Feature Friday: Charlotte Lafourcade

Just a few short weeks ago, junior Charlotte Lafourcade and the Maryland women’s golf team were on a golf course in beautiful Miami, winning their first team title since 2017. 

Charlotte finished in the top 12 of the event, the Hurricane Invitational, shooting a 71 in the final round to help the Terrapins seal the victory. As a team, the Terps went seven strokes under par in the final round to beat six top 50 teams.

“After Miami, our mindset as a team was the same as it was heading into the event,” head coach Diana Cantu said. “We had a rough event before Miami when we were in Puerto Rico and we decided we were going to earn our way back into the low 40s in the national rankings. 

“Winning in Miami definitely gave us more confidence and trust in our preparation heading into the event. We were ready to continue our strong play.”

Less than two weeks later, instead of preparing for a second consecutive team run to NCAA Regionals, Charlotte and her Terrapin teammates got the news they were dreading.

“We were at the golf course,” she said. “We had practice and then we all stayed a bit longer. Coach asked us to gather and have a meeting. She told us the season was over. I didn’t cry because I didn’t want to show my teammates my emotion because we were all really sad. We didn’t really understand what was going on and it didn’t really feel real. We were doing so well, so it was so frustrating to hear that, but we couldn’t control it.” 

It was one of the toughest messages a coach could deliver. 

“I actually found out about the cancelation of spring sports while we were practicing,” Cantu said. “It was very surreal. I spoke to the team once practice ended and told them about the decision made by the NCAA and the Big Ten Conference. We were getting ready for the peak of our season and when that was taken away from us, it was very hard to swallow and understand. But we knew that the decision was made to protect our health and the health of those around us.”

Just a few days after the news came, Charlotte and her teammates found themselves on planes heading to their homes around the world. Charlotte booked a last-minute flight home to France, first to Paris, then a flight to her hometown of Biarritz.

“At first, I was a little freaked out about going back to France, because I knew it was really bad,” Lafourcade said. “The idea of traveling scared me, but my parents told me ‘Just book a flight before you cannot come home. We don’t know how long this will last.’”

Charlotte and teammate Laura Van Respaille flew home to France together, prepared with their masks and gloves. Charlotte flew to Paris, had an eight-hour layover, then flew to her home on the northern coast of France. Biarritz sits on the Bay of Biscay and is about 20 miles from the Spanish border. 

Charlotte’s family owns a small resort made up of four houses on the coast. Upon returning home, she was quarantined in one of the family’s guest houses for 21 days.

“My mom was awesome,” Charlotte said. “She would bring me meals every day. She would leave them outside and I would come and grab them. If I talked to my parents, I would talk to them from really far away or through a window.”

One of the hardest parts? Not being able to be near the family dog.

“I didn’t touch my dog for 21 days because we’re just not really sure how you transmit the virus and if animals transmit the virus,” Charlotte explained.“I was really jet-lagged at first, so I would sleep a lot. I would wake up at noon because it’s a six-hour time difference.”

Besides school work in her major of marketing, Charlotte was able to continue her work on her golf game during her quarantine period and now.

“We have a big garden, so I could hit some chip shots,” she said. “I worked out a lot, too.”

Even though she is now finished quarantining separately from her immediate family, Charlotte is still staying with her parents, Maïder and Philippe, and one of her brothers. But strict guidelines in France are keeping them close to home.

“My other brother is in his apartment 30 minutes away,” Charlotte said. “I don’t think he’s going to come [here] because you cannot really leave your house further than a half mile. If you get caught, you can get a fee.

“I’m right next to the beach - it’s within my half mile - but I cannot go there. If you go outside to work out, you have to be by yourself.”

As masks are now highly recommended in many states in the U.S., the life-saving covers are hard to find in France.

“There is a huge debate because we don’t have enough [masks] for people working in the medical fields and in the hospitals,” Charlotte said. “It’s a problem right now. We cannot find any and it’s going to take a while to get some.”

Adjusting to classes online has been different as well. With the six-hour time change, Charlotte’s classes are all in the evening. 

“Twice a week, I have class at 11 p.m. my time with [teammate] Laura Van Respaille,” Charlotte said. “At first, it was easier, but now it’s getting harder as I adjust to my time here. The professor knows and one time I fell asleep, but she understood.

“Teachers have been really flexible. Some of them moved assignments, which is nice.”

As the world continues to fight the pandemic and Charlotte has stayed at home with her family, one thing has helped her weather a quarantine, the time change and a special season coming to an end - her Terrapin family.

The Terps on the women’s golf team hail from five countries and all of them are staying connected. Charlotte spent a lot of time during quarantine FaceTiming teammates and friends.

“We called each other almost every day, just to keep in touch and make sure everyone is safe,” Charlotte said.

The team has weekly Zoom calls and has done numerous social media challenges - including a baking challenge. One of their favorite team traditions is a baking challenge during the holidays and now, they’ve taken it online. Charlotte made traditional French crepes with Nutella and the team took votes online. 

“We are doing a team Zoom call each week,” Cantu said. “We want to make sure we catch up and chat about what is new for each of us. This is very different for all of us, but we take this time to enjoy seeing each other, having a laugh, and also learning. 

“We talk about what we tried for the first time since our last call, and then we dive into talking about a book that we are reading as a team. I love the insight that they all bring to the conversation and I know that this is helping us get better even though we aren’t physically spending much time with our golf clubs.”