On the Rise: WFU's Woods is showing improvement

Cheyenne Woods, a sophomore on the women's golf team at Wake Forest, has been showing off her skills this spring and making steady improvement.

Woods, who leads the Deacons in stroke average at 74.1, recorded her first win in a collegiate tournament with a two-stroke victory in the Bryan National Collegiate yesterday in Greensboro. She also has four top-10 finishes in seven tournaments this school year, and was No. 34 in the nation in
Golfweek 's latest college rankings.

"I think coming into the fall, I just felt a lot more comfortable with the team, with being at Wake, and I also had a lot more confidence in my game," Woods said.

"I'm excited that I'm seeing improvement in my game, and everything is kind of coming together for me."

Woods -- a niece of Tiger Woods -- came to Wake Forest from Scottsdale, Ariz., as a highly recruited junior player, and the goal that she set was to make a name for herself.

Still, she has been in demand a little more recently, because of her famous uncle's personal problems.

Cheyenne Woods says that three gossip magazines have tried to interview her but that she turned them all down.

"I know they don't want to talk about my golf," she said. "I've denied all interviews, and that's personal business with him and the family so it hasn't really affected me at all."

Instead, Woods has gone about her business of studying (she has a 3.5-grade point average as a communications major) and playing golf and says that with school, travel to tournaments and practices, her days are full.

"I have enough to worry about," she said.

Woods said she last talked to her uncle about two months ago and that she's looking forward to his return for the Masters.

"He has a good chance to win, and if the distractions aren't too bad he can do it," she said.

Woods said she hasn't heard any references to her famous uncle while playing and that no fellow students have asked her about him.

She did admit, however, that she might not have handled being a niece of Tiger Woods very well last season.

"I think last year with me being a freshman I didn't know what to expect," she said of the pressure of having the Woods name. "This year it hasn't been bad at all."

Coach Dianne Dailey says that what separates Woods from many others is attitude.

"She just doesn't let anything bother her," Dailey said. "She does a great job of letting things come to her. And another thing that's really improved for her since last year is her putting."

Dailey said that Woods' success this season comes at a great time.

"I think she deserves what she's getting because I know people want to talk about her famous uncle, but Cheyenne is really making a name for herself," Dailey said.

Woods had one of her sophomore-year highlights in the fall, tying for third for one her best career finishes. She received a text message from her uncle soon after.

"In the fall I got a third place in the Fall Preview, and I got a random text from him and he said congratulations and that meant a lot," Woods said.

Woods says that Tiger Woods always has encouraged her.

"I hear randomly in interviews he has that somebody will mention me," she said, "and he always has positive things to say. That's always good to hear."

Around the green

The Ernest Morris Junior Golf Academy, for golfers between the ages of 8 and 18, will be June 14 through July 8 at Winston Lake Golf Course. With just 75 spots available, the popular camp fills up quickly. Anyone interested in more information can call Ralph Gaillard at Winston Lake at 727-2703….

Brendan Gielow, a senior golfer at Wake Forest, was one of 40 ACC athletes awarded a Weaver-James-Corrigan postgraduate scholarship of $5,000. Gielow, a math and religion major, leads the Deacons with a stroke average of 72.1 and recorded his second career victory earlier this spring….

Tee times at some of the best courses in the country will be auctioned off on-line at www.Rounds4Research.com from April 7 to April 21. In the Carolinas, there will be spots available at Eagle Point, Long Cove, Cassique, Sage Valley, Pinehurst No. 2 and Harbour Town, all ranked among the best 100 courses in the country by Golf Digest….

Kane Wilkerson shot 77-72 to win the high-school boys division of a Tarheel Junior Golf Tour at Finley Golf Course in Chapel Hill. In the middle-school boys division, Andrew Kennedy of Winston-Salem was third (74-75); Ben Griffin of Chapel Hill won (67-69). Also, Victoria Allred, an eighth-grader from Pfafftown, lost in a playoff to Allyson Markiewicz in the high-school girls division. Markiewicz shot 79-82, and Allred shot 84-77 to tie in regulation.

jdell@wsjournal.com


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