By Jason Cruz
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
From humble beginnings on the West Seattle Municipal Golf Course to playing in some of the most prestigious amateur tournaments across the country, Lauryn Nguyen’s golf journey has been impressive. It culminated with leading her Northwestern Wildcats to an NCAA Championship in women’s golf over the favorite, Stanford Cardinals.
“Honestly my parents weren’t golfers,” said Nguyen of her start. “My mom played [golf], she enjoyed it and thought it was a good life skill to play golf.” Nguyen’s parents were Vietnamese refugees that came to America after navigating the waters of the South China Sea for a week without food or water.
“My older brother played before me,” she said. “I got my first set when I was 5 and started playing tournaments when I was 7.
“It was very small,” Nguyen said of her first golf tournaments as a kid. “I feel like at a very young age, I loved winning,” she recalled of what kept her going. “I was very flashy as a kid. I loved the trophies, I loved the medals.” Her success grew as large as the tournaments she competed in.
“Smaller tournaments turned into Washington state tournaments, turned into American Junior Golf Association Tournaments and some USGA (United States Golf Association) events.”
Early on, Nguyen believed that golf was something she was better at than most.
“In the 8-11 divisions, I just realized that I really enjoyed the competition of golf and that fueled my passion for the sport, and I took practice seriously from a pretty young age.” She also credits her brother for keeping her motivated. “It helped having my brother along with me because he was on the path I wanted to go.”
Her daily regiment after school included golf on most days of the week with her brother.
“After school, we would go chip and putt,” said Nguyen of her daily routine of practicing golf. “It wasn’t super hardcore, but it was part of my everyday life.”
Her parents were happy that Nguyen took to golf and spent time outside.
“It kept me busy, got me outside. It was refreshing for them to see [us] have a future in them for that.” She reflected on the fact that her parents did not have the opportunities that she now has. Both of Nguyen’s parents lived in public housing and relied on food banks when they first arrived in the United States.
Growing up, Nguyen looked to others on the links for inspiration.
“I feel like early on, it was Michelle Wie,” said Nguyen of her favorite golf idol. She also named Lydia Ko and Nelly Korda as inspirations. “It was nice seeing young Asian girls in the sport and succeeding.”
Nguyen excelled for the golf program at West Seattle High School. She was a four-year varsity letterman and was the team’s captain for three years. Nguyen was a Metro League Champion in 2018, 2019, and 2020. She also was named the Washington Golf Junior Girl Player of the Year in 2020. She was recruited by top Division I colleges, including Cal-Berkeley, Michigan, Illinois, and others but decided on Northwestern near Chicago.
In 2022, Nguyen was named the Pacific Northwest Golfer’s Association Women’s Player of the Year and the Washington Golf Women’s Player of the Year.
Nguyen committed to the Wildcats her sophomore year in high school.
“I feel like they checked all the boxes,” Nguyen said of her reasons to commit to Northwestern. It was important that she went to a school with athletics and academics. On her official visit, she got along with the team and their coaches. “I had that emotional connection with them.”
Moving to the midwest and adjusting to life as a collegiate student athlete was a major challenge. “It was hard. Freshman year hit me like a bus,” Nguyen said of her first year balancing golf and athletics. “You don’t make your own routines,” she said of the schedule given to them by the golf team. “People think we have it easier because of all the support, but I feel like we had to do everything a student has to do plus athletics.” The life of a student-athlete is grueling with the hours of practice, plus a full class load and travel. “This last spring, I was gone [from class] more than I was there.” She had to fluctuate her minor and her concentrations due to travel and athletics.
“It was hard to navigate, but I was still able to get what I wanted to get out of [school].” Nguyen graduated this June with a degree in Communication Studies with a concentration in Psychology.
Her commitment to Northwestern golf was year-round, although fall and spring were her busy times. She would usually work out two to three times a week in the morning, go to class and then practice at 2 p.m. for anywhere from three to four hours, and then do homework at night.
Despite the rigors of the schedule, she performed well at Northwestern. Nguyen was named Big 10 Freshman of the Year and First Team All-Big 10 in her sophomore year. In 2023, she was also named an Academic All-Big 10 in 2023. Nguyen received Big Ten women’s golfer of the week three different times throughout her career playing for the Wildcats.
Her career at Northwestern ended on a high note as the women’s team won the NCAA women’s golf championship. As an underdog, they toppled Stanford in the final.
“It was crazy,” Nguyen recalls of the excitement of the final tournament held in Carlsbad, California. The NCAA women’s golf championship was a “marathon,” according to Nguyen, as the teams had 4 days of stroke play (player with fewest number of strokes wins) and then if they did well, they would move on to match play (player versus player on specific hole with fewest strokes winning). So, after 4 days of stroke play, Northwestern was able to advance to match play where they played against another team. That’s 7 full competition plays of 18 holes each. The Wildcats had to play Arkansas, Oregon, and then Stanford in the final.
“Going into the event, our goal was to make it to match play,” said Nguyen as the team fell short of match play last year. She had hoped that the team would make match play and then anything else would be a “bonus.”
Northwestern surpassed everyone’s expectations as the team won the championship.
“I was really impressed with how we handled where we were,” Nguyen recalled with pride. “It was amazing. I don’t think anyone expected that. It was really fun.”
Nguyen described the challenges of pressure of the event by embracing the times of stress.
“I feel you have to embrace it, I don’t think the stress ever goes away.” Nguyen recalls that feeling going into her last putt on the 18th hole in the final. “I remember standing up to my last putt on the 18th hole, I just kept telling myself, ‘You’re going to make it.’” It’s about learning how to channel it (stress) into excitement.”
After the team’s success in winning the NCAA Championship, Nguyen was individually picked to play in the prestigious Arnold Palmer Cup Invitational. The Ryder Cup-style competition (modified scoring) features men’s and women’s collegiate golfers from the United States versus their International college players at the beginning of June. The event took place in South Carolina and was a great experience for Nguyen.
Nguyen returned to Seattle in June after graduation before heading out to prepare for play in the Annika Women’s Tour this summer. The tour is named after professional golfer Annika Sorenstam. It is a smaller tour that is used by many young golfers that aspire to make it to the Ladies Professional Golfers Association (LPGA).
Her plan is to compete in smaller events and then she will go to Q school in September in an attempt to get her LPGA tour card, which would allow her to be on the tour. Q school has three stages. The first stage is a 72-hole format. There is a cut after the first two rounds to determine who will go to the second stage. Stage 2 is another 72-hole format, but there are no cuts. There are a minimum of 30 players that will move onto stage 3 known as the Q-Series. Those that do not move on may be given Epson Tour status, which is a smaller golf tour circuit. For those making the Q-Series, it is two tournaments over the course of two weeks. A cut is made in the first week and after the second week, a minimum of 45 players receives LPGA tour cards.
Jason can be reached at newstips@nwasianweekly.com.