The NYU men’s and women’s golf teams open up spring play at the Jekyll Island Invitational in Georgia on Friday, March 21. Led by head coach Brad Johnson, both teams finished fourth in the UAA Championships in the fall and are looking to close out their respective seasons strong.
Despite being a historically strong program, the men’s team has not made the NCAA championships since 2022. The Violets’ leading players are junior captain Ryan Leung and sophomore Jomyuth Luangtana-anan, who was the Liberty League Rookie of the Year in his first season at NYU. This season, half of the men’s roster is first-year students, and while the young team had a somewhat disappointing fall semester, the players are looking for improvement in the spring.
“Last semester, the team struggled a little bit,” Leung said. “We had a really young team. I was the oldest player on the team being a junior, which is extremely young. We are taking almost three freshmen to every tournament.”
Despite the Violets’ relative lack of experience, the team has shown a commitment to getting better. Though golf is an individual sport, it is still crucial for the team to push each other toward improvement.
“As a team, we work well together with our chemistry and work ethic,” Leung said. “Everybody on the team is very committed, and we all show up to practice every day with a good attitude, looking to improve.”
Though the team would love to make the NCAA championships, it is more focused on short-term goals.
“If we could average a team score per round of eight over, we would be trending upwards, and that would put us in a competitive position to be successful,” Leung said. “I think we can’t just put a huge goal of making the national championships. That would be too broad.”The women’s team, which has seven returning golfers from its 12th place finish nationally last season, is primed for another season. After a strong 2023-24 season, where the team finished third in the region, last semester was also successful with the Violets ranked ninth in the nation heading into spring play.
The women’s team has a powerful lineup top to bottom. From first-years, such as Naomi Tan, to the more experienced members of the team, such as juniors Srishti Dhurandhar and Tiya Chowdary, the Violets are poised for another top finish nationally. Senior captain Madison Phung is optimistic about the team’s outlook.
“We really had a solid showing in the fall season,” Phung said. “I think we have things that we can improve on, but for the most part, we’re headed on the right track.”
The Violets are playing well, but there is always room for improvement — especially when the players have lofty ambitions.
“The team goals this year are to improve our ranking by having a strong showing throughout the year and to qualify for nationals,” Phung said. “We want to prove we can compete with any of the other teams in the country.”
The Violets’ success does not come without obstacles. For both the men and women, golfing in the city can be a challenge.
“We have limited practice just because of the distance that we have to travel and also the rigor of NYU,” Leung said. “We still try to achieve the best results with what we have.”
NYU does not have a course to practice on in New York, so both teams have to travel to New Jersey to practice. Though inconvenient, this challenge has sharpened the Violets’ mental toughness and adaptability — skills that are vital in golf.
“I think as a team, we do really well adapting,” Phung said. “We don’t get as many opportunities as most teams to practice, which forces us to really have a lot of confidence in ourselves to be able to do well, and I think that is our biggest strength.”
Contact Matthew Singh at [email protected].
