AROUND THE GREENS
Coach, freshmen have UH women on roll

By Bill Kwon

Ashley Adleta, the interim coach of the University of Hawai'i women's team, has it poised for a run at the WAC tournament. "We're going there to win," Adleta says. "I feel we have a good chance." Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

"We're going there to win. I feel we have a real good chance," said Adleta, who replaced Marga Stubblefield as the women's coach in January after the team went through a disappointing fall season.

The fall season took its toll on one of UH's top freshmen, Sara Odelius of Sweden. Odelius was seriously thinking about transferring, even taking a recruiting trip.

"It was pretty close for a while," said Odelius, who played on the Swedish national team. "But I had a good feeling about the team. I saw that we had great potential and coach Ashley did some good things."

Another standout freshman, Maui's Dale Gammie, agreed that the team has come around since the autumn.

"We were a little shaky in the fall; we didn't do well," Gammie said. "But this spring we came together. We had a lot more belief in ourselves."

Playing Nos. 1 and 2 on the team, respectively, Odelius and Gammie consistently posted top-10 finishes this spring.

Gammie represented Maui at the Junior World Golf Championships in San Diego five times. It was during her fifth appearance in the age 15-to-17 division that she recorded her first — and so far — only hole in one at the Torrey Pines North 12th hole.

"She hits it so far. I wish I could hit it as far as she does," the 5-foot-11 Odelius said of Gammie, who averages 240 yards off the tee.

Odelius recently finished seventh in the BYU Dixie Classic in St. George, Utah, with a final-round 70 for her fifth top-10 finish this season.

Gammie, a St. Anthony's alum from Pukalani, Maui, had her best finish as runner-up in the Donnis Thompson Invitational at Kane'ohe Klipper, earning WAC golfer of the week honors.

"They are awesome for freshmen. We have one of the best freshman classes in the country," said Adleta, counting No. 3 Megan Stoddart, a Sacramento, Calif., native who's just coming around after an injury.

While Odelius has no thoughts about transferring now, the status of Adleta is still uncertain. Her $3,000-a-month contract ends in June and she has told UH athletic director Herman Frazier about her plans to leave.

"I've already told Herman they can't afford me," said Adleta, who was called out of retirement after being an assistant coach at Arizona State for seven years (1995 to 2001) when Grace Park was there.

"She has done a terrific job and the student-athletes on the team have enjoyed the relationship with her," Frazier said.

"Once the season is over, we'll sit down with Ashley and talk about where the program is headed. We still have to advertise the job (which currently pays $36,000 a year) because legal implications are involved."

It was the Arizona State connection between Adleta and Frazier (he worked at ASU before going to Alabama-Birmingham and then to Hawai'i) that persuaded Adleta, a 1994 ASU graduate, to take the job at midseason on an interim basis.

"I'd love for her to continue as coach," said Gammie, who feels the team has a good shot of not only winning the WAC to end Tulsa's five-year reign, but of going on to the NCAA West Regional for just the third time in the program's history. UH's best showing in the WAC tournament was a fourth-place finish in 2000.

The Rainbow women also could qualify for the regional if they're among the top 21 teams in the West. And they're ranked 21st right now, according to Adleta.

"I think the success they're having has given them a different energy this spring," she said. "When you're playing well, you're happy. I think Sara saw that. That's why she stayed."

Going through the Swedish national golf program helped Odelius develop the mental aspect of the game.

"You learn how to practice, how to work together, how to conduct yourself. Most of the golfers now on the tour have been in it," she said. "I might not hit the ball far, but I feel I can score. My short game and putting help me keep a good score."

Odelius thought about staying in Europe and turning professional out of high school, but decided to take the route of many Swedish golfers — going to the United States to play college golf.

Annika Sorenstam, who went to the University of Arizona before embarking on a Hall of Fame career on the LPGA Tour, isn't Odelius' role model. If anything, it's Jesper Parnevik.

"I like watching the guys (on the PGA Tour) play more than the girls. I can sit and watch it whenever it's on TV," Odelius said.

Odelius sent resumés to 30 different schools and "Hawai'i was the first one to call me," she said.

Odelius took only one of her allowable five recruiting trips, spending nearly as much time here (48 hours) as she did on an airplane.

Needless to say, she fell in love with Hawai'i: "beautiful weather and a chance to play golf all year round."

"I felt that if I'm going to go far away from home, I might as well go as far as Hawai'i," Odelius said. "At first, my parents thought I was joking. Then they got very excited. Now, they're looking forward to coming out here."

Now, if only Frazier can somehow convince — and come up with enough money — to keep Adleta here to continue working with her freshman standouts.

Bill Kwon can be reached at bkwon@aloha.net.