Big Ten championships likely one of the last big golf moments for Michigan senior Ashley Bauer
She teed off Friday morning in Wisconsin at the Big Ten championships and Ashley Bauer will do her best to not think of the inevitable. One of the best women golfers in Michigan history is a few rounds from the end of her college career.
She could turn pro, but she probably won't. That's a decision she made after multiple conversations with her parents and talks with friends who have played professional golf.
They described endless weeks on the road, living out of suitcases and playing for a paycheck instead of school pride or for fun.
Bauer loves golf. She has since she started playing as a 5-year-old on courses across Michigan as a way to spend time with her father, Glen. But life on the road doesn’t suit her, she said, so she’s ready to give it up.
Sort of.
“In just looking at what it takes, not golf-wise, because if I put my mind to it I’d be all into it and try to make it, but I think the other aspects of it, I don’t think I can live by myself for nine months a year out of a suitcase,” Bauer said. “When it comes time after two weeks to go home, I’m ready to call a place home. Like little things like that, that on the forefront it may not mean a lot, I take a step back and look and is that really what I want to do.”
For now, no, it isn’t.
Instead, Bauer plans on going to work in October. She has a job with Accretive Health working in operations with hospital efficiency. The company is based in Chicago, but she has no idea where she will be based.
It’ll be a marked change. For the first time in her life, golf won’t be a major priority. She'll leave behind a career where she holds Michigan's 36-hole tournament record of 148 with three others and the 54-hole record of 209 by herself. She is the only Michigan women's golfer to shoot a school-record 68 multiple times.
Her 2010 stroke average entering the Big Ten tournament of 73.07 is nearly two shots better than the previous record held by Amy Schmucker. For her career, her average of 75.73 is the best in Michigan history.
Golf will transition from a habit to a hobby.
The realization started to hit a month ago. On the fourth hole at the Mountain View Challenge in Tucson, Ariz., Bauer was in the midst of a rough day. For the past four years, she learned how to control her emotions on the course.
In that round, though, she lost it.
“I was an emotional wreck out there, like pretty bad,” Bauer said. “Started crying on the fourth hole for no reason. It was just bad.
“ I wasn’t bawling, it wasn’t that bad.”
Not that many people could tell. During rounds, she usually stays to herself. On-course talk with playing partners is minimal. That’s how she’s always been. But that week, even her coach, Cheryl Stacy, could see something was off.
She could see the realization her career was ending soon was starting to hit Bauer, a career that began with Bauer admitting she had “no idea” what major college golf meant.
Michigan, she said, was one of the bigger schools to recruit her. When she tried to qualify for her first match as a freshman, she played well enough to be the Wolverines’ No. 3 golfer.
From there, she’s started every match in her Michigan career - one that is soon to end.
Depending how Michigan fares this weekend at the Big Ten championships, Bauer will find out Monday if her college career will continue. She already said that day, until she hears whether or not she’ll keep playing, will be “rough.” So her coaches threw down a mandate.
Keep your emotions settled for one more weekend.
“No emotions until after this week is over, just joking around,” Bauer said. “Everyone knows it’s going to be really hard for me. So just trying to not thinking about any of that as much as possible is going to be hard.”
Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein.