On the cusp of graduation, senior Riana Mission knows the path to professional golf won’t be easy, but she is determined to embrace every moment. Throughout her time on the Hilltop, Mission has earned three NCAA individual qualifying selections, four WCC All-Conference team selections, and won back-to-back individual championships in September of the 2024-2025 season.
This spring, she was the first female golfer in USF history to be invited to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in Augusta, Georgia, an invitation-only golf tournament played on the prestigious home course of the Masters.
“None of that would have been possible without the support I’ve gotten,” Mission said, crediting her teammates, coaches, athletic trainers and support staff as instrumental to her individual achievements.
She named USF head women’s golf coach Sara Doell as her biggest mentor. “One of the most important things about [Doell] is that she cares about us beyond us as just athletes or student athletes or golfers. She embodies that USF cura personalis,” Mission said. “She helped me through difficult times of internal and external pressures and how I can move past that.”
Mission grew up in Las Vegas, where she was introduced to golf by her father when he first brought her to the range at age five. She soon enrolled in her local First Tee program and began playing competitively at age seven, with her first memorable win being in the playoffs.
Golf gave Mission many opportunities to meet new people, make friends and travel. “I also just loved golf because it was just me out there with the golf course. There’s so many factors that you can’t control, but you can control everything you do. And so you could always be better, and that was something that was really cool to me,” she said. “I feel like life throws a lot of things at you — sometimes good, sometimes bad — but golf has really taught me how to get back up and keep going.”
Mission’s relationship with golf blossomed in high school, when she became aware of golf as a gateway to college scholarships and set her heart on securing one.
College coaches reached out to recruit Mission for their teams after her sophomore year of high school. Of these, “Coach Doell [was] the only one I really, really connected with from basically the first minute of the phone call,” Mission said. “For me, that connection with Coach and then later on going on a visit and meeting the team at the time — I just knew that San Francisco was something special.”
Coming from an academically focused high school, Mission expressed appreciation for the support USF gave her to seriously pursue a higher level in both sports and her studies. “USF gave me the opportunity to spend more time focused on golf around more similar people where I’m still taking care of academics but golf plays a bigger role,” she said.
Teammate and sophomore Rodaylin Mina said, “[A]s many records Riana has set and the many tournaments she’s won, I’m gonna remember her for the times we sat in the back seat of the van together, the times we literally die laughing, and how she listened and cared about me as a person, a college student, and a golfer. She’s watched and cheered me on when I had dance performances, she’s been a shoulder to cry on when golf wasn’t the best and has given me the biggest hugs when she’s proud of me for anything.”
Mina continued, “She’s one of my biggest cheerleaders on the team and I’m grateful for how she’s pushed me the last two years. I love her a ton and all these successes she’s achieved is just the beginning.”
This summer, Mission plans to continue playing in amateur tournaments. The road to turning pro includes competing in the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) qualifying series, which comprises three stages. Individuals who make it to the final stage will gain full-time status on the LPGA, the top women’s professional world tour. The further a player gets into the stages, the more conditional status they can earn on smaller tours.
“I would love to get my LPGA card as soon as possible, but I also know that it’s gonna be a difficult journey. There are tons of really great, amazing golfers across the country, and hundreds will be playing for those spots,” she said. In light of this, Mission affirmed, “At the end of the day, it’ll still be golf, I’ll still want to win and do the best I can.”
Sharing words of wisdom with her younger self, Mission highlighted two core messages: “Believe in yourself,” and “Smile and have fun.” On pursuing dreams, she encouraged, “If that’s what you want, you can do anything if you’re willing to put in the work and invest yourself.”
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