Author: Leanne Zabala
Occidental College has become the third school in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) to offer women’s golf. For a few years, the SCIAC Conference has been looking to establish women’s golf as a varsity sport.
“The change is taking effect immediately,” head coach of Occidental’s Men and Women’s Golf Erik Johnson said. “The plan is to field a team by spring semester. Throughout the first semester we will be soliciting new members. We are going about this with the intent to build an NCAA Division Three competitive program.”
Recruiting won’t be too hard, says Johnson, as the interest level from prospective golfers has been very high in recent years. Training hasn’t even started yet, and the women’s program already has a strong player, Tori Leon (sophomore), who competed with the Men’s Golf Team last year.
“We couldn’t be more excited about the future of our golf program. Personally, I look at this as an opportunity to get the jump on our SCIAC competition. It’s important to me that we get off to a strong start and that begins with recruiting,” Coach Johnson said.
For others, the task of being the head coach of two golf teams would be a struggle, but for Johnson it doesn’t seem to be a problem at all. Johnson feels extremely confident in the abilities of his assistant coaches to recruit active golfers and train them for victory.
“I’m very fortunate that Athletic Director Jaime Hoffman has given me this responsibility. The bottom line is that successful athletic teams begin with a strong emphasis on recruiting qualified student-athletes. That is where we will put in a great deal of effort,” Johnson said.
“I had the opportunity to be part of the inaugural women’s golf program at Claremont McKenna, and am passionate about helping to start the program here. Golf is a fantastic sport and I have a desire to share the game with as many student-athletes as are interested,” Assistant Coach Elizabeth Butterick said.
As far as funding goes, Occidental College will be fully funding the new women’s program with the exact same budget as the men’s team. The athletic department’s fundraising unit, the Tiger Club, will also fund the team.
“This is a step forward in providing additional opportunities for Occidental’s female student-athlete population,” said. “Already among us is one of the finest DIII women’s golfers, Tori Leon. Building a team around her should be relatively easy. Further, Tori can now be remembered, after her career as a Tiger, as a pioneer of Oxy women’s golf. I anticipate good things in short time.”
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