Ciera Min can thank her father, Marvin, for getting her into the game of golf at a young age.
He can also thank her for making him quit the game when he could no longer beat her.
“At least that’s what I tell people,” Min said laughing. “He thinks he can still outdrive me, but I don’t think so.”
The Gonzaga senior, who said she started playing golf to spend more time with her dad, has put together quite a successful four-year career with the Zags.
The three-time All-West Coast Conference selection will try to defend her only collegiate individual title at this week’s WCC Championships starting Thursday in Provo, Utah.
Min, who has 10 top-five finishes in 39 career events, shot a 6-under 66 in last year’s final round, the lowest in program history, to come back from eights shots down to win the conference title.
| PROFILE
Ciera Min
>> School: Gonzaga
>> Class: Senior
>> High school: Waiakea (2013)
CAREER STATISTICS
Year Event Rds Strokes Avg. 1 5 10
2013-14 11 32 2,396 74.88 — 4 5
2014-15 10 28 2,069 73.89 — 1 4
2015-16 9 26 1,934 74.38 1 2 2
2016-17 9 25 1,834 73.36 — 3 3
TOTAL 39 111 8,233 74.17 1 10 14
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“It was the highlight of my entire career, obviously,” Min said Tuesday in a phone interview. “Every year my goal is to win a tournament and I hadn’t done it until that one, and for it to be the conference championship was super, super special. It was a day I’ll never forget.”
Min had two top-five finishes last year heading into the WCC Championships and has three top-five finishes with two runner-ups this season.
Her stroke averagethis season is a career-best 73.36, but her spring season hasn’t been as successful as the fall, just like last year.
“After conference last season I ended up having a pretty good summer and then a really good fall season, but I’ve struggled a bit more (in the spring) than I hoped,” Min said. “It definitely wasn’t how I playing in the fall, but that was the same way going into conference last year and I went in focused on my game. I’m looking forward to do that again.”
Gonzaga’s golf program has been on the rise since landing Min out of Waiakea High School on the Big Island.
A two-time BIIF individual champion in high school, Min had opportunities to play all over the country, including at Oregon, Washington State, North Carolina and San Francisco.
She visited a lot of the schools but felt a special connection with coach Brad Rickel and the staff at Gonzaga.
Despite never visiting the school and wanting to play at a big-time Pac-12 school since the eighth grade, Min decided at the last minute to sign with the Zags.
“Gonzaga came into the picture quite late,” Min said. “Honestly, it was a tough decision. I remember being really stressed at that point, and I remember my mom telling me to stop thinking about it and focus on the school I was actually attending at the time.”
One of her best friends and high school teammate, Nani Yanagi, is a year older than her and had already signed with Washington State.
The two were practicing together one day when Yanagi realized what school Min would choose before Min did.
“She just kind of looked at me and said, ‘You’re going to Gonzaga, aren’t you?’” Min recalled. “She could just tell by the way I talked about the school and the program where I was headed and so I think I kind of had known in my heart where I was going. I just didn’t quite realize it.”
At the age of 7, Min said, her parents signed her up for golf, tennis and swimming and told her she had to make a choice of which sport she wanted to play by the end of the summer.
Min enjoyed all three, but her dad played golf, so she decided on that sport to spend more time with him.
Every day after school, her grandparents would pick her up and take her to practice. Her mom would then pick her up to come home for dinner and then her father would take her back to the driving range for one more practice session.
Her desire to spend more time with her family ultimately enabled her to receive a college scholarship and attain a college education, all while indulging in the sport she loves at a college she’ll never forget.
“Honestly, I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting lately because it’s my last few weeks here and every time I don’t think I would have chosen it any differently if I could do it all over again,” Min said. “I love the school, I love the community here and I’m going to spend another two years here for graduate school because I knew I wasn’t quite ready to leave. I find Spokane to be really similar to Hilo and I just love it.”
