As the conclusion of her collegiate career approaches, the most successful women’s golfer in Idaho history prepares for her final appearance in the NCAA West Regional qualifiers. Senior Kayla Mortellaro is coming off her second consecutive WAC Tournament title and will have one last chance at the NCAA Championships when she competes in the regional qualifiers May 10 in Erie, Colo.
Mortellaro will be one of six individuals competing in the regional tournament hosted at the Colorado National Golf Club. An East Regional will be hosted at Penn State while a Central Regional will be hosted at Ohio State.
Based on her No. 29 national ranking, Mortellaro received an at-large bid to her fourth consecutive regional event and in order to qualify for the NCAA National Championships, she’ll have to be one of the top two individual finishers in the West Regional. Six individual qualifiers and 24 teams make up each regional tournament.
Though the field will be much more competitive, Mortellaro won’t prepare for the regionals any differently, despite a significant change in elevation.
“It’s just something that you deal with when you get there, you’ll hit a couple of shots and realize that the ball is going to go a bit further at elevation and then you just have to make that adjustment when you get there,” she said.
While Moscow is situated at 2,579 feet, Erie is substantially higher at 5,130 feet. Mortellaro is new to the course she’ll be competing on, but Idaho coach Lisa Johnson has researched the same course that men’s golfer Jarred Bossio played on during last season’s regional event.
“It is at altitude so the ball will fly farther,” Johnson said. “I’m not sure if the course is running out, playing fast or if it’s wet. I do know that ball striking is one of Kayla’s strengths so playing a longer course fits into her strengths as a solid ball striker.”
Mortellaro isn’t the only WAC golfer represented in the West Region, and the senior will have another chance to compete with New Mexico State’s Demi Mak, who she outlasted in a playoff round at the WAC Tournament last week.
While Mortellaro benefited from team support during the conference tournament, she’ll be alone with Johnson at the regional event.
Although she doesn’t believe it will put her at a disadvantage, Mortellaro describes the loneliness as something that is “kind of boring.”
“You don’t really get to interact with the teams too much because they’re doing their thing and you’re pretty much just with your individuals,” Mortellaro said. “When I was at regionals my freshman year, they only took three individuals per region and they were all seniors so they were off doing their thing so I was stuck with the coaches.”
However, Mortellaro will have the opportunity to interact with Mak and four other individual qualifiers traveling to Erie from North Dakota State, Mississippi State, BYU and Colorado State.
Johnson claims it’s rare to come across a player as talented as Mortellaro and if the senior sticks to the game plan, she’s capable of winning any event.
“Her teammates have witnessed every day a professional caliber player,” Johnson said. “I believe that every time Kayla steps on the golf course, she’s good enough to win… The winning and losing in golf is somewhat out of a player’s control. All Kayla can do is play as well as she can.”
And if Mortellaro plays as well as she can Thursday, she sets herself up with an opportunity to play in her first ever championship finals, which take place May 22 to 25 at the Vanderbilt Legends Club in Franklin, Tenn.
Theo Lawson can be reached at [email protected]