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Sophomore Cara Freeman began golfing at age nine, now a top performer for Oregon State's women's golf team
John Daly
Issue date: 4/22/09 Section: Sports
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The young player from San Juan Capistrano, Calif., has been one of the chief factors in the recent success found by the women's team. The naturally gifted, yet hard-working golfer has a passion for sports in general, especially golf, where she boasts a strong and constantly decreasing stroke average.
Freeman spent most of her pre-collegiate years in southern California, where she immersed herself in sport. By the time she reached the high school level, she was already a star on the softball diamond, the basketball court and the golf course. Keenly aware of the fact that only one path could be vehemently pursued, Freeman made the decision to focus on golf.
"Going into my junior year, I just thought that even though I loved playing basketball and the team aspect of it, I can play golf up until I am in my 80s," Freeman said. "So I just decided that golf was something that I wanted to do because it's more long-term. I also just started getting more opportunities when it came to golf; colleges and coaches were looking at me and in contact with me."
The decision to avidly pursue a career in golf proved to be brilliant, as she immediately began to win championships at the high school level. Freeman captained her golf team her junior and senior years at Capistrano Valley High School, where she individually won the South Coast League Championship twice in consecutive years.
Such immediate success in golf can usually be attributed to an early start, which Freeman certainly had. At the age of nine, she was on the course with members of her family, and would soon be competing with her elder brother, a veteran at age eleven.
"My whole family plays - my mom, my dad and especially my older brother," Freeman said. "My dad would take him out to the golf course and I would just tag along. Everything that my brother did, I wanted to do to, and I wanted to do it better than him. We were definitely competitive growing up on the course, and we still compete today."
Freeman's early desire to compete has not faded in the least. Making the transition from playing at the high school level to the collegiate level is a feat not easily accomplished. In addition to the various rule changes, the additional increase in the level of competition, time spent practicing, course difficulty and tournament frequency all add to the difficulty of transitioning to the NCAA level.
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