Recap of Weeks 1 – 3 on the WAPT
My first three tournaments of the 2025 season are in the books. I made all three cuts and I am currently ranked in the “Annika 20” which is the top 20 for the tour. Players ranked in the top 20 at the conclusion of the season get a full scholarship to qualifying school, the equivalent of $5,500. This is a new addition for 2025 and it is a huge incentive for players who are trying to make it on the developmental tour.
Louisiana and Mississippi swing
I started the swing by flying to Baton Rouge to meet up with Olivia Armstrong, my former OSU teammate. When I got to the San Diego airport, American’s luggage scanner was down, so hundreds of passengers were waiting in line for more than an hour. Fortunately, there were so many people impacted, American was holding flights. I got to my plane in time, but my clubs didn’t. I have an air tag on them, so I could see that they were still in San Diego as I was on my way to my lay over in Dallas. That was pretty stressful. I talked with Customer Service when I got to Dallas and they were able to get them on a flight to Baton Rouge that arrived within an hour of my flight. It could have been a really bad start to the season!
Links on the Bayou – Alexandria, LA (Week 1)
My first tournament was in Alexandria, LA at the Links on the Bayou course. The Coke Dr. Pepper Championship was set at a very wide open, linksy, incredibly windy course. We struggled with gusts up to 45mph every day, both morning and afternoon which made for a very exhausting week. Despite the wind, I was able to put together a solid round at 1 over each of the first two days. Going into the final round, it was still windy but not quite as bad as the previous two days. I shot two under with a birdie on 17, finishing even par for the tournament and tied for 13th. I played solid golf, with rounds of 73-73-70. Jeanie and Ned were so kind to host Olivia and me at their home in Alexandria with their adorable two dogs – Gus and Louie. We had a fun time playing Monopoly Deal, hunkered down during a Tornado Warning and loved having Ned coming out to watch both of us during the final round.
Contraband Bayou – Lake Charles (Week 2)
Olivia and I drove to the two hours to Lake Charles for our next tournament at the Contraband Bayou Golf Course. I got paired with three wonderful ladies for the Pro-Am the day before the tournament and had a blast with them. The weather was much better this week, and I played well, but my putts were not dropping. This tournament was 72 holes and a par 71. I shot even the first round and one under in the second. Round 3 was when I just couldn’t get a putt to drop and finished with two bogeys and no birdies. But I played better in Round 4, finishing with another birdie on 17 again, two under on the day and even overall. That was good enough for a tie for 19th place. It was some steady golf again at this tournament with scores of 71-70-73-70.
Beau Pre Country Club – Natchez, MS (Week 3)
Our final tournament was in Natchez, MS. We were excited to be staying with the same host family as last year and also excited to have Masters’ Sunday off. Madison and Jason truly made this week feel like home with visits from their son and daughter as well as their two adorable doodles, Gus and Jazz. We also had amazing dinners, rescued a baby bird and had a crawfish boil with the neighbors.
We were able to relax and watch the Masters before getting back to work for a practice round on Monday and the Pro-Am on Tuesday. Wednesday, I had the very first tee time for the 54 hole Taco Bell Natchez Classic playing with fellow Oregon Junior Golfer Victoria Gailey. The course was not in great condition and most of the greens had some disease, but I managed to get around the course okay and shot 73-73-71 and a 24th place finish. I was one over in each of my first two rounds, which was a little bit nerve racking, because I bogied17 and the cut was at 2 over. But I snuck in and played well in the final round, shooting 1 under on the day, +1 for the tournament and finishing T24.
Olivia and I got up early to drive to the Baton Rouge airport Saturday morning. My brother Tim was flying in from Portland to meet me so he could caddy for me in the US Women’s Open Qualifier on Monday, at Soboba Springs in San Jacinto, California. Needless to say, it’s been a busy three weeks. More on the US Women’s Open Qualifier in my next post!
