When the pandemic caused the cancellation of the 2020 OUA golf season, nobody would have blamed fourth-year golfer Sam Zulian for being dejected.
In the mix after shooting an 82 on Day 1 at the OUA Golf Championship the previous year, the Wilfrid Laurier University star had a rough second go of it at Agnus Glen, her 89 on the day – and 171 stroke total over the weekend – placing her 13th overall.
“At my last OUAs I was doing really well the first day,” said Zulian, “and then the second day I did not do what I intended to.”
Going into her final year of school in 2020, she was ready to draw upon that experience and dominate the women’s field. The cancellation of the season robbed her of the chance at redemption.
“I had spent the winter before the pandemic started, so the winter of 2019, coming home to train every weekend because I wanted to win the following year,” said Zulian. “It was supposed to be my last year at Laurier, and then everything just stopped.”
The Laurier athlete instead made the best of her time off from sport by getting involved in her community. Among her long list of extra-curriculars, she was a student representative for the faculty of biology, an instructional assistant, an in-school mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters, and a member of the Golden Hawk Council Team. The latter two of which merged when the Golden Hawks Council was looking for new opportunities to get involved in the community during the pandemic.
And fate had a way of giving Zulian another shot at a championship. The biology major also graduated during the pandemic, and decided to return to Laurier for a masters in chemistry, and to compete while doing so. She had other options to continue her schooling, but the Burlington native chose to return to the place she knew best.
“I didn’t picture myself playing for another school,” said the student-athlete. “And it was a way to get the best of both worlds. Stay working with a supervisor that I knew I could work well with, and still play golf with Laurier rather than a new school.”
Unique in comparison to most other sports, golfers have generally been allowed to play outside of university facilitated events during the pandemic, but a bout of Lyme disease threw another challenge Zulian’s way.
“That kind of threw a loop in terms of my golf training, because I was sick and I was just unmotivated for a little while,” said Zulian about her battle with the illness. “I had to get back on the horse.”
The veteran is confident in her preparation, but is unsure where she’ll stack up against the competition in 2021.
“It’s so hard to know where anyone’s at right now because we haven’t played against anyone,” said Zulian.
Not knowing what to expect from her peers, Zulian is focusing on her individual expectations.
“This year I’m just going to try my best, hopefully win a tournament,” said Zulian. “If not, I guess just have my best season yet, not let the mental side of golf get in the way.”
Whatever she accomplishes this season, she’ll do it representing a school she’s happy to call home.
“I am proud of the community created at Laurier,” said Zulian in a student-athlete survey. “It makes competing bigger than for yourself, it’s about team and representing the university, a sense of belonging that has been missed during the 2020-21 school year.”
And she’ll use that pride, and her determination to rebound from a 2019 performance that was below her expectations, to fuel a run at the 2021 OUA Women’s Golf Championship.
*Article originally appeared on both OUA.ca as well as PRSVRE.com*
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