Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Yue Xu
Appalachian State women’s golfer Yue Xu won’t get a chance on a national stage this year, but she gained the notice of Southern Conference golfers last week.
Yue Xu (pronounced to sound like Joy Sue) was the medalist in the SoCon Championship with a three-round total of 217 at Moss Creek Country Club in Hilton Head, S.C. She led from the start.
Xu, a 20-year-old freshman from Beijing, China, is the first golfer from ASU to win the tournament. In fact, no ASU women’s golfer had ever finished higher than sixth place.
“I didn’t go there thinking about being the winner but the first day I shot a 69 and had a four-shot lead,” Xu said. “So then I thought I had a big chance to win.
“I kept calm the second and third day and, as my coach said, played my own game.”
Xu is one of China’s top young amateur golfers.
Heather Brown, ASU’s women’s golf coach, said that last week’s victory wasn’t a surprise to anyone who has seen her play. For those that hadn’t, Brown said, “She certainly got everyone’s attention.”
Xu’s small frame doesn’t lend itself to a long-distance power game, but Brown said that her short game is impressive. Xu said that putting was the key last week.
“And my distance has gotten better since I’ve been here, our school has a very good athletic facility and we go to the gym at least twice a week, and we have an indoor practice facility,” Xu said. “That helped.”
“She’s been on the tournament stage before, she doesn’t get rattled,” Brown said. “She plays within herself.”
Bill Dicus, ASU’s men’s golf coach, found out about Xu a few years ago through a contact from North Carolina who had started a golf school in Asia. Xu, interested in a college education, said that she had visited the United States three times before arriving at ASU, and had trained in Florida for two months in 2005.
“It was hard the first few weeks (being so far from home) but I got used to it,” Xu said. “The people here have been really nice to me. They’re friendly and that makes me feel better.”
Xu, who wasn’t eligible to play until the start of the Spring semester, didn’t play in enough matches this season to be able to qualify for one of few at-large individual berths in NCAA regional competition which begins May 6.
“But I’ll try next year,” she said.