Coach Dianne Dailey of Wake Forest said that, looking back, she might have done things differently.
The Sunday after Dailey's women's golf team won the ACC championship for the first time in 13 years, NBC's Today Show aired a live feature segment on Cheyenne Woods, a Wake Forest freshman and niece of golf star Tiger Woods. Woods handled her interview with grace, but her appearance might have chipped away at some of the team unity that the Deacons had built through the season.
"I think it was all right, but we have to be careful not to overdo it, so we've actually denied all interview requests for Cheyenne until she wins a tournament," Dailey said. "I thought it brought the team some good exposure since it aired, but since then, the phone's been ringing off the hook."
Woods has been in the Deacons' starting five all season but has been playing at the fourth and fifth spots.
Natalie Sheary, the ACC co-player of the year and ACC Tournament winner, and Nannette Hill are the team's top players, and Jean Chua and Allie Bodemann round out the starting five.
The Deacons will return to action today in the first round of the NCAA's Central Regional at Ohio State's Scarlet Course. The top eight teams in the 54-hole tournament will qualify for the NCAA Championships later this month.
Dailey said that Woods, who doesn't list her famous uncle in her media-guide biography, has been a consummate team player. The only freshman on the team, Woods has blended in with older teammates, and Dailey says that has been a big key to the team's success.
"We don't even mention Tiger," Dailey said. "She's here because she's a good golfer, and we want her on our team. She happens to have a famous uncle."
Dailey said she knew that having Woods on her team would draw national attention but that she didn't know when it would come.
"The media puts more of an emphasis on that than we do," Dailey said. "She's just a wonderful team player and is very coachable and is just an unassuming person. She's very humble and doesn't have a big head about anything."
Dailey, in her 21st season, had one of her best teams in 1995, when the Deacons had a program-best third-place finish in the NCAA Championships. She sees many similarities between that team and this team -- togetherness is the most notable shared attribute. She also admits that there have been seasons when the Deacons had ample talent but lacked unity.
"I just see this team pushing each other all the time, and they get along really well," Dailey said. "Some might not think that's a big deal, but I think it is."
Sheary said that Woods has gone out her way to avoid talking about her uncle. Sheary also said that one factor in Woods' decision to attend Wake Forest was that other Deacons athletes didn't ask her about Tiger Woods during her official recruiting visit.
"It's not like she talks about him that much, because usually the stuff she hears is from People magazine or something like that," Sheary said.
Heading into the ACC Championships, Dailey had a good idea who her starting five would be but still held qualifying at Old Town Club. She said that it was a way for the team to refocus and to remember not to take anything for granted, such as a starting spot.
Woods' best finish this year has been a tie for sixth, and she has the team's fourth-best scoring average (75.9). In 25 rounds (nine tournaments), she has been under par three times and has a low round of 71. Hill has the team's best scoring average (73.9), and Sheary is close behind (74).
Dailey said that with exams out of the way and some momentum remaining from the ACC victory, she expects her team to be ready to play this weekend. "They are tired of studying," she said.
Wake Forest is seeded No. 4 in the regional, behind UCLA, Purdue and Oklahoma State.
"All three of them have been ranked high all year, so we'll need to play our best," Dailey said. "The key, like I said earlier, is to have the entire team playing well at the same time. That's such a big thing in regionals and in the NCAAs."
■ John Dell can be reached at 727-4081 or jdell@wsjournal.com.
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