When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States last spring, University of South Alabama women's golfer Belinda May faced a difficult decision. Stay in the United States and finish out the semester at South Alabama or immediately return home to her native New Zealand?

May and her Jaguar teammates had just wrapped up play at the UNF Collegiate in Jacksonville, Fla., on March 10 when news of what was happening with the coronavirus began to slowly spread.

"We were watching the practice round at The Players Championship," May recalled. "While we were watching it, there was a lot of talk about coronavirus, but we were unsure about what was happening. We drove home that day and were supposed to have practice the next day, but we got a text from (Head) Coach (Matt) Luther saying practice had been postponed until later that afternoon because he had a meeting with the University. When he was done, he called us into a team meeting and told us that at that point the season was done and by the looks of it school was going to go all online. We were just shocked."

May, who is one of six international student-athletes on the Jaguar women's golf roster, said she faced a big decision on staying or leaving, and attributed much of the decision to the drastic time difference between the two countries.

"It is very expensive and a long trip to New Zealand," she said. "My parents and I decided that it was easier for me to stay in America to finish school, because I wouldn't have to worry about the time difference or what day things were due. New Zealand is 17 hours ahead of America, so it is quite a challenge. At that point, most of my teammates were saying they were going to stay here until school finished and then go home. There was a small group of us still here, and there was fear of not being able to get home because there were a lot of flights that were canceled to cut down on travel. 

"I called my parents, and they told me to stay and they would find a way to get me home in a month or so. Then later that same day, my mom sent me a link to a news article from back home that quoted our prime minister as saying if you were a Kiwi overseas, you should get home as fast as you can because they were going to potentially close the borders and institute a national lockdown. I called my parents back again, and they decided that I should come home; that day I booked flights to leave three days later. I left America on March 20, and arrived home on March 22."

The New Zealand government's response to the Covid-19 pandemic was lauded globally. The island nation with a population of nearly five million has recorded just over 1,750 positive cases of COVID-19 with 22 deaths. Ireland, which is similar in population to New Zealand, has recorded over 25,000 cases of COVID and 1,679 deaths. 
The United States has a population of over 328 million and has recorded more than six million positive COVID cases with over 185,000 deaths attributed to it. 

New Zealand not only took the drastic step of entirely closing its borders to nearly all non-citizens or residents in mid-March, but also required any resident returning to the country to self-isolate for 14 days. May said the two-week isolation was tough, but also necessary in order to help fight the spread of COVID in the country.

"Once I got home, I basically just stayed in my room for 14 days," she recalled. "My mom was still going to work at that point, so the first week my mom and dad were still working; I had almost one entire end of our house to myself. My parents would deliver meals to me on a tray and make me stand on the other side of the room while they put it through the door. I had to disinfect all the dishes in the bathroom sink then slide them back to them to put into the dishwasher. We took it very seriously, because if I had coronavirus and given it to my mom and then she took it to school then it could have gotten really bad."

But even with a national lockdown, May found a way to keep her golf game in shape, constructing a makeshift hitting station where she hung bedsheets between a pair of trees. "It was great until I broke it and was hitting balls into the neighbor's property," she said.

In her freshman season at South Alabama last year, May ranked third on the team with a 74.94 stroke average after playing in all six tournaments. She fired a career-low 2-under par 70 to open the Pat Bradley Invitational (Oct. 20-22), and also posted her lowest three-round total of the season with a 226 at the event. 

"The first round at the Pat Bradley Invitational was a really good round of golf," May said. "I was settled in and felt comfortable. Everything was kind of new for me coming to South Alabama compared to Troy. I never played a tournament at Troy because I was injured the whole year, so meeting a new team and traveling to new tournaments was a little different. At that point in the year, I was completely comfortable. Everything just worked out; I had some good bounces when I didn't quite hit it right, and I made some putts. 

"I had some good rounds (last year), but there were also some bad rounds where I just mainly struggled with hitting it in a bad place and trying to hit a hero shot instead of getting it out, hitting on the green, taking bogey and move on. That is really my new mindset coming into this year; if I hit it into a bad place, bogey is not going to kill me. Just take it, move on to the next hole and try to make a birdie."

May's willingness to learn along with the confidence to try new things within her golf game are just a couple of intangibles that head coach Matt Luther said she brings to the course.

"Belinda's strengths as a player are length, and she has a lot of (club) speed," he said. "She's super raw and extremely coachable – just willing to learn and try new things. She has a lot of upside, and she is willing to be uncomfortable to find the upside. Something we preach is you can't win golf tournaments by forcing birdies, but you can lose them by making double bogeys. Managing the bad is a pillar of our program, and that's something Belinda is learning to do for sure. That speaks to her growth and mindset. She sees the value in what we preach quickly, and tries to figure out how to apply it."

While May was home, New Zealand instituted policies for the pandemic, including a four-level alert system, which helped control goods available for its citizens. But it also led to nearly all businesses being shutdown except for those deemed essential such as gas stations, grocery stores, hospitals and pharmacies, in addition to restricted vehicle travel and social interaction limited to within family households.

"Only one person from the household could go buy groceries, and they could only go once a week," May explained of the lockdown. "You weren't allowed to buy in bulk – only buy what could last a week at a time. After seven weeks of being in lockdown, they loosened it where we went from Level 4 to Level 3, which meant you could go outside and play golf since it was a sport that wasn't as dangerous for potential spread of the coronavirus. I had to play golf by myself because you were only allowed to play golf with people from your household, but none of my family plays golf so I just went on my own.

"It was amazing. I didn't actually hit it that bad considering I hadn't played in so long. It was so nice, just the feeling of being able to go outside and play the sport I have been playing for years, especially being in the United States where we play every day – it was just so nice."

Now that she is back in the United States and enrolled in classes for this year, May is focused and diligent as the fall season gets underway but ultimately just appreciative to be able to compete.

"We are all very excited and very grateful to have the opportunity to possibly play," she said. "I have a lot of friends at other schools whose seasons have been canceled, and I'm sitting here thinking how grateful I am to even have the opportunity. We're just taking it day-by-day and doing all the things we need to do to prepare for the season while also being as safe as possible to reduce the risk of contracting coronavirus. As a team, we're very good with dealing with unexpected things that come our way."

With last season's Sun Belt Conference Championship canceled due to COVID, May and her Jaguar teammates will look to defend their 2019 conference title this spring.

"I want to do better in practice," she stated. "We're working better as a team. It's sometimes a bit odd with golf being an individual sport and you put it into a team environment. I'm just really excited to be out there with my team again. We throw 'J hands' on the course to each other when we make par, and a big 'J' when we get birdies. We have a very good team dynamic.

"If we can do the simple things better, then we will have a great year. If we can be patient through this time, everything is so different than it was in previous years. We just need to be patient and understanding of the situation, and keep our heads down and keep working hard."

If May learned anything from her country's response to COVID-19 and getting through two weeks of self-isolation, it would be patience – a virtue that lends itself well to both the golf course and the current pandemic.

Join the Chip In Club, the women's golf specific support club of the Jaguar Athletic Fund. All donations to the Chip In Club go directly to support the South Alabama women's golf program. For more information on how you can join visit: jaguarathleticfund.com/chipinclub.