DU Beating the Odds in Women’s Golf
Pioneers rank among nation’s best; they’re taking aim at top-10 NCAA finish
By Gary Baines
Colorado Golf Journal, Friday, April 11, 2008
“I don’t think the average golf fan really gets it,” said junior Katie Kempter, who owns the top stroke average for DU this season (74.13). “Duke (winner of the last three NCAA titles) and the California schools, people expect them to be there. But people should start to learn to see Denver up there. We’ve proven we belong there.”
The women’s golf team at DU didn’t play its first tournament until the fall of 1998, but under the guidance of the only head coach the program has ever known, the Pioneers have remained well ahead of the normal learning curve. Sammie Chergo came to DU in November 1997 to build the women’s team from scratch, and it appears she hit upon a recipe for success.
“We get great support from the university,” said Chergo, who came to DU after serving as an assistant at the University of Colorado. “Women’s golf is important here, and it’s funded at a level that it can be successful. That’s the first step. Then we recruit a certain type of player — athletic kids who have a background in golf and other sports, and who want to improve. We’ve been lucky to identify those kind of kids, and they’ve really thrived.”
Thrived to the point that DU has chalked up nine team tournament titles in the last 19 months, including four so far this season. And next up is the Sun Belt Conference tournament, where the Pioneers will be bidding for an unprecedented fifth straight title. The event is scheduled for April 21-23 in Muscle Shoals, Ala.
From there, it’s on to the NCAA regional tournament, where DU will have to finish in the top eight in a 21-team field to advance to next month’s NCAA Championships in Albuquerque, Kempter’s hometown.
Last year marked the first time in program history that DU qualified for the NCAA finals as the Pioneers finished 20th in the nation. This year, they’re looking to take the next step.
The most recent coaches’ poll for women’s college golf predictably includes many of the traditional powerhouses in the sport.
Among the programs currently ranked in the top 13 in the country, UCLA, Duke, Southern California, Arizona State, Florida, Georgia and Arizona have all won NCAA titles during the last 25 years. Those teams — and most of the others in the top 13 — are located in the southern U.S., where golf is routinely played year-round.
Most of these elite programs have also been around for decades.
Then there is the case of the team ranked No. 13 in the nation in the coaches’ poll — and No. 9 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index ratings.
The University of Denver hasn’t won a national championship in women’s golf. It’s not located in the warm-weather states of the southern U.S. And the women’s golf program hasn’t even been around for one decade, much less more than a quarter-century.
Yet, predictable or not, the Pioneers are rubbing elbows these days with the best programs in women’s college golf — and they like the company they’re keeping.
Katie Kempter
“We want to win conference,” Kempter said. “If we do, we’ll be the first to win five in a row. It’s a fun tournament to play and a good little motivator for the team. Then the goal is to finish in the top 10 at nationals in Albuquerque. Of course, you always want to win, and I think we have a team that can win. It’s not beyond our reach. But we’d be happy with a top-10 finish.”
While DU’s presence in the top 10 or 15 nationally may surprise some outsiders, it hasn’t come out of the blue. The Pioneers have made steady progress over the years, posting 20 tournament victories over the last six seasons.
“Most insiders have gotten used to it,” said Chergo, who five years ago put together a plan to become nationally competitive. “We’ve earned national respect. People who don’t follow it may be surprised, but we’ve built a reputation. You don’t have to be a big-time university with football to do things the right way.”
This season, the Pioneers have made their mark with a diverse roster. It includes three players from outside the U.S. — sophomore Stephanie Sherlock from Canada, freshman Ellie Givens from England and junior Sara Djos from Sweden. There are also three players from Colorado high schools — junior Dawn Shockley from Estes Park, senior Chelsea Benton from Highlands Ranch and senior Devon Unkeless from Cherry Creek.
“We’re deep through five (Kempter, Sherlock, Shockley, Benton and Givens),” said Chergo, who two years ago was voted the top women’s golf coach in Sun Belt history. “All of them can put up a good number, and that takes some of the pressure off when you have five players and count four scores. It’s a good problem to have.”
The top five players are tightly bunched, all with stroke averages between 74 and 76. Kempter has won two tournaments individually this season — and been named one of GolfWorld magazine’s national female Players of the Week in the fall — and Sherlock one. Sherlock last season became DU’s first All-American, a second-teamer.
“We’ve got the kind of player that is good in general but may not have made as much noise as a junior or in high school,” Kempter said. “Coach (Chergo) finds kids that are mature and that grow when they get here. Coach has done a great job of continually finding those kind of players.”
Chergo refers to them as “under-the-radar kids. They’re not highly, highly recruited, but they have the athletic desire to get better and they love the game.”
While DU has to live with some weather problems that other top programs don’t encounter as often, and may not have the facilities some other ranked teams do, the Pioneers make the best of what they do have. They typically practice at Green Gables and Valley Country Clubs, and on inclement days they can work on their games in their three indoor hitting bays and indoor putting green.
Chergo notes that the weather in the Denver area is better than people think during the college season. And when it is bad, the Pioneers sometimes switch things up by playing basketball or doing other training activities, keeping things fresh and “building team chemistry,” Chergo said.
“We always get off to a slow start in February (after the two-month winter break for college golf). But I think the weather in Denver helps us play our best golf at the right time. We want to get better every week and play our best golf in April and May.”
That would be now, with the regular season over and college golf’s version of the playoffs set to begin.
Photos: Rich Clarkson and Associates
