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Zimbabwean golf star leads ASU team

Photo Courtesy GoAsu

Photo Courtesy GoAsuChanges can be challenging to deal with, whether it’s playing a different golf course each week or moving to a country with a completely different culture.

However, ASU’s women’s golf team member Rumbidzai Masamvu,has stepped forward to take a swing at being the leader of the Appalachian State women’s golf team,

As a senior from Zimbabwe, Masamvu has become at ease withAppalachian State’s culture, and her new comfort level has helped improve her game.

Masamvu placed second at the Winthrop Intercollegiate and third at the CSU Wendy’s Invitational earlier this month.

Appalachian State has never won the women’s golf Southern Conference Tournament.

But Masamvu and her teammates plan on changing that.

“I am very excited for our team to do well,” Masamvu said. “I think we have a lot of potential, and we have all been looking forward to a season where we are just going to do great.”

The last time Appalachian State was competitive at the SoCon Tournament was 2002. Back then, Masamvu was a rising star in the Zimbabwe golf world.

Then she came to Appalachian State intent on playing golf and earning a business management degree.

“Growing up at home in Zimbabwe, school and golf were very separated from one another,” Masamvu said. “If I had chosen to go to a university at home, I would have never been able to play golf at the same time with school because they have a strict curriculum and they don’t do sports around it. So, I came here because I really wanted that opportunity like I have now to go to class and to play golf.”

 

Although Masamvu grew up with parents that taught her to embrace the game of golf, her ascension on ASU’s golf team has been all about her attitude and willingness to overcome the challenges involved with living in a different country.

“My freshman year, fall semester was very very hard,” Masamvu said. “It was the hardest experience that I’ve had. I was struggling a little bit with classes. I was struggling with homesickness. I was struggling with the weather change because the fall was windy and cold and that winter was horrible. I struggled to find my feet and find where I wanted to be… I wasn’t scoring well at all.”

Masamvu did not travel for the semester, until the last tournament in the fall season.

“I hadn’t traveled all semester, but I played my best golf in a really competitive tournament,” she said.

From then on, Masamvu has traveled to every to every tournament and has been on the right track.

Masamvu is now a leader of the best women’s golf team that Appalachian State has seen in a while.

“She is almost like a mother figure to the team,” senior Laruen Smith said. “She will do anything for anybody. She is just a great person, and her insight is great for the team.”

Masamvu has no idea what she wants to do after she earns her business management degree this spring. But right now, her focus is on winning a team Southern Conference title for Appalachian State.

“My biggest goal is to be an anchor for the team and to be that player who always posts a number that’s going to help the team,” Masamvu said.

Story: CHASE ERICKSON, Sports Reporter

Photo Courtesy GoAsu

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