Familiar as she is with Caledonia Golf Club in Pawley’s Island, South Carolina, North Carolina-Wilmington head coach Cindy Ho knows there are a few gauntlets, the first five holes being one of the most difficult stretches that players have to navigate.
Ho brings her team to this peaceful place under the live oaks every year to start the fall season. But even though the Seahawks walked away with the team title on Tuesday, it wasn’t exactly a stress-free week.
“We’ve not started great there each of the days,” Ho said. “I think I’m most proud of us hanging in there after being in ninth and actually, maybe through the first five holes we were like 15th or 16th – something crazy.”
In a truly remarkable turnaround, UNCW showed its grit by clawing back
from a series of messy opening holes to put itself in contention for the final round. From there, UNCW held off Campbell to claim its second Golfweek Fall Challenge title since 2023.
The Seahawks were 2 over after 54 holes, which was three better than Campbell, a squad that has racked up seven team titles in the 14-year history of this event. The Camels did claim the individual winner in Miah Rivas, who was 3 under for the week. Rivas, a freshman, became the sixth Campbell individual to win this tournament.
Despite the slow start, Ho didn’t panic and her players followed her lead. They were able to find a way to get the momentum turned in the other direction.
“We had to find a way to right the ship a little bit and then four of the five players made birdie on No. 6 the first day and that kind of got us going back in the right direction and then we were able to hang in and at least finish within four shots of second place,” she said.
Ho knew that a rough first round was going to compute to an early tee time, and the first UNCW player went off at 7:30 a.m., on Day 2.
“You have to earn that later tee time,” Ho said.
Ultimately, however, UNCW played through some of the most difficult holes in the second round before winds picked up, gaining ground on the rest of the field.
“That can happen there – we’ve been on the other side of that,” Ho said.
Regardless, one of the biggest difference-makers that Ho saw was her team’s precision off the tee at No. 16 and into the green at Nos. 17 and 18.
The Seahawks got a big lift from Alexis Faieta and Valencia Chang, who tied for second at 2 under. Both players were particularly essential in getting UNCW into striking position in the second round as they contributed a round of 69.
Ho loves that ultimately, the team title was a group effort. She also loved watching her players navigate the closing holes at Caledonia in a much stronger way than the team did a year ago in finishing third behind Charlotte and High Point.
Last season, Faieta and Chang were playing at the back of the lineup. This week, they led. That kind of growth gets Ho excited.
“Watching that development very quickly in only a year is why you coach, right?” she said. “Just to see that they can listen, they’re coachable but they also have to mature and they have to believe in it.”
An important aspect of the week for Ho is the team building – the experiences that can happen when teammates room all together in condos near the golf course instead of holed up in hotel rooms studying.
Ho’s six-woman travel squad included two freshmen, who were put at ease as the upperclassmen broke out the card games and got the whole team to relax off the golf course. Ho encouraged her players to make their own shopping list, cook their own breakfast, take care of their dirty dishes and set their own alarms.
“They’re having a blast,” Ho said, which extended all the way to the end of the tournament, when her team was so excited at the victory she had to tell them to take it down a notch to keep them from rocking the van side to side.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: UNCW finishes off comeback victory in a familiar setting at Golfweek Fall Challenge
