EDITOR'S NOTE: The following is part of LongwoodLancers.com's "More Than A Game" series, which highlights the passions, backgrounds and development through athletics of Longwood's student-athletes. For more, visit the More Than A Game homepage.

By TODD LINDENMUTH
LongwoodLancers.com

Throughout her college career, Longwood women's golfer Asha Bala Krishnan has taken in tee box views of golf courses around the country. This past summer, however, Bala Krishnan viewed the game from a different point of view, from inside the headquarters of the PGA Tour in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
 
Bala Krishnan was among a select group of college students chosen for the PGA Tour Internship Program, a three-month program that allowed her to work in the accounting and finance department of the governing body of professional golf. An business administration major concentrating in accounting, Bala Krishnan assisted in managing the fixed assets for all PGA Tour run companies across the country, including the majority of the TPC Clubs across the country.
 
"There were 900+ applicants, so it was exciting just to be one of the few selected to take part in the program," said Bala Krishnan. "I was one of two people placed in the accounting and finance department where I worked more specifically with fixed assets. I learned so much about the inner workings and the corporate functions of the PGA Tour."
 
Originally from Johor Baru, Malaysia, Bala Krishnan has starred on the Longwood women's golf team for the past four years. She has played in 20 career events, recording two career top-20 finishes with an 80.8 scoring average, all while maintaining a 3.674 grade point average and receiving Big South Conference All-Academic honors last year.
 
"This opportunity Asha was provided shows Longwood's commitment to developing well-rounded athletes both on and off the golf course," said Longwood women's golf head coach Shannon Briggs.
 
Bala Krishnan's PGA Tour opportunity arose from a connection in Malaysia, who recommended her for the position. After undergoing a rigorous application process that, she was picked as one of 26 internships from a poll of nearly 1,000 applicants. While it wasn't a requirement of the internship to be a student-athlete, Bala Krishnan says that was a common theme among the 26 people chosen.
 
"There were 26 of us, and I would say except for three of them, everybody was a Division I athlete," she said. "There were golfers, there were football players, field hockey players, and ice hockey players. The common thing was that people were athletes, and the three that weren't athletes in college are athletes on their own. They played on their own time and have a general interest in sports."
 
The internship provided Bala Krishnan with various networking opportunities, including a chance to meet and interact with PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem and PGA Tour Deputy Commissioner Jay Monahan at separate lunch events.
 
"With Jay Monahan and Tim Finchem, it was more of an open forum for us to ask them questions," Bala Krishnan said. "I also had the chance and to reach out to a lot of different people in my department that I networked with. I got to know them very well, to the point where they offered to write a future letter of recommendation if I needed one."
 
When she wasn't busy filing acquisitions and dispositions of PGA Tour sponsors and TPC courses in her office overlooking the famed TPC Sawgrass course, Bala Krishnan had the opportunity to work on her own game. She spent the summer practicing on some of the top facilities on the PGA Tour and had the chance to test her skills on the famed Pete Dye design as well.
 
"Just getting the chance to practice at a golf course that's so nice with facilities that are so amazing, I can't even describe it," Bala Krishnan said. "The golf course itself is so challenging; just playing it in itself is good practice."
 
"Having access to one of the top golf courses and facilities in North America allowed Asha to advance her experience," said Briggs, who is now in her second year leading the Lancer program. "It provided a summer of professional development while being in an environment that allowed her to improve her golf skills."
 
The work Bala Krishnan put in over the summer has paid off, as she has recorded a 78.0 scoring average to go along with two top-30 finishes this fall. The lone senior for Longwood this season, she notched a top-20 finish in Longwood's last event, the Chesapeake Bay Invitational at the US Naval Academy Golf Course.
 
Bala Krishnan and the Lancers continue their fall campaign this Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 28-29, at the ECU/Lady Pirate Intercollegiate at the Brooke Valley Country Club in Greenville, N.C.