Wake Forest Athletics
Deacon Sports Xtra: Fast Start
3/22/2021 12:15:00 PM | Women's Golf
Rachel Kuehn forges her own legacy at Wake Forest
As a freshman, Rachel Kuehn couldn't have asked for a better start to her collegiate golf career.
In her first tournament in a field that included 12 All-Americans from the previous season, Kuehn shot 13-under par, a Wake Forest freshman record, at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate to win by five strokes.
It was an amazing outcome for sure, but there's a bit of irony in her victory because as a high school sophomore going through the recruiting process, Wake Forest was quietly last on her list of prospective schools.
Her father, Eric, played baseball for the Deacons as a center fielder in the 1980s. Her mother, Brenda Corrie Kuehn, was an All-American golfer who played two seasons at Wake Forest, winning five times as a senior and setting a program record for wins in a single season. Brenda was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame in 1999.
Rachel wanted her college experience to be at a place she could call her own – where she could create her own golf legacy. But in the fall of 2016, Kuehn's parents talked her into making an unofficial visit to Wake Forest, and that made the thought of becoming a Demon Deacon no longer a stretch, but almost a certainty.
As it turned out, her win at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate created the first winning mother-daughter duo in Wake Forest history, and the Deacons won the team title in a wire-to-wire finish in a field that included seven of the top 14 teams in the nation, including the top three.
"I actually missed qualifying for the first event of the season, so in a meeting Coach (Kim Lewellen) told me she wanted me to make it where she couldn't not take me," Kuehn said. "So I went in with the mindset that I was going to prove to Coach that she couldn't not take me. I played well, and we were able to get the team win and my first individual title. It's a great memory. I had so much fun with the girls because winning individual and team was special, but I was also able to add my name next to my mom's, which was super special.
"Mom was my first call after the win. She couldn't be there, but it was nice to have support from a distance. She was so excited for me. She knows all the hard work that goes into preparing for a tournament and all the work that's gone into growing up preparing for college golf. She was proud of me and will always be my first phone call. I appreciate her a lot."
Kuehn said that it's kind of funny now that nobody really knew the story that she originally didn't want to be a Deacon.
"Everybody assumed that my parents went to Wake, and I would go to Wake," she said. "It's kind of an ongoing joke in the family. But I was able for a split second to experience the community that is Wake Forest, and to be really honest, one of the things that made a huge difference for me was that there was a girl on the Wake Forest golf team that is a granddaughter of Arnold Palmer. At the time I didn't know that, and she was really nice.
"Once I found out later that she could come and make it her own place, then there was absolutely nothing preventing me from coming and making it my own place. And I couldn't be happier. Wake had everything I was looking for, and once I knew I could make it mine, I was convinced."
Kuehn committed under former head coach Dianne Dailey, but once Dailey retired after the 2017-18 season, Lewellen, who had been the head coach at Virginia, took over the program. Kuehn had been at the top of her recruiting list at Virginia. So Lewellen jokingly told Kuehn she was going to coach her even if she had to change schools.
"For you to come out as a freshman and win the ANNIKA right out the gate, that's impressive," Lewellen said. "I think she made a bold statement quickly in college golf."
Kuehn said, "It's really cool to be with Coach Kim, and her personality and mine seem to fit together really well. Coach Dailey is great. Coach Lewellen is great. I've gotten really lucky with the people who recruited me and coached me over the last couple of years."
Kuehn was in the lineup for five of seven events in the shortened season. But she finished with a team-best 71.23 stroke average. Not only did she earn her first collegiate title at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate with a season-best score of 203 (-13), she also finished in the top 20 in all of her appearances. She was selected to the Arnold Palmer Cup U.S. team and named to the WGCA All-American First Team. She was also named the ACC preseason Player of the Year.
"As soon as she stepped onto campus, she fit in playing on a team and enjoying the camaraderie," Lewellen said. "She really took her game up at the first tournament as a freshman. She's used all the support and facilities at Wake Forest to take her game to a level that's one of the best in the country.
"She has one of the best golf IQs I've ever been around. She can navigate herself around a golf course, a new course that maybe she's only seen once in a practice round. That takes a lot of patience. She is obviously skilled in all her technique areas. She says putting is one of her strengths, but for the most part everything she has is really sound, and with a golf IQ like hers, you have a great player."
Kuehn competed as an amateur in her first professional event in mid-October, making the cut and finishing tied for 28th in the Mission Inn Resort and Club Championship in Howey-In-The-Hills, Fla.
"I reached out to a couple of tournament directors and sponsors, and they said we'd love to have me on a sponsor's invite," Kuehn said. "It was really cool because I got to compare my game against the best of the best in women's golf, against people who do this for a living. It was great to put myself in that situation, and it's what it's like trying to make a living off of golf. As amateurs we play because we really like it, but I got to see what it's like to take a professional approach to the game."
When the 2019-20 season ended due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Deacons were coming off a 26-shot victory in March at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate, were ranked No. 1 in the country and built to make a run toward a national championship.
"We played really well at the Darius, and we were optimistic for the postseason," Kuehn said. "Then everything gets shut down. It was hard, and we were upset because we thought we could compete with anyone in the country. We were sad for Siyun Liu, because she was our senior, and we didn't know she was going to get another year. Everyone felt a little cheated. It's all led up to competing this spring because it stung a little bit not to be able to finish last season."
Kuehn and the team took a little sting out of last year's shortened season as she won her second individual title by one shot over teammate Lauren Walsh at the Palmetto Intercollegiate held at Kiawah Island, S.C., and the team took home the team title by 28 strokes in late February.
"As golfers, we say we want to get 1 percent better every day," Lewellen said. "Rachel comes out to practice with a purpose. She's pretty darn good. But if she can gain half of a stroke by learning a new chip shot or honing in the skills she already has, she's going to be a hard one to beat."
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In her first tournament in a field that included 12 All-Americans from the previous season, Kuehn shot 13-under par, a Wake Forest freshman record, at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate to win by five strokes.
It was an amazing outcome for sure, but there's a bit of irony in her victory because as a high school sophomore going through the recruiting process, Wake Forest was quietly last on her list of prospective schools.
Her father, Eric, played baseball for the Deacons as a center fielder in the 1980s. Her mother, Brenda Corrie Kuehn, was an All-American golfer who played two seasons at Wake Forest, winning five times as a senior and setting a program record for wins in a single season. Brenda was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame in 1999.
Rachel wanted her college experience to be at a place she could call her own – where she could create her own golf legacy. But in the fall of 2016, Kuehn's parents talked her into making an unofficial visit to Wake Forest, and that made the thought of becoming a Demon Deacon no longer a stretch, but almost a certainty.
As it turned out, her win at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate created the first winning mother-daughter duo in Wake Forest history, and the Deacons won the team title in a wire-to-wire finish in a field that included seven of the top 14 teams in the nation, including the top three.
"I actually missed qualifying for the first event of the season, so in a meeting Coach (Kim Lewellen) told me she wanted me to make it where she couldn't not take me," Kuehn said. "So I went in with the mindset that I was going to prove to Coach that she couldn't not take me. I played well, and we were able to get the team win and my first individual title. It's a great memory. I had so much fun with the girls because winning individual and team was special, but I was also able to add my name next to my mom's, which was super special.
"Mom was my first call after the win. She couldn't be there, but it was nice to have support from a distance. She was so excited for me. She knows all the hard work that goes into preparing for a tournament and all the work that's gone into growing up preparing for college golf. She was proud of me and will always be my first phone call. I appreciate her a lot."
Kuehn said that it's kind of funny now that nobody really knew the story that she originally didn't want to be a Deacon.
"Everybody assumed that my parents went to Wake, and I would go to Wake," she said. "It's kind of an ongoing joke in the family. But I was able for a split second to experience the community that is Wake Forest, and to be really honest, one of the things that made a huge difference for me was that there was a girl on the Wake Forest golf team that is a granddaughter of Arnold Palmer. At the time I didn't know that, and she was really nice.
"Once I found out later that she could come and make it her own place, then there was absolutely nothing preventing me from coming and making it my own place. And I couldn't be happier. Wake had everything I was looking for, and once I knew I could make it mine, I was convinced."
Kuehn committed under former head coach Dianne Dailey, but once Dailey retired after the 2017-18 season, Lewellen, who had been the head coach at Virginia, took over the program. Kuehn had been at the top of her recruiting list at Virginia. So Lewellen jokingly told Kuehn she was going to coach her even if she had to change schools.
"For you to come out as a freshman and win the ANNIKA right out the gate, that's impressive," Lewellen said. "I think she made a bold statement quickly in college golf."
Kuehn said, "It's really cool to be with Coach Kim, and her personality and mine seem to fit together really well. Coach Dailey is great. Coach Lewellen is great. I've gotten really lucky with the people who recruited me and coached me over the last couple of years."
Kuehn was in the lineup for five of seven events in the shortened season. But she finished with a team-best 71.23 stroke average. Not only did she earn her first collegiate title at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate with a season-best score of 203 (-13), she also finished in the top 20 in all of her appearances. She was selected to the Arnold Palmer Cup U.S. team and named to the WGCA All-American First Team. She was also named the ACC preseason Player of the Year.
"As soon as she stepped onto campus, she fit in playing on a team and enjoying the camaraderie," Lewellen said. "She really took her game up at the first tournament as a freshman. She's used all the support and facilities at Wake Forest to take her game to a level that's one of the best in the country.
"She has one of the best golf IQs I've ever been around. She can navigate herself around a golf course, a new course that maybe she's only seen once in a practice round. That takes a lot of patience. She is obviously skilled in all her technique areas. She says putting is one of her strengths, but for the most part everything she has is really sound, and with a golf IQ like hers, you have a great player."
Kuehn competed as an amateur in her first professional event in mid-October, making the cut and finishing tied for 28th in the Mission Inn Resort and Club Championship in Howey-In-The-Hills, Fla.
"I reached out to a couple of tournament directors and sponsors, and they said we'd love to have me on a sponsor's invite," Kuehn said. "It was really cool because I got to compare my game against the best of the best in women's golf, against people who do this for a living. It was great to put myself in that situation, and it's what it's like trying to make a living off of golf. As amateurs we play because we really like it, but I got to see what it's like to take a professional approach to the game."
When the 2019-20 season ended due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Deacons were coming off a 26-shot victory in March at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate, were ranked No. 1 in the country and built to make a run toward a national championship.
"We played really well at the Darius, and we were optimistic for the postseason," Kuehn said. "Then everything gets shut down. It was hard, and we were upset because we thought we could compete with anyone in the country. We were sad for Siyun Liu, because she was our senior, and we didn't know she was going to get another year. Everyone felt a little cheated. It's all led up to competing this spring because it stung a little bit not to be able to finish last season."
Kuehn and the team took a little sting out of last year's shortened season as she won her second individual title by one shot over teammate Lauren Walsh at the Palmetto Intercollegiate held at Kiawah Island, S.C., and the team took home the team title by 28 strokes in late February.
"As golfers, we say we want to get 1 percent better every day," Lewellen said. "Rachel comes out to practice with a purpose. She's pretty darn good. But if she can gain half of a stroke by learning a new chip shot or honing in the skills she already has, she's going to be a hard one to beat."
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