Q&A with MaryLou Mulflur, Coach of the No. 1-ranked UW Women's Golf Team

By: Jeff Shelley

The following is a Q&A with MaryLou Mulflur, the head coach of the University of Washington women's golf team. The Huskies are ranked No. 1 in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings after a remarkable streak of six wins in the first eight tournaments of the 2014-15 UW women's golf schedule.

The team's most recent victory March 10, a school-record-breaking sixth, may be its most impressive so far. In the Bay Area Intercollegiate at Meadow Club in Fairfax, Calif., the Dawgs finished at 18-under 834, 24 strokes ahead of second-place Oregon.

Previous victories came at the Bruin/Wave Invitational in Los Angeles; the UC-Irvine Kia Classic in Santa Ana, Calif. (11 strokes clear of USC); the Pac-12 Preview in Nanea, Hawaii; and the Pat Lesser Harbottle Invitational in Tacoma. The week before the Harbottle in early October, the UW started off its banner year with a victory in the Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational at Sahalee Country Club east of Seattle.

In its other two tournaments, the Stanford Intercollegiate at Palo Alto and the Regional Challenge in Palos Verdes, Calif., the UW finished fourth and sixth, respectively.

Their next tournaments will be the PING/ASU Championship in Tempe, Ariz., followed by the Pac-12 Championships in Colorado, the NCAA Regionals and the season-ending NCAA Championships at the Concession Club in Bradenton, Fla., in late May.

Perhaps most remarkably, the team hasn't missed a beat since two of its best players, SooBin Kim and Jing Yan, qualified for the LPGA Tour midway through the season and left the squad. Since Kim and Yan departed, however, the Huskies have won three more tournaments.

With the absence of Kim and Yan, the five-player squad consists of seniors Jennifer Yang and Cyd Okino, juniors Charlotte Thomas and Ying Luo, and sophomore Eimi Koga. One of the reasons for the Huskies’ success is there’s less than a one-stroke difference in the team’s scoring average, with Yang at the low end of 72.2 and Thomas and Okino at the high end of 72.9.

Mulflur is a legend in Seattle. The Portland native, who played for Ihlanfeldt, the Huskies' original women's golf coach, is in her 32nd year as the head coach of the team. The 1980 UW graduate was inducted into the Women's Golf Coaches Association Hall of Fame in December 2013. That same year Mulflur was recognized with the Northwest Golf Media Association's "Local Legend" Award, which honors individuals who have distinguished themselves either as golfers or for their involvement with the golf community in the Pacific Northwest over an extended period of time.

Golf runs deeply in the Mulflur family, and me with them. Her father Bill is a long-time sportswriter for Oregon-based newspapers and regional golf publications, including the now-defunct Oregon Journal and Portland's major daily, The Oregonian. I met Bill back in the late 1980s, and he contributed historical photos from his personal archives for my 1991 book, "The Northwest Golfer's Almanac."

Here's what MaryLou had to say about her three-plus decades at the UW and her current team during our Q&A session.

Jeff Shelley: Despite losing two players (SooBin Kim and Jing Yan) to the LPGA Tour before the start of the season, how have you rallied your team to reel off a record-breaking six victories in eight tournaments?

MaryLou Mulflur: I wish I could take credit for all the wins! Three of those wins came in the fall when we had SooBin and Jing in our lineup, albeit not for every tournament. This team truly rallied around each other when they found out in December that those two were leaving to pursue their dream of playing professionally. There was no whining or complaining as they were happy for their teammates.

JS: The UW was a preseason No. 1 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings, and even though Kim and Yan have moved on, the Huskies remain the top-ranked women's college golf team. What are the special qualities of this squad that help make it so successful?

MLM: They rallied around each other, with each other and for each other in a way I have never seen in 31-plus years of coaching. They are having a tremendous amount of fun with each other and every day brings all of us something to laugh about.

JS: Who has been the most surprising performer(s) on this year's UW team?

MLM: I can honestly say that there has not been any one player that has performed at a level that surprises us. All of them have contributed at different times and no one person more so than any other.

JS: It looks like, once again, the Pac-12 is loaded, with Southern Cal, UCLA and Arizona all ranked in the top-10 and Stanford at No. 14. What teams in the conference are you particularly impressed with and why?

MLM: USC for their consistent success over an extended period of time; they have won three national championships in an 11-year span. There is a reason the Pac-12 is called "the Conference of Champions."

JS: Your highest finish has been sixth (in both 2004 and 2006) in the NCAA Championships, with 10 of your teams making it to the final tournament of the year. Has there been any connecting thread that has led to the consistent success of the UW women's golf teams?

MLM: Each team is unique in their own way. The common thread I would say was that no one cared who got the credit. It didn't matter "what number" they played.

JS: How difficult has it been to recruit players to an area of the country (Seattle) that's been stereotyped as rainy, cold and not particularly golf-friendly? How do you address that?

MLM: We are very upfront in the recruiting process and certainly weather is included in that conversation. My standard statement is "If you want 80 degrees and sunshine every day this is not the place for you." However, if you want to learn to play in all types of conditions on all types of golf courses it is a fantastic place to be. Our team members are what I call "tougher than the average bear." We take a lot of pride in what we do and where we come from.

JS: You're in your 32nd season at the UW. What players over the years are among your favorites, and why? How connected to the current team are your former players?

MLM: Well, that's not fair! That's like asking a parent which child is their favorite!! In no particular order, Paige Mackenzie ('06), Kelli Kamimura ('02), Meg Maedo ('95), Dodie Mazzuca ('97). They were all different but shared a tremendous desire to succeed. I do try to have my former players speak to our current players when the opportunity presents itself. Those who have been or currently are on (the LPGA) Tour are extremely helpful to those just getting out there. Being a professional golfer is not all about collecting big, fat checks on Sunday afternoons; there is so much more to it than that. It's great to have people ready to help at the drop of a hat.

JS: What are your thoughts on the revised format of the 2015 NCAA Golf Championships?

MLM: It is going to be interesting for sure. We have never played a championship in a match-play format. To me it is very strange that you would change the format you have used for the ENTIRE YEAR for that one week to declare your champion. Kind of like making the Men's Final Four a three-on-three tournament. Folks say it will be more exciting, which will be interesting to see if that is actually the case. There is that expression, "I don't care what they say, as long as they're talking about me." People will definitely be talking about this new format.

JS: Does your team have any familiarity with the site of this year's NCAA Championships - the Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla.? If not, how will you help prepare them for the challenge of a different type of golf course than you usually play?

MLM: The team does not. However, our associate head coach, Andrea VanderLende, is from Florida and was an All-American at the University of Florida. She knows the course well and will be a great resource in our preparations leading up to the championship as well as the week of the championship itself.

JS: As a Portland native and longtime Seattle resident, what are your thoughts on the U.S. Open finally coming to the Pacific Northwest when the major championship is held this June at Chambers Bay near Tacoma? What do you know about the course and how do you think the world's best players will perform on this all-fescue links? Are you going?

MLM: FINALLY is right! We have such great golf courses in the Northwest; it's about time the USGA got on board. We have had the pleasure of playing Chambers Bay a few times over the last several years. Of course, a lot will depend on how the USGA sets up the golf course and I would imagine the winning score would be around 4- to 6-under par. It will be a great test for the players and an absolutely gorgeous venue for a U.S. Open Championship. Not sure if I am going or not, gotta find a ticket!!

Jeff Shelley is the editorial director of Cybergolf.

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