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BY MIKE SCANDURA V IRGINIA SECOND-YEAR Lauren Diaz-Yi makes sweet music off the golf course because she's an accom- plished violinist and pianist. The same can be said of her golf game — the exception being the music doesn't strike a "harmonious" note with her opponents. "[Lauren] actually started out as a musical prod- igy," UVa head coach Kim Lewellen said. "She started playing the violin and piano. She was more geared in that direction. But she picked up a golf club and fell in love with it. She turned the disci- pline in music to her golf. Her love of music turned into a love of golf. "When you learn music, your focus is intense and you learn from your mistakes. She's very smart at practice. This is a very efficient, smart practice person. Was she born with that or did she develop it? She analyzes her mistakes and gets better at each practice." Diaz-Yi's accomplishments during her young career include the following: • She was named the ACC Women's Golfer of the Month in both October 2014 and February 2015. • She notched the first tournament title of her career when she captured the Tar Heel Invitational, shooting a career-low 7-under-par 209. In the pro- cess she earned medalist honors by four strokes and equaled her career-low 18-hole score with a 3-under 69 in the final round. That enabled her to become only the sixth player in women's program history to be a medalist. • In February, she led the Cavaliers to the UCF Challenge championship by shooting a school- record, 9-under 207 to tie for first place. • Last fall, she ranked fifth among ACC players in stroke average (72.08, which led UVa). • Golfweek ranked her No. 22 in the nation after the fall season. Besides playing violin and piano, Diaz-Yi also played soccer and swam as a youngster in Thousand Oaks, Calif. "I started playing [both sports] when I was 4 or 5," she said. "They were very much part of my life. But my parents were afraid I would be injured play- ing soccer so I quit. "At the time, my cousin [Eric Yi] played golf and introduced it to me, as did my uncle [Ronnie Yi], when I was 8. I was good at it the first couple of weeks. "It kind of went from there. It was doing some- COOL UNDER PRESSURE Former Music Prodigy Lauren Diaz-Yi Is Now Excelling On The Links