Listen Here
By Megan Hite, HiteM@Findlay.edu
UF Mary Mulcahy was announced as the top individual women’s golfer in Division II by the NCAA on Nov. 15.
Mulcahy is a junior here at the University and majoring in finance. She finished this fall season with a record scoring average of 71.27. Mulcahy earned the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Athlete of the Week four times and holds the record for most wins in the NCAA women’s golf program.
“It means a lot more knowing from where I started and where I’ve come; it feels like all the hard work is paying off now,” Mulcahy said. “It’s a really good feeling.”
Mulcahy shared about her time on the UF women’s golf team over the years and explained how far she has come as an athlete.
“My freshmen year, there were quite a few girls on the team. We were all trying to compete for the top five spots to play, which made that a really good year and we won the National Championships,” Mulcahy said. “Sophomore year, we had success and finished fifth. This year, we have a smaller team but we are all really hard workers; the biggest difference this year is mentally we have a lot more confidence.”
This year the UF women’s golf program faced challenging schools in tournaments, due to the recent success of the program over the years.
“This year for our women’s golf program has been the toughest schedule we have ever played. We were playing the best teams in the country every tournament we played in,” Mulcahy said.
While facing the toughest teams yet, Mulcahy’s confidence didn’t fall short. While this season brought her much success, Mulcahy discussed what motivated her.
“It’s more fun when you are playing well and winning — that makes everything more fun. You would be lying if you said it didn’t make it more fun to win; but to me it’s all the same, winning or losing, you still have to work and seeing your teammates succeed makes it easier too,” Mulcahy said. “Representing the University of Findlay is always an honor too.”
Mulcahy expressed the struggles and advantages of being a student athlete, balancing both academics and athletics while planning to graduate a year early.
“In the spring, we have practices six days a week, with one day off. In the fall, we have practices five days a week with two days off. Each day we practice for about three hours,” Mulcahy said. “For golf, a lot of our tournaments are on Mondays and Tuesdays. We are not here [at UF] from Saturday to Tuesday, so we miss a lot of school. You have to find your own balance, talk to your professors, create your own schedule and really try to stick to it.”
As she shared the intense schedule, she offered a few tips along with advice to UF student-athletes.
“Try to have fun as much as you can. I think this year the reason I had the most success was that I tried to enjoy it and didn’t put too much pressure on myself,” Mulcahy said. “Enjoy what you’re doing now because you’re not always going to be playing your college sport.”
