By Michael Haag | Sports Editor
Being the younger sister of four-time All-American Gurleen Kaur has never fazed true freshman Ashleen Kaur.
Ashleen said there’s no pressure in enrolling two semesters after Gurleen finished an illustrious career with the Baylor women’s golf program. She’d rather leave her own imprint as a Bear.
“I embrace the fact that my sister was here too, and she played amazing here as well,” Ashleen said. “Just want to make my own name for myself but still be known as her sister.”
Filling Gurleen’s shoes would mean putting oneself on the Mount Rushmore of Baylor women’s golfers. Gurleen is the only Bear to become a four-time All-American, and she has her name splattered all over the program record book. From career rounds (145) and stroke average (72.48) to total individual wins (4), Gurleen either holds Baylor’s record or is near the top of the list.
Ashleen isn’t trying to replicate what Gurleen did from 2017 to 2022 in Waco. Instead, she said she’s using her relationship with her older sister to her advantage.
“She’s literally my best friend, and I talk to her on a daily basis, and she’s helped me so much,” Ashleen said. “I feel like we’ve helped each other, honestly. She has helped my golf game grow tremendously because she understands the most.”
Ashleen committed to Baylor on July 7, 2022, out of Cy-Fair High School in the Houston area. She’s made the Bears’ tournament lineup in all four events this fall.
In her first event, the true freshman shrugged off any jitters, recording a team-best 2-over 218 at the Annika Intercollegiate from Sept. 11-13 at Royal Golf Club in Lake Elmo, Minn. Ashleen became the first freshman to lead the squad in her career-first event since Giovana Maymon in 2014.
The course was familiar to Ashleen, as she opened 2023 with a win at the Annika Invitational in January, besting 71 of the top female junior golfers in the world.
Ashleen backed that season-opening performance with a 2-under 214 at the Mason Rudolph Championship, which ran from Sept. 22-24 in Franklin, Tenn. Ashleen, a 2023 Houston Chronicle All-Greater Houston Second Team member, led the field in par-5 scoring average (4.17), and the tournament marked her first career top-25 finish on the individual leaderboard.
Ashleen called her second outing at the Annika “surreal,” and head coach Jay Goble said he was surprised to see her start the year that strong.
“She made it look very easy [in] those first two events,” Goble said. “I think [in] that first event that I walked with her, she shot 68 in the first round. That was about as high of a score as she could have shot that day, which was really impressive.
“And then to follow that up at Vanderbilt, which I would say is a much harder golf course, to go out and shoot 67 in her first round at the Mason Rudolph … wow.”
Despite coaching Gurleen for four-and-a-half years, Goble said it wasn’t as much of a no-brainer to recruit Ashleen as one might think.
Goble said Ashleen didn’t have as prominent of a junior college career, and the ability wasn’t there at first. Seeing Ashleen set the Annika Invitational record with a 15-under 204 back in January as well as her outings the last two months has changed his mind.
“When she got here and we started qualifying, I mean, she was basically almost winning qualifying from day one,” Goble said. “So I think that her belief in herself and her confidence in her game is really high. You can see that right away. … Looking back, I mean, it’s easy to say this now, but I should’ve seen it coming.”
Ashleen said her main goal is to secure an individual win this year, which is something her sister did four times in the green and gold — a program record. Ashleen added that she wants to boost her ranking as much as possible and make the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, a feat Gurleen accomplished in April 2021.
Having coached both athletes, Goble said Gurleen and Ashleen have many similarities and differences. But when it comes to their mannerisms, the head coach, who is in his 13th year, said he can’t tell a difference.
“Every once in a while, I’ll look over at Ashleen when she’s doing something, and it looks exactly like [Gurleen],” Goble said. “Even [how they] twirl the club in their hand. It’s a very unique thing that they do, and they both do it, and I don’t know anybody else that does it.”
Goble also mentioned that he wasn’t the first one to accidentally call Ashleen by the name of Gurleen this season. Goble, associate head coach Carly Ludwig and three members on the current team had some overlap with Gurleen, and Goble said a teammate called Ashleen “Gurleen” out on the course recently.
However, the 2015 Big 12 Coach of the Year said he’s happy to tackle being intentional about names if it means more talent for his roster. A family tree like that of the Kaurs makes Goble willing to juggle the little things.
“I wish they had another sister that was like 13 right now so [we] could just go ahead and line that up as well,” Goble said.
Unfortunately for Goble, Gurleen and Ashleen don’t have any other siblings. He’ll have to suffice with how Gurleen performed and what Ashleen can do moving forward, which he said can be more than he ever thought.
“I can honestly sit here right now and say that she is as good and has the potential to maybe be even better than Gurleen,” Goble said. “Her physical game is off the charts, and if we can clean up some of the small mistakes that she makes, then shoot, she can be as good as she wants.”
