May 13, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. - Senior Stephanie Connelly (Pasadena, Md.) placed second overall at the NCAA East Regional, May 7-9, and earned an individual invitation to the NCAA Women's Golf Championships to be held May 19-22 at the Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Md.
Connelly's even-par 210 (73-69-68) at the regional was the lowest score of her Knight career and made her one of the six individual qualifiers (along with 24 teams) that earned a trip to the Caves Valley course in suburban Baltimore, about a half an hour from Connelly's home.
UCFAthletics.com will have a two-part Q&A with Connelly today and tomorrow. Today's installment looks back at her performance in Gainesville, Fla. at the NCAA East Regional while tomorrow's installment will look ahead to the NCAA Championships.
What were your thoughts heading into regionals?
"I had come off of a rough event at conference so I had a little extra pressure on myself. I wanted to badly in my senior year and my last chance to make nationals. It's in my home state. I really wanted to do well. I took a little time off, finished my school and graduated. Once I got school off of my mind and was focused on golf I was ready to go. I put a lot of practice time in and went out and played. Instead of forcing it and not trying too much, I just played tough. I just went out and had a great time and played great golf."
What were your thoughts after a very good but not great first-day 73 (+3)?
"I was four-over for my first nine holes of the tournament. I was a little anxious and maybe a little nervous because I did have that extra pressure on myself. I wasn't doing well so I had a little chat with myself on the 10th tee. I told myself that "you're not going to do this. You're going to turn it up. You're going to play well. You're going to finish strong." No matter what happens, at least I wanted to play well. I got it in my head that I wasn't going to fail. It was a completely different person for the last nine holes of that round and then the next two days. I felt like I dug deep. The experience of playing tournaments for so long came through. I was not going to accept over par. I was not going to do it."
Coming down the stretch, were you aware of your positioning?
"They did two waves of tee times so the top part of the field went off in the morning and we went off in the afternoon because as a team we were towards the bottom of the field. All of the people that I was amongst individually were all ready finished. So I knew exactly what I needed to do and how I needed to play that day. I wanted to know what was going on. I saw at the turn what the leaders had finished at and I just kept going for it. I finished pretty strong. I got within two strokes of the lead after my first nine. The last three holes, I knew exactly where I stood. I parred coming in. I was real close to birdies on those last couple of holes. I really wanted to get the win but I did finish strong and got to nationals."
Did knowing what was at stake force you or adjust your style of play any for the final round?
"I was very confident about playing. I was a little nervous at the beginning of my round. I knew that I was going to make it to nationals as long as I played well because I had seen the morning scores. My first two holes were a little rough. I made pars, but I had to get up and down. I got a birdie on my third hole and that got me going. I played solid the whole day. I played smart. I am a pretty aggressive player to begin with but I didn't let it get out of control. I knew that I didn't have to do anything crazy. I was all ready there. If you get too conservative you can go backwards. I just kept doing what I had been doing. I went for the pins when I could and played conservative, or smart, when necessary."
The date of the second round was also the day of your UCF graduation. What was that like?
"I was walking down the eighth or ninth fairway on Friday morning when I would have been graduating. My mom hollered out to me that I was graduating now. That made me smile. It felt pretty good. I would have liked to have been there with a lot of my friends but I am also very excited that I am going to nationals right now."