TEMPE, Ariz. -- Linnea Strom is no shrinking violet when it comes to competition. The Sun Devils freshman golfer has already played in tournaments in Europe, Asia and the United States. She set a new Pac-12, 54-hole record to win the conference's individual title in April with a score of 11-under (205), and she is the No. 5 ranked player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
While that experience has steeled her for any challenge, Strom admitted life just won't feel right when she competes in the NCAA Tournament from May 20-25 at Eugene County Club in Eugene, Oregon without her teammates. The Sun Devils missed the team cut by two spots and seven strokes at the NCAA Regional from May 5-7 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
"It's going to be weird," said Strom, who was the only individual Sun Devil to qualify. "Even if it's an individual sport, this whole year we have traveled together and we have always supported each other on and off the golf course."
ASU coach Missy Farr-Kaye will be with Strom in Oregon, as will assistant coach Tiffany Tavee, but Strom will also get an unexpected boost from another Devil when she heads to Oregon on Tuesday. After playing in a U.S. Open qualifier, junior Monica Vaughn will fly to Oregon to be with her teammate.
Vaughn is from nearby Reedsport and knows the course in Eugene well, making her absence from this year's field doubly painful. That didn't stop her from supporting a teammate.
"Unfortunately, I won't be able to walk with Linnea during the practice round because I'll be flying back to Oregon that day, but I'll probably give her kind of a hole-by-hole of how I usually play the course and I will be out there watching her at least one day," Vaughn said. "I'll help her as much as she wants me to, and I'll be right there supporting her as well! Us Sun Devils stick together!"
Vaughn's gesture makes Farr-Kaye smile when she talks about it.
"I'm just devastated for Monica because she lives like an hour away from the course and I know what this would mean to her to play there," Farr-Kaye said. "To do what she's doing; that's the sign of a really good teammate."
Strom understands the atmosphere will be energy-charged in Oregon.
"Everything will be bigger with media and more people watching," she said. "The course is probably going to be tougher, too. It's important to stay focused and not make it bigger than it is. It's still me playing golf as normal."
That simple approach is what has allowed the freshman to adapt so quickly to life on foreign soil, and to excel so early in her college career.
"She has a wonderful temperament for this game," Farr-Kaye said. "She is able to recover quickly from bad shots, bad holes or a bad round."
Farr-Kaye saw it on display at the Wildcat Invitational in Tucson from March 14-15 in Tucson. Strom led after the first two days thanks to excellent putting and her trademark, consistent ball-striking, but she finished second after a third-round 75.
"I think she got nervous and she started to protect," Farr-Kaye said. "I said, 'when you get into the lead the goal is not to change anything. Keep being assertive and aggressive to the level you have been' but she got tentative and pulled back and made some mistakes.
"She handled it beautifully. She was upset, saying 'I need to figure it out,' but then at (the Pac-12 tournament) she came from behind and she just kept charging. She had this nothing-to-lose attitude; whatever happens, happens. Her birdie on the last hole was phenomenal. She hit this hybrid downhill over water. Killed it.
"I think if we're in that situation next week at the (NCAA) championship, she already has the maturity to handle it and that is a wonderful thing with her being a freshman."
Strom had no idea what to expect from her new home, and she found it difficult to leave her family and longtime coach, Ola Lindgren, behind in Sweden.
"I had been successful with my golf for years in Sweden so it was comfortable," she said. "I didn't know how my golf game would be when I got here, but it didn't take that long for me to get to know the coaches and the players. It's a small team and we always support each other.
"I'm comfortable with being here now, and playing good golf."