"IF YOU LIKE GOLF"
online golf column
by
Chris Dortch

October 14, 2007

When Colette Murray was hired to revive the long-dormant Tennessee-Chattanooga women’s golf program in February 2006, she didn’t even have a desk or a computer, let alone players.

Twenty months later, the Lady Mocs have become a force to be reckoned with, having won their first three tournaments and vaulting to a No. 49 national ranking after a 23-year layoff. How did Murray go from no desk and no players to taking no prisoners? That’s a neat little story, and it begins at the home of golf—Scotland.

Murray is Scottish, and like an ever-growing number of female international players, she trekked to the United States to play college golf, at Jacksonville State. She was such an apt pupil for coach James Hobbs, who runs the Gamecocks’ men’s and women’s programs, that she eventually became his assistant. When Hobbs heard UTC was reviving its women’s program, he called men’s coach Mark Guhne, who had some input in the hiring of the new women’s coach, and recommended Murray, who at the time was only 24.

If anyone at UTC was worried about Murray’s age, those concerns were quickly dashed by the energy, enthusiasm and confidence she brought to the interview process. Asked whether she thought the Lady Mocs could contend in the Southern Conference, Murray said she had bigger targets in mind.

“My goal is to be in the top 20,” Murray said.

That brash proclamation got her the gig. With two fall tournaments to go, she’s 29 spots away from her goal.

Fittingly enough, the first player to buy into Murray’s rebuilding plans was Scottish, and Murray’s age was a factor. She used to compete against Kelly Brotherton in Under 21 tournaments in Scotland, and when Brotherton found out from her parents that Murray was starting a program in Chattanooga, she immediately wanted to become a part of it. Brotherton had played her freshman year at Colorado State, but during the course of a long, snowy winter there, she had plenty of time to question her choice of schools while her clubs were in dry dock. Brotherton wanted warmer climes, and the opportunity to play for a fellow Scot was too good to pass up.

Like her teammates, Brotherton jumped out to a great start this season, winning the Chris Banister Gamecock Classic at Jacksonville State. Her stroke average of 74.75 is second on the team.

During her year and a half without a team to coach, Murray played in as many amateur events as she could, reasoning that she might run into a player or two while she was competing. She found Kayla Stewart at the 2006 Tennessee Amateur. Or rather, Stewart found her. Stewart, from Cookeville, Tenn., played her freshman year at Memphis, but like Brotherton, was unhappy.

“When I first met coach Murray, the goals she talked about for her team where the same goals I had in mind,” Stewart said. “Just to hear her talk, you could feed off her enthusiasm. I knew she’d get good players in here and that we’d be good right off the bat.”

Stewart’s weakness before she came to Chattanooga was putting. With Murray’s emphasis on short-game practice, Stewart has become one of the nation’s top putters and has a tie for ninth, a tie for sixth and a tie for 13^th to show for it in her first three tournaments.

Murray’s next player acquisition came as a result of her Jacksonville State ties. A former player on the men’s team who’s from Australia told her about Emma de Groot, an emerging young player from his homeland that no one knew about.

“She wasn’t playing in the huge tournaments,” Murray said. “It’s not because she wasn’t good enough. She just didn’t play in them.”

De Groot begs to differ with her coach.

 “I really didn’t start getting good until I was about 18,” said de Groot, a multi-sport athlete who reluctantly dropped soocer and basketball to focus on golf. Once she began studying the swing under a coach who includes LPGA star Karrie Webb among his pupils, de Groot began making rapid improvement.

That’s carried over to U.S. college golf—de Groot has finished second in all three of the Lady Mocs’ tournaments.

“She’ll win one soon,” Murray said. “It’s been funny; so many coaches have come up to me and said ‘How’d you get her?’ ”

On a trip home during the summer of 2006, Murray spotted Christine Wolf, a native of Austria, in a junior tournament and loved her course demeanor and short game. Wolf’s goal was to play college golf in the U.S., and she too was impressed by Murray’s bold talk of how high the program can climb. Wolf finished fifth in her first tournament and has two other top 13 finishes.

Murray also had a recruit from Sweden lined up, but when she decided not to come, Murray switched into scramble mode. She had just four players but needed five to compete. Luckily, she found sophomore Katie Taylor, who played for Tennessee Tech last year. Like Brotherton and Stewart, she was unhappy with her first choice of schools, so she transferred and was immediately eligible. Taylor tied for 14^th in her first tournament and has proven to be much more than an 11^th-hour fill-in.

“I’d have been in trouble without her,” Murray said. “She’s a good player who’ll get better because she works so hard.”

Once Murray got her team together in August and began practicing, she had an idea she might have something on her hands. So when the Lady Mocs won their first three tournaments, Murray wasn’t the least bit surprised.

“I don’t want to sound cocky or anything, but I knew they were good,” Murray said. “So to be honest, I did think we could win our first three tournaments. I thought we could come out and have an immediate impact.”

How’s this for an impact? Golfweek has chosen Chattanooga its team of the week twice this season, an honor matched only by Duke, perhaps the top program in women’s golf.

Murray has rubbed shoulders with Duke in more ways than one. She was befriended by coach Dan Brooks at her first-ever National Golf Coaches Association convention and later bonded with him in hurricane-batted New Orleans, helping Habitat for Humanities build new homes.

“I said if I ever need anything, just to call him,” Murray said. “And Martha Freitag [the Texas coach] has said the same thing.”

Murray also credits Guhne, who has made his own impressive progress with the Chattanooga men’s team, with helping her along the way.

“You think she’s gotten everybody’s attention around the country?” Guhne said. “I’m not sure I’d have told you they would win their first three tournaments, but I expected Colette to be successful. She’s a hard worker, a great recruiter, understands the game of golf and relates well to her players. She’s got the whole package. UTC women’s golf will be a factor nationally as long as we can keep her here.”

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Keeping on the subject of UTC golf, sophomore Derek Rende had such a big lead in the ZCup Standings he didn’t even need to play in the Chattanooga TPC to secure city Player-of-the-Year honors. He finished with 281 points, 58 ahead of TPC winner Josh Coley.

The award is just another line on Rende’s rapidly expanding golfing resume that includes winning the Tennessee Open last May and playing in the U.S. Amateur in August. He’s currently the 20^th-ranked player in Division I.

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