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Athlete of the Week: Titans’ Fitzgerald winning the mental game

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Frustration over a bad shot often got the best of Grace Fitzgerald the past two years. The Poway High junior girls golfer could not get her mind to let it go and her score would routinely balloon as rounds progressed.

“My freshman and sophomore year, I was just frustrated all the time,” said Fitzgerald, who had a differential just below 5.0 as a sophomore last season. “It just made me play worse and worse.”

Fitzgerald knew it was a problem she needed to focus on fixing. She spent most of last summer playing tournaments and concentrating on maintaining a positive attitude throughout an entire round.

She spent time with her swing coach, Chris Mason at Poway’s Maderas Golf Club, working on staying calm. And it was tough.

“It is one of the hardest things I have ever tried to do,” Fitzgerald said. “But I worked really hard at it over the summer. Of course, I still get a little frustrated — even if you have a really good mental game you get frustrated — but I am not carrying it over to the next shot or tournament. I am letting it go.”

That was evident on Sept. 9, when Fitzgerald overcame an early bogey and the 100-plus degree heat to fire a 1-under-par 35 to lead the Titans (4-2 through Monday) to a 242-241 victory over Carlsbad at StoneRidge Country Club.

The 35 is tied for the third lowest score for a nine-hole match in school history (school record is 33 by Chaneng Joe in 2003 at La Jolla Country Club). It also earned Fitzgerald her fifth medalist honors in the first six matches of the season.

“It is funny, because when you are playing really low you don’t feel the heat,” she said. “I was in the zone that day. It was just one of those days when everything went well and I just got used to the heat.”

Fitzgerald has gone from being a low 40s shooter to a consistent 36-39 golfer on nine-hole courses. Poway coach Jim Bennet has noticed the difference in her mental and all-around games.

“She is really confident right now,” Bennet said. “She sees a shot and plays the shot she wants. She is able to let stuff go now, too. She is mentally tougher and just all around better.

“She played in a junior event Sept. 5-6 (Future Champions Golf National Tour Fall Series at The Vineyard Golf Course) and started double-bogey and bogey and still shot a 72 to take third. A younger Grace wouldn’t have done that. She would have been flustered and been thinking the round is in the toilet early. Now she just keeps moving along.”

Fitzgerald is also in a new role with the Titans as captain. Poway is in a rebuilding year after losing all of its scorers except Fitzgerald from a season ago. She is enjoying being a role model for her younger teammates.

“It has been really fun,” she said. “I just try to keep everyone positive and uplifted. I like being the motivator.”

Said Bennet: “She is doing a great job. This is her team now. She has really stepped up and she is really encouraging the younger kids.”

And Fitzgerald’s parents give her a lot of encouragement. Her dad, Pat Fitzgerald, and her mom, Angie Fitzgerald, watch her as often as they can. Angie even keeps detailed statistics.

“My dad and I play together on the weekend sometimes so that is nice and my mom is always out there and loves to keep stats,” Grace said. “We have a little folder on our computer so we can see my weaknesses and strengths and we have the averages for when we talk to college coaches.”

Grace is hoping to land a Division I scholarship to a school in Northern California or on the East Coast. She said she has reached out to some college coaches, with a few interested more than others.

“I love competing and I cannot imagine just stopping golf after high school,” Fitzgerald said. “That just doesn’t feel right. So, I sent out some information to coaches and most of them replied to let them know my future results.”

That’s great news for Fitzgerald, because her results only seem to be getting better.

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