Sophomore Tara Finigan has only been playing golf for four years. Yet, she is this year's scoring leader on the Portland State women's golf team. Through the fall season, she's averaging 72.90 strokes per round, nearly four strokes better than last season and a school-record pace.
Until she was 15, Finigan was a gymnast competing in all four categories: vault, beam, bars and floor. And, she was darned good!
"Most people see gymnastics in the Olympics. They are the best in the world. They are level 11 gymnasts. When I began competitive gymnastics, I was a level four. I was level 10 when I quit," said Finigan, a graduate of Tesora High School in Rancho Santa Margarita, CA.
Level 10 gymnasts usually are good enough to compete at the university level and 60 percent of the women she grew up with in the sport are doing just that. Most of the others have taken up an allied sport such as diving, dancing, cheerleading, acrobatics or tumbling.
Finigan began gymnastics at the age of three, following her older sister Shannon into the sport.
"She had way too much energy as a kid and our dad wanted something to help get that energy out. So, she went into gymnastics," Finigan said. Later she transitioned into diving (and today, she's "just" a student at San Diego State).
It's not unusual to start so young.. "If you start later, you're behind. You develop into the sport as you get older. At that age, you're not afraid of anything."
Gymnastics is an all-consuming sport, if you're going to be any good.
"You're in the gym four hours a day and involved in gymnastics 40 hours a week. Gymnastics becomes your whole life. You don't want to fall behind or get scared of doing some of the more intricate things you need to do to get to the higher levels. You get used to starting your homework at 9 or 10 in the evening," she said.
At 14, a minor rotator cuff tear changed Finigan's life.
"Both my parents were opposed to putting a 14-year-old through major surgery. That meant all I was going to be able to do for six or seven months was work out," Finigan recalled.
In gymnastics, that kind of time away is a major problem. "In gymnastics, anything beyond two weeks is too long and even then it's a long hard pull to get back in." An injury is the reason most leave gymnastics for another sport.
Finigan continued to hope. "I was conditioning every day for four hours. It was no fun, just being there and doing that." So she began thinking about other sports.
"Stopping gymnastics was a blow. It took a lot of time to realize I was really 'done'. It was hard to be done," she said. But, Finigan had watched her sister, also at level 10, transition into diving when an elbow injury that refused to respond to treatment forced her from gymnastics. "That helped. She was able to make the transition and be successful in her new sport."
She considered going into an allied sport. She didn't consider team sports because "I'm a very individualistic person. I really wanted an individual sport. Something where I could put in as much time and effort as I wanted."
Her parents warned her that, having been at such a high level in gymnastics, starting at the bottom in another sport might be hard emotionally. "They counseled me that I'd be starting at the bottom again. So, they said to try a couple of sports to see what I like." So she did, locking onto swimming, dance and even cheerleading.
But, Finigan's dad Patrick was an avid golfer. "He played a lot and he's a good golfer. He'd take me with him and I'd sit in the cart. So, when I had this injury, I thought 'why not try golf'," she said.
Her parents were right about starting over… Her first year in golf "I was not good at all. It took a lot of time and effort".
Gymnastics taught a lot of things about time management, being organized and dedication. And now, Finigan began focusing all that on golf.
"I would get out of school at noon on some days, three or four on others and I'd go the nearest golf course and spend time on the range and the putting greens until it was dark, then go home to do homework," she said.
By the end of her sophomore year, she was winning tournaments and thought she'd found a new sports home.
"I thought I could be good at golf so I began to surround myself with really good golfers, older players, many who were playing in college. They taught me a lot…my dad always said that if you play with better players you'll learn so much," said Finigan.
She began spending five or six hours a day on the golf course, more during the summers and saw success. She lettered in golf at Tesoro High School all four years. Her team won four straight league championships and two California state championships. She was South Coast League runner up, shooting 76-70—146, shot an even par 70 at the CIF-SS Southern Division Team Championships and won some local golf club tournaments.
Still, changing sports came with a penalty.
She was behind in the college recruiting game where most coaches begin watching college prospects when they're much younger golfers. "I met Coach Kailin my senior year. That's really late to begin making connections, but I was just excited to hear from a coach," she said. Finigan sent materials to other coaches, but was told her scores were too high.
"I saw her as a diamond in the rough. Out of high school, she was under the radar, but I saw a lot of potential," said fourth-year head golf coach Kailin Downs.
Coming to Oregon was a transition for Finigan.
"The weather is 100 percent different. Most sports aren't effected by the weather as much as golf. It's completely different. In Southern California, you'd play in shorts and a t-shirt. Here, you wear pants and a jacket and you're still freezing," she said.
But the drought and water shortages in California have dried up the courses and to get something different "my dad would take me to play in the desert so I could play in the heat. But the courses here are better and playing in the rain has helped my game more."
It took a little time to adjust to being away from home, "but it's been a good test for me. Everyone misses home and with a little sister there (nine-year-old Keena, who currently is into golf and gymnastics), it hurt to go away. But I wanted college to be a different experience… and originally I wanted to go to the east coast… but that was way too far." Portland is just the right distance from home she said.
Finigan's game has taken a major step up from her freshman year and Downs (and Finigan) credit her improving short game.
"She's a gymnast, so she had good body strength," said Downs. "She had good distance when she arrived."
Finigan agreed…"I was able to pick up the dynamics of a good swing (her dad is her swing coach) and combine it with the arm and body strength of my gymnastic training. But, my short game is still a work in progress. Last summer, I worked on my short game during the day and at night I was in my living room putting."
About 90 percent of what Downs focuses on "is 100 yards or less. This is only her fourth year playing golf and she's getting better the more she competes and plays competitively. She played over the summer and is just gaining experience."
Golf is mostly a mental game and there's one aspect of gymnastics that has caused Finigan problems in her transition. "In gymnastics, you're judged on perfection. And, it probably hasn't been until this year that I realized that you can play good golf and not be perfect," said the health studies major who is currently carrying a 3.45 cumulative GPA and earned 2015-16 Academic All-Big Sky honors.
Finigan has an "all-in mentality. Week to week, she wants to learn and get better. She's really easy to coach," said Downs who has high expectations. "She's our leading scorer. She just won a tournament. With that under her belt, she has the ability to win more tournaments this year and to be All-Conference…eventually maybe even All-American."
