Some students spend their summer recovering from a whole year of school.
Some take the initiative to find a job.
But for one ASU golfer, the summer was completely booked with international golf tournaments.
After school ended in May, junior Guilia Molinaro visited Northern Ireland to compete in the Ladies’ British Open Amateur Championship from June 7-11. While she made it to the match play portion, Marta Silva from the University of Georgia cut her tournament short in the first round.
Moving forward from the disappointing finish in the United Kingdom, Molinaro went on to play in tournaments in Austria, Holland and China. While it was difficult at times, Molinaro retained that the mindset of a traveler is beneficial.
“I love traveling, so I always enjoy it,” Molinaro said. “I play many different courses with different conditions, so that’s good for my game. To China the jet lag was like eight hours, and the food is different so that is sometimes a challenge.”
The Chinese trip featured one of the largest events in the world, The Universiade, a top-tier global collegiate competition modeled after the Olympics. Shenzhen, an oceanside city in the southeast corner of the country, hosted the 26th edition of the summer games from Aug. 12-23.
Molinaro competed for her home country of Italy in the women’s golf event at Mission Hills Golf course. While the team battled back from a rough opening, they did not medal in the event.
After leaving China, Molinaro spent 10 more days in Kenya before returning to ASU. There she got to spend some valuable time with her family.
“Its always good because I go back home and I see my parents and all of my friends,” Molinaro said. "I go back to the Italian style of life, back to my food and home-cooked meals.”
While the trip is very rewarding, playing all year around can be hard on any golfer. ASU coach Melissa Luellen said that this is one of the biggest difficulties she sees in golfers coming back after playing in the summer.
“Golf is really more of a year round sport, rather than just seasons,” Luellan said. “So to keep your competitive juices flowing is really good. (The golfers) played all summer and they are kind of ready for a break.”
“We are getting geared up for our season. So we have to just say, ‘Can you give us first of September and third week of October? And then we will let you have a break.’ But trying to manage that is difficult, because (Giulia) is on a little bit of a letdown now.”
“Fortunately, we don’t have a tournament for a couple of weeks.”
The ASU golf season will start when the team treks out to Tulsa, Okla. to compete in the Dave McNamara Invitational on Sept. 12-14. Luellen explained that while golfers play all year around it is really divided into three seasons, the fall, spring and the summer, with each of those being very unique.
Molinaro agreed and took it even further when talking about playing for ASU and for Italy.
“There I represent my country,” Molinaro said. “It’s two practice rounds, four to five days of tournaments. It’s always longer. I’ve grown up doing that. I see it as two completely different moments, not even seasons, because you always keep on playing. Playing the U.S. and playing in Europe is very different.”
Not only does playing abroad boost experience, but it also helps with recruiting as well. Luellen even went as far to say that Molinaro is “one of our greatest recruiters,” something that Molinaro confirmed.
“There is always a link if someone before you from your home has been here before,” Molinaro said. “I knew Azahara (Munoz) from tournaments. I always saw her as the big player. I knew Carlota (Ciganda) when she was wanting to come here. I did not have an Italian before me, but I am sure there will be Italians after me.”
Reach the reported at john.mckelvey@asu.edu
