Despite the rain pouring down on the Meadow Club golf course with conditions worsening, San Diego State junior Anika Sato was on fire.

The junior had just come off shooting her best 36-hole score since the fall with a 2-over-par 74 and a 1-under 71 on the first day of the Juli Inkster Invitational in Fairfax, California, on March 4.

Although the tournament was suspended the following day, Sato was 3-under during her third round, further validating the improvements she’s made as she continued to come back from an injury she sustained in the fall.

In the first tournament of the year, Sato had to withdraw after suffering a hip injury due to a swing change she had made during the summer.

“That hit me pretty hard; I was really sad,” Sato said. “It wasn’t how I wanted the season to look.”

Over the next few months, Sato began going to a personal trainer and a new swing coach in order to regain strength and change her swing, which took time.

“It was hard for me to keep doing something when you don’t see a good result right away because you feel like you aren’t doing the right thing, and that’s when I realized I have to trust the process,” Sato said.

As the season went on, Sato faced adversity on the course as she wasn’t seeing the results she had hoped for. After talking with her trainer, she decided to change her perspective on things.

“Whatever happened to me in the past that I didn’t like, what if that was a good thing?” Sato said. “What if getting injured was a good thing for me? Maybe it will be a good thing if I learn from the injury, and then how to not get injured and how to handle them.”

Sato applied this new mindset to her last tournament, the Juli Inkster Invitational, and it led to not only her second-lowest 18-hole score of the season but also her best placement individually in a tournament since last spring — a tie for 20th.

“(Sato) was playing free; she was letting whatever happened happen, she didn’t get easily rattled,” said head coach Lauren Dobashi. “I think sometimes in the past she has gotten aggressive… she really wants that birdie and really wants to get that shot back … but I think when she plays her best golf, she just lets it happen and she feels like she doesn’t have to force anything.”

As Sato continues her spring season, trusting the process and having a good mental game will be key for her to be successful.

“I used to judge if I was doing the right thing or not based on the result,” Sato said. “It’s really important for me to keep doing whatever I’m doing… because it’s golf, some days you play bad and other days you play well, but you need to focus on input and not the result, so I really want to trust the process until I get better.”

Sato and the Aztecs’ next event will be the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic at the University of Georgia Golf Club in Athens, Georgia, from March 29–30.