South Pasadena’s Lana Yamagata swings into the elite NCAA Div. I program at UNLV this fall.

By MIKEY HIRANO CULROSS

It’s amazing where the game can take you. Just ask Lana Yamagata.

“My younger self definitely would not have thought I would be here, where I am now, or gone the places I’ve been able to see,” she said. “When I started, it was more about just wanting to win at the game, but then it just got deeper than that throughout the years.”

All of 17 years old, Yamagata’s younger self isn’t far removed. She was nine or 10 when a chance viewing of a golf tournament on TV led her to quip to her dad, “That looks like fun.”

That must have been music to the ears of her father, Isaac, who was well-established as a golf coach. Soon thereafter, he made coaching his full-time gig, with the added motivation of having his daughter as a pupil.

The timing worked out nicely a few years later, as beloved South Pasadena High School coach Richard Goto was retiring and the school needed a new skipper.

“I thought if Lana’s going to play high school golf for four years, I wanted to be sure she has fun and has the opportunity to improve her game,” Isaac said in 2022.

In her first year of prep play, Lana announced her arrival on the links with a stellar season that saw her come to within just one stroke of the CIF State Championships.

As a sophomore, Lana continued as one of the top players in high school competition as well as on the Southern California PGA Junior Tour. Following eight wins in 2022, she captured the championship at the 2023 SCPGA Two-Day Fall Series at Rancho California, the 2023 Walnut High School Invitational and won co-champion honors at the 2023 Southern California Junior Girls & Collegiate Partners Championship.

There was no letting up last year, with top finishes at tournaments that included the 2024 FCG Washington Championship World Series at Chambers Bay and the 2024 AJGA Sacramento Junior Championship Qualifier at Haggin Oaks.

She had always been very athletic as a kid, but Lana said the turning point for her was balancing the mental part of the game.

“That’s really what flipped the switch for me,” she explained. “The big thing was learning how to control my emotions off and on the golf course. That was re-ally important, and really catapulted my transformation from being a kind of player who would get upset after one [bad] hole – and then the rest of the tournament is completely shot.

“Now, I might have a bad hole, and then the next tee shot, I’m like, ‘Okay, it is what it is, you know, I’ve got to focus up.’ I think my mentality is now that it’s not over until it’s over. Keep working. And I think just having a more positive mindset from when I first started has really helped me today, and that’s the kind of player that I am now versus when I started.”

Lana’s success has taken her to courses in more cities than she ever expected.

“I’ve been to more states than I can even imagine myself to be in. I went to Minnesota. I never thought I’d go to Minnesota,” she said, marveling at the size of the sprawling Mall of America.

“That’s impressive. Yeah, it was humongous.”

Still, even with all the traveling she’s done, Lana still prefers courses close to home.

“My favorite place is probably Mon-terey, because their golf courses. It’s absolutely beautiful. I like Pebble Beach, and all the courses at Pacific Grove, they’re very pristine and well kept. And I think the courses are challenging enough that it keeps me on my toes.”

Predictably, her skills, mental maturity and competitive fire caught the eyes of college coaches around the nation. This coming fall, she will don the scarlet and grey of the Rebels at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, joining one of the top programs in the NCAA Division I.

“Lana is a perfect fit for our program. Her skills, work ethic and positive attitude will be a valuable asset to our team,” said UNLV head coach Amy Bush-Herzer.

Yamagata will suit up for a squad that will trend much younger next season, after the graduation this spring of four seniors, including Hina Matsui, Mayumi Umezu and Toa Yokoyama.

UNLV is currently ranked at No. 33 in the nation.

Yamagata plans to major in hospitality and hotel management, in the program considered to be the world’s most comprehensive in that field. She also said living in Las Vegas was an easy choice because of the robust golf culture.

“Half the town plays golf, and there are lots and lots of people who support the school and support playing golf. So it’s gonna be a really good time,” she explained. “I was in Vegas during the winter, and it’s a really great opportunity to get to play.

Being a native of California, Yamagata said she has felt the differences in golf culture around the country. Her father grew up in Idaho, in a town where there weren’t many Asian faces, and she has a deep appreciation for the lessons from his family.

Moreover, it wasn’t too long ago that golf was overwhelmingly dominated by a male point of view. Some might say that’s still the case, but the women’s game has certainly earned increased levels of respect over the last generation.

“I think it’s very empowering for girls like me to be able to compete,” Yamagata said. “It’s kind of like an ‘in your face,’ like we can do it too.”

“And it kind of makes it so much more fun. Whenever I’m paired with random people in a practice ground or somewhere, and they see me hit the ball, and they’ll say, ‘Oh my God, did you just see that?’ That makes you feel good, like, they might have doubted you, and now they’re amazed by you. It’s very empowering.”

For the next couple of months, Yamagata will focus on completing her studies at South Pasadena – and stave off a bit of senioritis – and look toward a new world that awaits.

“To be honest, I kind of am excited to see what it is like to be on my own for the first time. Of course I’m going to feel like I miss my home and my family, but I’ve never actually been on my own and had to be self-sufficient. So I think I’m excited to kind of see how I am in that type of environment, especially having to juggle school and golf and traveling.”

Yamagata said she’s already had some valuable bonding with her future UNLV coaches and teammates, even attending a Rebels football game this past season.

She’s as busy as ever with tournaments, of course. Last weekend, she earned a spot in the San Francisco City Tournament, making the trip to NorCal with – as usual – her dad. After all the work and countless hours he put into her golf development, Lana said he might be even more excited than she is about going to UNLV.

“He works really hard to make my experience really good. I don’t think I would have been anywhere without him. Honestly, I owe him a lot.”

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