. “I don’t know, it feels like home for me, too. I’m not really honestly phased. It almost doesn’t feel like a tournament, that sounds crazy, but it’s true.”

Stanford leads at 5 over, followed by Oregon at 9 over. On Sunday the field gets whittled from 24 to 15 teams.

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After third cancer diagnosis, a gritty Missy Farr-Kaye leads Arizona State to NCAA match play

Arizona and Arizona State finished four rounds of stroke play knotted at 21 over. Arizona will face Stanford while ASU gets Duke.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — After the round on Monday, Missy Farr-Kaye told her Sun Devil team it was over. She cried. Told them they’d had a rough year and that whatever happens, happens. It would all be OK.

They went over to Phil’s Grill and sat on the patio to have lunch and watch the finish. The grill at Grayhawk is named after ASU alum Phil Mickelson, who became golf’s oldest major champion when he won the PGA on Sunday. Perhaps the mojo of the place would rub off.

Lo and behold, a shift occurred. Wake Forest starting plummeting down the board. The nuns at Farr-Kaye’s alma mater, Xavier Prep, texted to say they were praying. ASU players kept playfully hitting their coach, telling Farr-Kaye that she’d called it too fast.

“I said that was the omen, I had already ended the season,” said Farr-Kaye. “I couldn’t be happier to be wrong on that one.”

Arizona State and Arizona finished four rounds of stroke play knotted at 21 over. Arizona took the eighth seed based on the cumulative score of all five players and will face Stanford in the quarterfinals Tuesday morning. Arizona State will square off against Duke.

NCAA Womens Golf: NCAA Women's Golf Championship
Arizona State golfer Ashley Menne putts on the tenth green during the NCAA Women’s Golf Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Photo by Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

The Cardinal, led by freshman Rachel Heck, who won the individual title, finished 13 strokes ahead of the field. Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Texas and Auburn round of the eight teams that advanced. Auburn’s 10-under 278 is the lowest NCAA Championship round in school history.

Melissa Luellen, who spent 13 seasons as head coach at ASU before moving to Auburn, admittedly wanted to throw up at one point as bogeys started to pepper the board, but wound up crying tears of joy when it was over, calling it some of the greatest golf she’s ever seen.

“I think it’s very advantageous to come from behind,” she said, “but when you’re 11 behind, that’s a big mountain to climb. I’ve been in situations where we’ve had 5 holes left and it’s a 13-shot swing. I’ve had a 22-shot lead and lost in on the last day … anything can happen.”

Luellen credited a shift in course management for the Tigers’ turnaround, keeping driver in the bag and hitting more 3-woods and 5-woods to find the fairways. Auburn improved 27 strokes from Day 1 to Day 4.

Florida State, looking for its first match-play appearance, seemed primed to force a playoff until freshman Alice Hodge, typically a model of consistency, double-bogeyed her final hole. The Seminoles and LSU finished one shot shy of a playoff.

Both Oklahoma State and Ole Miss advanced to match play for the first time in school history. Stanford, the 2015 champions, has made match play all six times.

There was a moment this spring when Farr-Kaye thought she’d lost her 2017 NCAA Championship ring. Chemo fog is real, she said. She forgets names, where she put things.

“It kills so many good cells along with the bad cells,” she said.

Farr-Kaye, 53, a two-time breast cancer survivor, was diagnosed with colon cancer last November. Just before Thanksgiving, Farr-Kaye’s three sons dropped her at the hospital door for surgery – to remove the mass and her appendix – and picked her up three days later.

Farr-Kaye finished her chemo treatments in April and is cancer-free but still feels the effects. Adrenaline gets her through these long days, and she walks less. Though she lives about 25 minutes away from Grayhawk she’s staying at the team hotel this week to avoid the temptation to do housework.

Picking a favorite championship, she said, is like picking a favorite kid. Impossible to do. But a third bout with cancer and a global pandemic puts this one in a unique category of resilience.

“I couldn’t be more blessed right now,” she said.

Hopefully the nuns are back at it tomorrow.

On TV

Tuesday

Match play quarterfinals, 9 a.m., Golf Channel

  • No. 1 Stanford vs. No. 8 Arizona
  • No. 2 Duke vs. No. 7 Arizona State
  • No. 3 Oklahoma State vs. No. 6 Auburn
  • No. 4 Ole Miss vs. No. 5 Texas

Match play semifinals, 2 p.m., Golf Channel

Wednesday

Match play championship, 2 p.m., Golf Channel

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Phil’s Grill a hotspot for Mickelson fans (including ASU women’s coach Missy Farr-Kaye) at NCAA Championships

“He’s in the best shape he’s ever been, probably in better shape than when he was in college.”

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Arizona State head women’s golf coach Missy Farr-Kaye played at ASU at the same time as Phil Mickelson. They’ve been good friends ever since. Farr-Kaye is well aware of Mickelson’s exploits at the 103rd PGA Championship in South Carolina and has been sneaking a peek at TVs at the NCAA Championships whenever she can.

“We were just inside Phil’s Grill and he’s on all six TVs, and Tim [Mickelson, Phil’s brother/caddie] who’s also a dear friend, and it’s like this is a little surreal,” Farr-Kaye said after ASU’s second round at Grayhawk. “But we are pulling so hard for Phil, he’s worked so hard.”

ASU is the host team at Grayhawk and Phil’s Grill is a popular 19th hole at the golf club.

“Phil wants to do things differently,” she continued. “He’s over 50. I knew he wasn’t going to stop trying to win on the PGA Tour. He’s not ready yet. He’s in the best shape he’s ever been, probably in better shape than when he was in college.

“Phil is the crazy scientist guy. He’s got a very engineering brain. So it’s fascinating to talk to him because you can’t keep up. When he built our facility [at Papago Golf Course in Phoenix], I really should’ve taped our conversations because he goes off in this area and this area and you can do this and you can do that. … and I’m like ‘Whew.’

“But we just love Phil. He’s just great. We’re pulling hard for him.”

Arizona State’s head football coach Herm Edwards was in attendance for the second round at Grayhawk and said it was fun to see Mickelson atop the leaderboard.

“I’ve met him in a bunch of pro-ams,” Edwards said. “He came to one of our Arizona State games when we were playing at San Diego State (in 2018). He was actually on our sideline. He’s a big fan. He’s a big supporter. I can’t tell you how much he means to the golf community here at Arizona State, what he’s done for that facility. He is a remarkable guy.”

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Scottsdale, Grayhawk three weeks away from long awaited NCAA Championships

Arizona State golf coach Matt Thurmond said Scottsdale will be the “center of the collegiate golf universe”, at least for the short term.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The long awaited start of a three-year run for the NCAA golf Championships in Arizona is now just three weeks away.

The women are up first at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale from May 21-26 followed by the men from May 28-June 2. The 2022 and 2023 nationals also will be held at Grayhawk, which was to have hosted for the first time in 2020 before all spring NCAA championships were canceled due to the pandemic.

So a process that began in 2017, not long after Matt Thurmond was hired as Arizona State men’s golf coach, finally culminates in what Thurmond said will result in Scottsdale becoming the “center of the collegiate golf universe” at least for the short term.

Staging the championships is a combined effort by Grayhawk, ASU, NCAA, Golf Channel and the Thunderbirds to annually host 24 women’s and 30 men’s teams in stroke and match play for a combined total of 54 days (including practice rounds) over three years.

“We’re the tail end of a very big dog,” Del Cochran, Grayhawk general manager, said Thursday. “When we started this journey, we had no idea how it was going to go. We wondered how everyone would blend together, and it’s been absolutely seamless. We will all be proud of the product.”

Spectators will be allowed—with free admission thanks to a sponsorship—although how many and COVID protocol details have yet to be announced.

For the party to be at its peak requires the ASU teams to advance through NCAA regionals.

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The women must finish in the top six at a regional May 10-12 in Columbus, Ohio. The men will learn which of six May 17-19 regionals they will be assigned to on Wednesday, May 4, and then need a top-five finish to advance.

“It’s a little bit of pressure and motivation,” ASU women’s coach Missy Farr-Kaye said. “I’m just trying to keep them positive, and they are. I’m happy to go to Ohio State (for regional) because the Scarlet course is one of the best in the country. It could be 70 (degrees) one day and it could be 40 the next. I don’t think that will phase our group at all. It’s a separator course, you’re not going to be able to get away with anything and that’s what I want.”

The ASU women were third at Pac-12 Championships behind and host Stanford but played without four-time All-America Olivia Mehaffey due to COVID protocol. Mehaffey will be back for the postseason after first trying to qualify for the U.S. Women’s Open on Tuesday in Pittsburgh.

ASU’s Linn Grant is ranked No. 4 in Golfweek/Sagarin individual rankings, Ashley Menne 91, Alessandra Fanali 103 and Mehaffey 104. Amanda Linner broke through to finish ninth at Pac-12 Championships.

“Even if Olivia didn’t play last week, we know she’s always ready to go,” said Grant, a sophomore from Sweden. “Without her, we did a good job as a team and kept it together. Fortunately coach Michelle (Estill) and coach Missy have been to Columbus and know the course. Even a score on par will be good. I think that’s to our advantage. Even our fifth player is a really good player.”

The ASU men duked it out with Arizona at the Pac-12 Championships, ending Tuesday in Santa Rosa, California. Arizona won by four strokes and it is tantalizing to image a match-play pairing of the in-state rivals during nationals.

Chun An Yu and Ryggs Johnston tied for fourth individually at the Pac-12 meet and David Puig tied for eighth, a big three if you will that seems to be peaking at the right time.

“The competition is better than ever with all these seniors coming back,” Thurmond said. “Our team is excellent, and we’re getting beat by some teams. The Arizona team that beat us has five seniors. Oklahoma is No. 1 right now, they’re loaded. It’s going to be a great competition (nationals). We’ve got to get here first, but we can handle the pressure and we’ll find a way to get here.”

Johnston said, “We’ve been trending upward lately. We haven’t really brought our best to any tournament yet so in a way I guess that be a good sign. We go (to regional) knowing our best is yet to come hopefully. That’s something to look forward to.”

The ASU teams have something of a home course advantage at Grayhawk given multiple opportunities to play the Raptor course, but more than 30 other men’s and women’s teams also have come to town for a test run on the desert course.

“Oregon and Oklahoma State won national championships when they hosted, but those were all places where nobody was allowed to go play it,” Thurmond said. “ASU to our credit pushed very aggressively to allow anyone and everyone to come play here, which in the past it was the opposite. The host team wouldn’t allow anyone near the course.

“So we gave away a lot of advantage, but we thought it was the best thing for the championship. All these teams have flown in, played a few rounds. They go back and prepare for it. It just adds to the energy around the event.”

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Arizona State head coach Missy Farr-Kaye battles cancer for a third time

Missy Farr-Kaye is battling cancer a third time. She expects treatment to end just before Arizona State hosts the NCAA Championships in May.

Missy Farr-Kaye stood in the media room four years ago after the NCAA Women’s Championship and pointed toward the gray T-shirt she’d put on over her uniform to celebrate Arizona State’s latest national title.

“I’m a scar roadmap,” she said, referring to the 15 surgeries, radiation and chemotherapy she’d endured as a two-time breast cancer survivor.

Farr-Kaye’s sister, Heather, died of breast cancer at age 28, and Missy was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 30 and again at age 40. Last November, at age 53, she was diagnosed with colon cancer. Her dad battled colon cancer too.

Just before Thanksgiving, Farr-Kaye’s three sons dropped her at the hospital door for surgery – to remove the mass and her appendix – and picked her up three days later. COVID-19 kept her from having any visitors. That was hard, she said, but her nurses were angels.

“It looks like I’m going to keep my hair,” said Farr-Kaye, who was at home, hooked up to an IV when she answered the phone.

Farr-Kaye began chemotherapy on Dec. 28 and will be on a 14-day cycle. Right now it’s looking like one week at home, and one week at work. The treatments are scheduled to end in mid-April, just in time for the NCAA postseason. She’s battling through the side effects of chemo, including neuropathy and nausea, with the help of Netflix and sports.

Doctors caught the cancer early and believe she will be cancer-free following treatment. Farr-Kaye teared up on the phone when talking about her sons, who range in age from 17 to 27.

“That look of fear in your child’s eyes, even when they’re not children anymore,” she said, “is tough to take.”

Farr-Kaye will rely heavily on her old teammate at ASU, associate head coach Michelle Estill, the 1991 LPGA Rolex Rookie of the Year. Estill returned to her alma mater to coach alongside Farr-Kaye in the months before ASU won the 2017 NCAA title.

With the Sun Devils hosting this year’s NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in May, a delayed opportunity given that COVID canceled the 2020 championship, there are plenty of reasons to expect inspired play out of ASU this spring.

“We’re done sitting around,” said Estill of the Pac-12 returning to competition later this month.

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Farr-Kaye views coaching as a calling rather a job. The COVID-19 pandemic has been life-changing and perspective-shifting for everyone. Farr-Kaye’s most recent cancer diagnosis brought the Sun Devils even closer.

“Life isn’t always fair, and it doesn’t always make sense,” said Farr-Kaye. “I want to prepare them for life. I feel that’s part of my purpose in why I coach.”

The culture Farr-Kaye builds at ASU, Estill noted, is centered around a family atmosphere. Every player from last year’s roster returned this spring, including fifth-year senior Olivia Mehaffey.

“We cried together and then we pulled ourselves up because coach is such a role model and leader,” said Estill.

“The love we have for each other really shines in times like this.”