University of North Texas Athletics
Tan's Surge This Year A Key To UNT's Success
5/9/2021 9:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
DENTON - For the past couple of years, the success of the North Texas women's golf program has been tied to several people, but perhaps no one more than Lauren Cox.
The "super senior," playing her fifth year because of the COVID-19 waiver granted by the NCAA, has rewritten the program record book and been the team leader for years now.
But one of Cox's teammates is in hot pursuit of her status as the leader of the program, as junior Audrey Tan heads into the NCAA Regional Monday-Wednesday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, fresh off helping her team to its first-ever conference championship as the program's first-ever individual conference champion.
"If Audrey keeps going the way she is going, she will break a lot of the records set by Lauren," UNT head coach Michael Akers said. "Audrey has become the golfer she has become because she is 100% dedicated."
To know just how remarkable Tan's rise has been from a 16-year-old, wide-eyed freshman moving into her dorm room at UNT to a mentally sharp surgeon on the golf course, one most know her background in golf, or lack thereof.
While many collegiate golfers were likely swinging toy golf clubs before they were out of diapers and playing competitively throughout the junior ranks, Tan was a tennis player and a competitive rhythmic gymnast until picking up golf at the late age of 13.
"My dad got my brother and I into the sport, but I took it up a couple years later than him," said Tan, whose twin brother redshirted at Oral Roberts and had his redshirt freshman season derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic before returning home to Malaysia, where he is currently studying. "I actually had no intention of playing college golf until nine months before I came. I didn't have much knowledge on the process, but had a few older friends who were applying, which piqued my interest. Eventually, I applied and was fortunate to be able to find such a good school in a short period of time."
So a day before her 17th birthday, after dropping her brother off at Oral Roberts in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Tan's parents brought her to Denton to leave her almost 10,000 miles from their home in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
"It was definitely nerve-racking but I was also very excited," Tan said. "Adjusting to life here was a huge challenge, but it has been worth every obstacle I've had to overcome and I wouldn't trade it for anything."
"I am always impressed with how my international players come to the USA and adjust to everything thrown at them," Akers added. "Audrey was very young when she arrived on campus. I look for recruits that are independent and will be able to handle school and golf. Audrey has great parents who raised her right."
While it might seem that she had little to no support system in Denton other than her new coach and new teammates after being moved across the world and thrust into a new culture, Tan wasn't totally alone. Patricia Sinolungan, a junior from Indonesia, was also a young (had just recently turned 17) freshman from halfway across the globe and the two had played a few times together in tournaments on the junior circuit in Asia.
They were almost immediately inseparable and have been roommates for the past two years.
"Patty and I met briefly at a few tournaments but were never that close until college," Tan said. "We've been here together since Day 1, figuring out this new environment and culture, and I definitely would not have survived this experience without her. She played and continues to play such a big role in my life, and I am extremely grateful for her. She is an incredible person and golfer and overall, just being around her makes me a better person."
Sinolungan said having Tan to share the experience of being in a new part of the world coupled with starting college was a big help for her, mainly because they could find so much in common coming from countries with similar cultures.
When asked when she knew she'd found a lifelong friend in Tan, Sinolungan couldn't exactly narrow it down but had a good idea of when their tight bond began.
"I think it was a culmination of many things, but one of them may have been when we went to Six Flags together a team and she would ride all of the rides with me, even the scariest ones," Sinolungan said. "That was really a moment I remember. On a serious note, she's a great golfer but also, more importantly, a great person who is ambitious but also cares deeply about the people around her. She's someone I can relate to a lot, and we enjoy pushing each other to get better together through all the hours we put in at practice, our games we play on the course and the things we do outside of the course, as well. We did that a lot our freshman year, and that's when I felt like she was a person I want to stick around with."
Though Tan is playing the best golf of her career right now with four top-20 showings in the team's five events this spring, including a T-10th, a T-2nd at The Bruzzy and the win at the C-USA Championship, it hasn't always been easy.
Tan said it took a lot of adjustment with a swing coach over the years to battle the extraordinary flexibility her time in rhythmic gymnastics provided, and it's something she still combats in her swing from time to time. She also has always battled a mental block due to her small stature and always trying to hit the ball longer.
"Initially, I had to work really hard to build the strength to counter that flexibility," Tan said. "It was pretty difficult in the beginning, and I credit a lot to my swing coach. I was also really small and had to find ways to develop speed and overcome that mental barrier of needing to be a certain size to hit the ball far, and that is still a challenge to date."
Some tinkering with her swing, coupled with the recent acquisition of a new ball and driver has taken her game to another level, to the point where her stroke average this year is second on the team, for the third year in a row, to Cox at a career-best 73.33.
In fact, that 73.33 is the third-best number in program history behind Cox's this year (72.33) and Cox's last year (73.30). Cox's 2018-19 average is the fourth-best mark in program history, and Tan's from last year comes in fifth on the all-time list.
The pinnacle of Tan's career, so far, came two weeks ago in Dade City, Florida, when Tan won the individual conference championship with a 54-hole program record score of 66-74-67-207 and the team rolled to its first conference title with a dominant final day.
And of all the changes she's made, the changes in her mental approach have been the biggest key to her success.
"Audrey has improved dramatically with her mental game," Akers said. "She is now saying the right things and her body language is much better on the course."
"It's been a perspective change, really," Tan added. "A change in how I approach the game. Results are key, but they are secondary to me. My focus is to play as carefree as possible on the course and at the root of it all, to enjoy being out there. I have a lot of gratitude for the opportunity to be here and play this game, especially during this pandemic."
The next order of business for Tan and her teammates is the NCAA Regional in Baton Rouge, where they will try to finish in the top six to move on to the NCAA Championship in Scottsdale, Arizona, later this month. It's the final step toward the ultimate prize, in which Akers has never had the honor of coaching. This will be the first time he's taken a UNT team to the Regional round and just the second time for a UNT women's team in program history.
"This is the best team I've ever coached," said Akers, who took several Texas State teams to the Regional round before coming to North Texas. "There is no doubt in my mind we can advance to nationals. We will have to manage the golf course and minimize mistakes. The ladies are done with finals and have really gone the extra mile leading up to the Regional."
"We have proven we can play with anyone all year," Akers added. "I am a firm believer in making our schedule as hard as possible. We are going to see teams at the Regional that we have already played against and beaten."
Whether it's the Regional or the NCAA Championship at the end of the month, Akers and the rest of the program are coming to grips with the fact that Cox and all of her records will be things of the past when the 2021-22 season begins.
"She is an amazing person," Tan said of her teammate. "I cannot express how grateful I am to be able to learn from her, as she has guided me in this new environment and culture. She is also an incredible golfer and someone I look up to and aspire to be."Â
Throughout his time at North Texas and his building of a perennial NCAA tournament-caliber team, Akers has consistently alluded to the fact he wanted to build depth with like-minded players who have designs of playing at the next level and want to work as hard as one must to get to that level.
With Cox departing after this year, Akers knows he has a capable leader waiting in the wings in Tan, as well as a deep group of several players who he believes could win a tournament in any given week. Tan also now has the confidence to be the team leader and knows she still has a lot to accomplish before her time in Denton is over, beginning with a spot in the NCAA Championship in a couple of weeks. But she also never hesitates to stop and look back to appreciate what she's done.
"It is a testament to all the work that I put into this game and a sign of how far I have come," Tan said. "Oftentimes, it is so easy to get caught up with the next event and the next thing that you forget to look back and appreciate the journey. It means so much to me as I look back three years ago when I first came or even a year ago at where I was mentally. I feel like I have so much more to give to this game and so much more to learn, as well, and every round or practice session presents itself a new set of challenges and lessons."
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The "super senior," playing her fifth year because of the COVID-19 waiver granted by the NCAA, has rewritten the program record book and been the team leader for years now.
But one of Cox's teammates is in hot pursuit of her status as the leader of the program, as junior Audrey Tan heads into the NCAA Regional Monday-Wednesday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, fresh off helping her team to its first-ever conference championship as the program's first-ever individual conference champion.
"If Audrey keeps going the way she is going, she will break a lot of the records set by Lauren," UNT head coach Michael Akers said. "Audrey has become the golfer she has become because she is 100% dedicated."
To know just how remarkable Tan's rise has been from a 16-year-old, wide-eyed freshman moving into her dorm room at UNT to a mentally sharp surgeon on the golf course, one most know her background in golf, or lack thereof.
While many collegiate golfers were likely swinging toy golf clubs before they were out of diapers and playing competitively throughout the junior ranks, Tan was a tennis player and a competitive rhythmic gymnast until picking up golf at the late age of 13.
"My dad got my brother and I into the sport, but I took it up a couple years later than him," said Tan, whose twin brother redshirted at Oral Roberts and had his redshirt freshman season derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic before returning home to Malaysia, where he is currently studying. "I actually had no intention of playing college golf until nine months before I came. I didn't have much knowledge on the process, but had a few older friends who were applying, which piqued my interest. Eventually, I applied and was fortunate to be able to find such a good school in a short period of time."
So a day before her 17th birthday, after dropping her brother off at Oral Roberts in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Tan's parents brought her to Denton to leave her almost 10,000 miles from their home in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
"It was definitely nerve-racking but I was also very excited," Tan said. "Adjusting to life here was a huge challenge, but it has been worth every obstacle I've had to overcome and I wouldn't trade it for anything."
"I am always impressed with how my international players come to the USA and adjust to everything thrown at them," Akers added. "Audrey was very young when she arrived on campus. I look for recruits that are independent and will be able to handle school and golf. Audrey has great parents who raised her right."
While it might seem that she had little to no support system in Denton other than her new coach and new teammates after being moved across the world and thrust into a new culture, Tan wasn't totally alone. Patricia Sinolungan, a junior from Indonesia, was also a young (had just recently turned 17) freshman from halfway across the globe and the two had played a few times together in tournaments on the junior circuit in Asia.
They were almost immediately inseparable and have been roommates for the past two years.
"Patty and I met briefly at a few tournaments but were never that close until college," Tan said. "We've been here together since Day 1, figuring out this new environment and culture, and I definitely would not have survived this experience without her. She played and continues to play such a big role in my life, and I am extremely grateful for her. She is an incredible person and golfer and overall, just being around her makes me a better person."
Sinolungan said having Tan to share the experience of being in a new part of the world coupled with starting college was a big help for her, mainly because they could find so much in common coming from countries with similar cultures.
When asked when she knew she'd found a lifelong friend in Tan, Sinolungan couldn't exactly narrow it down but had a good idea of when their tight bond began.
"I think it was a culmination of many things, but one of them may have been when we went to Six Flags together a team and she would ride all of the rides with me, even the scariest ones," Sinolungan said. "That was really a moment I remember. On a serious note, she's a great golfer but also, more importantly, a great person who is ambitious but also cares deeply about the people around her. She's someone I can relate to a lot, and we enjoy pushing each other to get better together through all the hours we put in at practice, our games we play on the course and the things we do outside of the course, as well. We did that a lot our freshman year, and that's when I felt like she was a person I want to stick around with."
Though Tan is playing the best golf of her career right now with four top-20 showings in the team's five events this spring, including a T-10th, a T-2nd at The Bruzzy and the win at the C-USA Championship, it hasn't always been easy.
Tan said it took a lot of adjustment with a swing coach over the years to battle the extraordinary flexibility her time in rhythmic gymnastics provided, and it's something she still combats in her swing from time to time. She also has always battled a mental block due to her small stature and always trying to hit the ball longer.
"Initially, I had to work really hard to build the strength to counter that flexibility," Tan said. "It was pretty difficult in the beginning, and I credit a lot to my swing coach. I was also really small and had to find ways to develop speed and overcome that mental barrier of needing to be a certain size to hit the ball far, and that is still a challenge to date."
Some tinkering with her swing, coupled with the recent acquisition of a new ball and driver has taken her game to another level, to the point where her stroke average this year is second on the team, for the third year in a row, to Cox at a career-best 73.33.
In fact, that 73.33 is the third-best number in program history behind Cox's this year (72.33) and Cox's last year (73.30). Cox's 2018-19 average is the fourth-best mark in program history, and Tan's from last year comes in fifth on the all-time list.
The pinnacle of Tan's career, so far, came two weeks ago in Dade City, Florida, when Tan won the individual conference championship with a 54-hole program record score of 66-74-67-207 and the team rolled to its first conference title with a dominant final day.
And of all the changes she's made, the changes in her mental approach have been the biggest key to her success.
"Audrey has improved dramatically with her mental game," Akers said. "She is now saying the right things and her body language is much better on the course."
"It's been a perspective change, really," Tan added. "A change in how I approach the game. Results are key, but they are secondary to me. My focus is to play as carefree as possible on the course and at the root of it all, to enjoy being out there. I have a lot of gratitude for the opportunity to be here and play this game, especially during this pandemic."
The next order of business for Tan and her teammates is the NCAA Regional in Baton Rouge, where they will try to finish in the top six to move on to the NCAA Championship in Scottsdale, Arizona, later this month. It's the final step toward the ultimate prize, in which Akers has never had the honor of coaching. This will be the first time he's taken a UNT team to the Regional round and just the second time for a UNT women's team in program history.
"This is the best team I've ever coached," said Akers, who took several Texas State teams to the Regional round before coming to North Texas. "There is no doubt in my mind we can advance to nationals. We will have to manage the golf course and minimize mistakes. The ladies are done with finals and have really gone the extra mile leading up to the Regional."
"We have proven we can play with anyone all year," Akers added. "I am a firm believer in making our schedule as hard as possible. We are going to see teams at the Regional that we have already played against and beaten."
Whether it's the Regional or the NCAA Championship at the end of the month, Akers and the rest of the program are coming to grips with the fact that Cox and all of her records will be things of the past when the 2021-22 season begins.
"She is an amazing person," Tan said of her teammate. "I cannot express how grateful I am to be able to learn from her, as she has guided me in this new environment and culture. She is also an incredible golfer and someone I look up to and aspire to be."Â
Throughout his time at North Texas and his building of a perennial NCAA tournament-caliber team, Akers has consistently alluded to the fact he wanted to build depth with like-minded players who have designs of playing at the next level and want to work as hard as one must to get to that level.
With Cox departing after this year, Akers knows he has a capable leader waiting in the wings in Tan, as well as a deep group of several players who he believes could win a tournament in any given week. Tan also now has the confidence to be the team leader and knows she still has a lot to accomplish before her time in Denton is over, beginning with a spot in the NCAA Championship in a couple of weeks. But she also never hesitates to stop and look back to appreciate what she's done.
"It is a testament to all the work that I put into this game and a sign of how far I have come," Tan said. "Oftentimes, it is so easy to get caught up with the next event and the next thing that you forget to look back and appreciate the journey. It means so much to me as I look back three years ago when I first came or even a year ago at where I was mentally. I feel like I have so much more to give to this game and so much more to learn, as well, and every round or practice session presents itself a new set of challenges and lessons."
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Players Mentioned
Friday, November 04
Friday, July 08