LIVE SCORING JAPAN

The SMU women's golf team will open the season on the other side of the globe, as an opportunity arose that was too good to pass up.

An opening in the Pan Pacific Super League takes the Mustangs to Japan for a three-day, 54-hole tournament at the Grand Fields Country Club in Mishima starting Wednesday. The women's golf team joins the football team (1983) and men's basketball team (1986) to play in Japan.

SMU will be joined by UCLA and Hawaii from the United States and eight Japanese teams for the 11-team field. The Japanese team that finishes highest will then come to Dallas this spring and compete in the Veritex Bank Collegiate hosted by SMU.

"Being able to go there and play some golf is going to be a really unique experience," SMU head coach Lauren Mason said. "It's going to provide some great team chemistry and great opportunities there for us to gel as a team and hopefully be able to kick off our season on a great, great note."

SMU returns four players from last year's roster and adds three new pieces. The team left for Japan last Thursday, having some time to get acclimated, sightsee and practice before the tournament begins.

"I think nothing beats a good bonding trip at the beginning of the season, especially having some newcomers joining the program," Mason said. "I know that when we have had success in the past with previous teams I've coached, it is a bonding experience that has set us up for success from the get-go."

There is plenty of international flair for the Mustangs this season. Five of the seven players are from another country, as well as the head coach. Freshman Uma Bergner is from Germany, sophomore Jingan Huang, who goes by Annie, is from China, junior Celine Chen is from Australia, like her head coach, and senior Emily Odwin is from Barbados.

But they will still be experiencing new things together on this trip. They will also learn to go with the flow when things don't go as planned or work together to find a solution to a problem they didn't expect to have.

"There's a whole level of newness to this trip," Mason said. "Whether it's trying new foods, navigating transportation, or simply adjusting to a different schedule, we've encouraged the team to be patient and flexible. These shared experiences—figuring things out together and relying on one another—will be valuable in building team chemistry and making this a truly unique opportunity for us."

When it comes to golf, the Mustangs have high expectations for what this team is going to be capable of doing. That starts with Sam Houston transfer Grace Jin, who made an immediate impression, winning the No. 1 spot in the roster during team qualifying.

"We've just had qualifying, and we have a great group of ladies that, I think in the modern era, this could be one of the best teams that SMU women's golf has seen, and I'm not just saying that," Mason said. "... We're excited to see just how far this group can go and what they can achieve this season."

The group will be led by seniors Mackenzie Lee and Odwin, who come in after strong showings this spring and summer.

Lee won the North & South Amateur, finished 11th at the Augusta National Women's Amateur and made match play at the US Women's Amateur. She broke the SMU record for single-season scoring last season with a mark of  71.31. Odwin's success goes back to the beginning of the year when she placed sixth at the Australian Amateur, she then qualified for the U.S. Women's Open by winning a qualifier held in San Francisco. Odwin is second, only to Lee, in career scoring at SMU with an average of 72.46.

And in Jin, SMU added the latest Texas Amateur champion.

"This is my 15th year in college coaching, and it's probably the most success during a summer that any team that I've ever been a part of, and I've been a part of some really good ones at Baylor and San Diego State," SMU assistant coach Carly Ludwig said.

"... They're talented, and they're really good on their own. And so for us, it's just making sure that the little things are taken care of and let them do what they do, because, again, they're very successful at it."

It's a group that will help settle a score from a year ago. The Mustangs finished 14th at the ACC Championships but still qualified for the NCAA Championships. But the Regional appearance left a bad taste in SMU's mouth.

The Mustangs were in fifth, and a qualifying spot, going into the final round of the Regional, but struggled and dropped to eighth to end their season.

"We're really optimistic when it's comes to the season ahead, but there's definitely some unfinished business," Mason said. "Our returners, and coaching staff have all discussed how last year's Regional still stings. We were in position to advance and simply didn't play our best that final round. This year, we're motivated to change that. From our No. 1 player to our seventh player on a given week, we have tremendous depth, and that gives us the confidence to compete at the highest level."

With a roster like this one, the coaches don't have to do anything major. They can focus on the little things. With high expectations, those little things could come up big in the long run.

"I think we're kind of limitless. It's up to them," Ludwig said. "I think that's a great position to be in as a coach, to know that you have the talent and know that you have the players that can go do that, and just to let them go see how far they can take it."