If Malia Nam isn’t smiling, it’s not meant to drag anyone else down.

Usually outgoing and cheerful, according to those who know her, Nam is not quite as ebullient on the golf course. That is where her serious side kicks in and, if things aren’t going well, she will be salty.

And while that ultra-competitiveness is likely to stay with her forever, the Kaiser senior who will be playing for USC on a scholarship in the fall is making inroads on being a bit more relaxed on the course.

“I have been really hard on myself and carry (sour emotions) with me,” Nam said during an interview at Mid-Pacific Country Club on Friday. “In the last year and a half, I’m still serious and not all jolly, but I do try to smile and laugh and enjoy the moment more. Sure, I’ll get angry if mistakes continue, but I’ve learned to let it go and I’ve gotten more mature at containing anger.”

Cougars coach Wade Nakamura noticed a change.

“Once she got accepted and got a scholarship, it seemed like a weight came off her shoulders,” he said. “Now that she knows her future and can kind of see it, there isn’t that uncertainty of where or if.”

Nam has undeniable golf talent, but it’s her drive that is off the charts.

“She wants to win a little bit more than everybody else,” said Rob Respicio, Nam’s personal golf coach. “In many cases, she might have a little more talent, but a lot more drive.”

Nam started golfing at about age 7, and when she won her first tournament at 10, she really got hooked.

“I got addicted to the feeling of beating people and seeing that my hard work is paying off,” she said.

Nam is a two-time OIA golf champion. She was a freshman the first time and then lost by a stroke to good friend Miki Manta of Kalani as a sophomore before topping Manta in an incredible nine-hole playoff last year. Now seniors, the two rivals are expected to be among the top OIA and state contenders this spring.

“I was at a qualifier in Minnesota last summer and one of the guys who I don’t really know was around the scoring area and said, ‘So, that nine-hole playoff, right?’ I was like, ‘Wait, what? How does this guy know?’ He said he heard about it somehow. I was really taken aback.”

Nam hasn’t fared quite as well in her three state-tournament appearances, placing fourth twice and tying for sixth once.

“Last year, I was in contention and blew up on the last three holes,” she said. “I was crying in the bathroom. A double on 17, a bogey on 18. Really bad. I look back at it now and it’s definitely a learning experience.”

Nam will never forget that grueling nine-hole playoff with Manta, in which Nam chipped in for birdie on the sixth playoff hole and then watched Manta drain a 40-footer to keep it tied.

“I thought I had won it.” Nam said. “I had that feeling that you just know you’re going to make it. I picked up little rocks that were in my line. I hit it perfectly, the way my club felt through it, right where I thought I would hit it. It spun the way I thought it was going to and it rolled perfectly right in the hole. In that moment, I was thinking I got it in the bag. I was holding the pin for Miki. It was a long putt and then I see it coming to the hole. I was like, ‘Oh, God. Are you serious? Please slow down.’ I was disappointed, but good job to her.”

Said Nakamura: “Those are the two best back-to-back shots I’ve ever seen live.”

Many friends and acquaintances ask Nam if she wants to turn pro and are surprised that she doesn’t say yes right away.

“We’ll see,” she said. “I plan to play at USC for four years. I never say I don’t want to turn pro, either. I want to see what works best for me. After four years of playing at a school with great golf facilities, maybe I will be ready for it then. Why not get a degree and have a backup? If I do go pro, I don’t want to be that golfer who is struggling to make the cut and feels so much pressure to sponsors. I know I’m not ready to turn pro. If I do go that way, I want to be good enough to be on the LPGA Tour with a really good sponsor and making lots of money.”

Nam is steady with her driver and irons, but is in that incredibly large subset of golfers who want “to make more putts.” She also desperately wants to accomplish two things this year — win the state tournament and break her best score of 67.

Nam thinks it may be that “twinge of doubt” that is keeping her from making those 15- to 20-footers that would lower her scores.

Respicio thinks that part of Nam’s game will fall into place at USC, where she won’t be in situations where she is putting on freshly aerated greens on municipal courses.

“Maybe I’m not practicing putting as much as I should,” Nam said. “But for the amount I’m practicing, I should be shooting much lower.”

With Nam, that is a familiar tune. Nakamura recalled seeing Nam’s infamous downcast look and having the following exchange at the turn one day:

“What are you shooting?”

“Three under.”

“So, what’s wrong with that?”

“I should be 5 under.”