Staying Firm No Matter the Standing
Kaneshiro’s steady career has her climbing
Mike Brohard
Situations change. Kara Kaneshiro does not.
Enter a program as a freshman without any real pressure on you – not with two of the best golfers in the history of the Colorado State women’s program in their senior seasons – and create some. Challenge them. Put up one of the best seasons ever.
Flash forward a season. She’s still just a sophomore, but all eyes are on her. She is the Rams’ undisputed No. 1, and the flag is hers to carry. So, she does. Plays even better.
“She’s always felt like she counts. She’s never had a tournament where she could kinda sluff off,” CSU coach Laura Cilek said, the team entering play at the Mountain West Tournament at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif., on this day. “Since last fall, she’s been one of our top players and she’s embraced that. It’s not just at tournaments, it’s at practice. In every area she’s pushing to lead, and lead by actions, play, growth, all of those areas. She’s been a pivotal person for us.”
As a freshman, the product of Honolulu, Hawaii posted the fourth-best season in program history with a stroke average of 73.09. It was, by far, the best debut season by a Ram. Flash forward a year, she has trimmed that to 72.59, which would stand No. 2 on the single-season list.
Combine them, she’ll come out the back end No. 1 on the career chart, now possessing the 50 rounds necessary to qualify. Her career average of 72.89 per round will have her as the only Ram to average below 73.
“I think I settled in pretty well for my freshman year. Having a good freshman year, the expectations go up an awful lot,” she said. “I never really considered it until this season started up. I think I had a really strong spring season, and I’m just trying to close it out well at conference and see what happens.
“This year I was trying to be a lot more present mentally and take things one shot at a time and see what happens rather than trying to post a score; trusting the process more. It was more mental. For the most part, my season’s been consistent. There have been a few bumps.”
Bumps will happen over the course of playing a hole, a round, a season. Bumps are expected. Preventing them from becoming mountains is the key, which Kaneshiro has excelled at as a Ram.
In a word, her season has been consistent, fall to spring and headed into the most crucial time of the year. She experienced one of those “bumps” in her last outing, but it doesn’t faze her. This tournament, though it leans toward the most important one to date, is still just a tournament. It is still an opportunity to play and play well.
Cilek concurs with her player mental management has been the biggest step for Kaneshiro as a sophomore.
“She’s a very simple person. Probably the most simple player I’ve ever had, and I think that helps her,” Cilek said. “She’s able to go out there and literally play shot by shot and be aggressive, and that’s all she’s thinking about. That simplicity is what we all strive for.
“When we were in Georgia, she didn’t play well the first day. She overcomplicated everything, it was drastic, and you could see she was thinking about way too much. Last year, she had that happen more often. This year, that was the first time, and it was April. That’s the growth we’re seeing with her. She’s able to be sharp in that mental area.”
It’s just continuously pushing those limits and striving to be better every day.Kara Kaneshiro
Considering her youth, and the standing she’s had to accept on the roster, being as steady as they come is rather impressive to her teammates.
If last year's Mountain West Freshman of the Year is feeling any pressure about being in the No. 1 spot or having to step into more of a leadership role, she’s never showed those factors weigh on her at all. Maybe it’s mind over matter, or that none of it is simply on her mind.
“I don’t think she really thinks about it. I think she’s handled it great,” senior Katie Stinchcomb said. “I don’t think her mentality has changed from last year to this year. Last year she was always trying her best, and wherever that put her on the team is where that put her. This year is the same mentality.
“She just does it. I don’t know how she does it. She’s just such a great player.”
Don’t forget a great person, either. Cilek definitely does not, feeling it is part of what makes her a good role model for the team. The roster this season consists of a pair of freshmen, Jacinda Lee and Ebba Thalen, and if they ever required an example of how to do things, all they had to do was watch her.
Kaneshiro, by nature, will never be the vocal leader. She will be the example, however. Not just on the course, but off it. At practice and away from the game, as well. She does so very much in the same mode as Andrea Bergsdottir before her.
“She’s been a great leader and she’s a quiet leader. When she is practicing, when she is playing, she’s like Andrea in that way where people follow,” Cilek said. “It’s important to have that in a program. It’s not always the most vocal person who is the most important, it is who is hitting those shots you want to hit, and you want to go follow that. Kara is that in those areas. With freshmen coming next year too, I’m excited about her continuing to lead in those ways.”
What the whole team is excited about now is the upcoming tournament. Like the rest of the field, the Rams have had some highs (winning in Hawaii) and some lows. They are a concoction of youth and experience, each heading into the field with their own resume.
Individually or as a team, the tournament is the one chance to extend the season to the NCAA Regional round by winning. Kaneshiro isn’t making that part of her equation, ready to take on the three days the way she’s taken on her previous 27 rounds, with a still mindset.
You use what you can, and for Stinchcomb, she’s relying on the fact she’s been playing well as of late, especially after missing the fall due to an injury. A jolt of confidence is nice. Just being able to play is even better.
“I think good golf is always a good thing. I always try to go into tournaments thinking that anything can happen,” Stinchcomb said. “Try not to have any expectations but be in the moment. The time you tee off and say I’m shooting under par today is when it doesn’t go so well.
“My mentality is a little different, especially with the injury last semester. I’m just happy for the opportunity and just to be out there. Yes, it is a number at the end, and we want good results, but at the same time, when I’m playing, I’m constantly reminding myself where I was six months ago and how happy I am to be out there.”
Credit Kaneshiro for taking it all as it is, whatever the is may be at the moment. Her stabilizer is the game she plays, a game which requires an approach which could care less about your standing on the team or in program history.
That’s the tricky part about golf, finding joy in a game where the random bounce can make a player flinch.
“When you hit good shots it’s really easy to be happy,” she joked. “That’s the fun part about golf, is you’re always trying to get better. There are always shots you could have saved out there. It’s just continuously pushing those limits and striving to be better every day.”
For her, the game is what matters. When in action, it’s the next shot which does, and for her, that’s the only situation she considers.
Support Colorado State Athletics: Tickets | Ram Club | Green And Gold Guard