The Past 7 Weeks on the Road
My apologies on the recent absence of blog posts. The past seven weeks on the road have been incredibly busy with six Annika Women’s All Pro Tour tournaments, one U.S. Women’s Open Qualifier and travel through seven different states (LA, MS, TX, OK, NM, AZ and CA).
Week 1 – US Restoration Northshore Championship Mandeville, LA (77-79 MC)
My first Women’s All Pro Tour (WAPT) of the season started off with Southwest Airlines losing my golf clubs. Fortunately they showed up before the first practice round. My former Oregon State teammate, Olivia, and I stayed in host-housing where we had a kitty named Yum Yum and a dog named Buzz.
I struggled on this narrow, tree lined golf course. I only managed to make two birdies over the first two days. I missed the cut by 3 shots, giving me lots of time to practice, play pickle ball (my host family were fanatics!) and spend a little bit of time in New Orleans. At the end of the week, I hopped in the car with my other former teammate, Susie and we headed to Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Week 2 – L’Auberge Lake Charles Championship, Lake Charles, LA (76-71-73, T33)
This golf course, at Contraband Bayou Golf Club, was much more wide open, with quite a few water hazards and more mosquitos than I have ever experienced. I stayed the first couple nights in the host hotel with Olivia and Susie before my parents flew down to join me and spectate/caddie. They flew in just in time to experience a tornado the night before Round 1. This tornado took down more than 30 trees on the course, forcing the WAPT to cancel the first round of the event. The maintenance staff cleared out and cleaned up as much as they could, however the course still had a lot of debris. I played solid golf all week, and made the cut with a chip in for birdie on my last hole of Round 2. After a decent final round, I secured my first paycheck of 2024.
My dad was able to caddy and my mom spectate all week making the windy, buggy event much more enjoyable. After the final round, Olivia and I drove to Mississippi. A new state for me!
Week 3 – Taco Bell Natchez Championship Natchez, MS (78-73 MC)
For the first couple nights in Natchez before our host family was available, Olivia and I stayed in a very scary Days Inn. (Just another day in the glamorous life of a professional athlete.) Once we were able to stay with then, our host family here were amazing chefs and fed us so well. They also had two sweet labradoodles. I love it when my host families have pets!
The golf course in Natchez weaved in and out of trees and water hazards. The fairways and bunkers were not in the best shape so many shots were forced to be hit out of bad lies. I started the tournament out poorly which put me in a difficult position. I tried my best to fight back, and had a good second round, but it was not quite enough to get inside the cut line.
After the tournament ended I drove to the Baton Rouge airport and flew back home to San Diego.
Week 4 – U.S. Women’s Open Qualifier (74-72) and a couple days off
I had a day to rest and relax before picking up my brother, Tim, at the airport in San Diego and heading to Hemet, California for my U.S. Women’s Open Qualifier at Soboba Springs. I hadn’t seen the golf course before, but it was one of only two qualifying sites that worked with my schedule and was just a two hour drive from my hone in San Diego. The golf course sits at the base of the San Bernadino Mountains, with narrow fairways, firm greens and thick rough. After my practice round, I was feeling great about the course. With Tim on my bag, I started the 36 hole-one day tournament off well, in fact I was leading for the first 12 holes. Unfortunately, I tripled my 13th hole, which knocked me a ways down the leaderboard. After finishing the first 18, we had a 30 minute lunch break and then I got back out there and played solid golf. I am most proud of the way I finished. In USGA qualifiers, there are typically only two spots and it’s easy to get tired and down on yourself, but I did not give up. I finished the tournament with 4 birdies on my last 5 holes. I ended up missing a qualifying spot by four strokes and an alternate position by one. Tim and I grabbed some In-n-Out and headed back to San Diego. I used the next couple of days to rest my body and get ready for my next three WAPT events.
Week 5 – Mackie Construction Pro Golf Classic Abilene, TX (74-71-65-71, T11)
Arranging transportation for these three week long stretches is challenging. For this event, I flew into Dallas to meet up with my former Oregon State teammate, Susie Cavanagh. It has been so nice to be on the tour this year with Susie and Olivia. Susie and I drove together a few hours west to Abilene, where we met up with Olivia again, who drove from Phoenix. Olivia and I were lucky enough to stay with her incredible host family from a couple years ago, who were absolutely wonderful. They also have three cute dogs, Apollo, Zeus and Charlie.
Abilene Country Club is short, tree lined and had old school, small greens. It reminded me of the courses I grew up on in Oregon (minus the evergreen trees). I really enjoyed everything about this tournament. The WAPT does a great job with the tournaments, arranging host housing, Pro-Ams, and other opportunities for the players to interact with the community. Olivia and I helped with a junior clinic before the tournament started, which was really fun.
After two days of solid golf, I sunk a 6-foot birdie putt to make the cut by 1 shot. Round 3 was one of those days that makes you remember why you play this game. I managed to make six birdies and just one bogey and moved up the leaderboard 25 spots. My host dad, Steve, came out on his lunch break and watched both Olivia and me, which was so incredibly kind. Debbie, our host mom, truly made this place feel like home for the week. We survived another tornado warning that just missed our golf course by a few miles and I finished the tournament in 11th place. Olivia and I celebrated with a trip to Perini’s Ranch for dinner with our host family before we had to drive the three hours to our next tournament, just north of Dallas.
Week 6 – Oscar Williams Classic at Hurricane Creek, Anna TX (73-73-80-76, 36th)
My parents were coming out for this tournament, but not until the tournament started. Fortunately, I was able to stay with Olivia’s host family here for the for the first couple nights. The day before our practice round, a storm came through and the golf course got three inches of rain, which made it extremely wet and soft throughout the entire week. This made it play much longer and harder.
Round 1, I was paired with Susie, which was really fun. I scrambled a lot the first two days to save pars, but I was putting very well. I wasn’t making as many putts in my final two rounds. I also had a couple holes where I really struggled. It was a frustrating way to finish the tournament, but it gave me a lot to work on. It was good to have my parents there – my dad was able to caddie again and all three of us had fun exploring nearby McKinney, Texas.
Week 7 – FCA Women’s Championship, Broken Arrow, OK (72-73-71-75, 8th)
From Anna, Susie and I made the drive to Broken Arrow, a suburb of Tulsa for the long awaited final tournament of the seven week stretch. At this point, I have only had about five days off of golf in the past two months, so I was looking forward to finishing this week off strong. I had the chance to play in the Pro-Am. Once the tournament started, I played some of the steadiest golf I have in a while with lots of fairways, greens and two putts. Round 2 was paused by a three hour weather delay, but besides this, the tournament was smooth. My third round started off great, moving me up the leaderboard and getting me into the final group for the last day. I felt a little bit of nerves and wasn’t hitting the ball as well as I wanted, so my final round wasn’t what I needed to stay in contention for the win. But, my friend and fellow Oregonian, Victoria Gailey, finished Round 4 with a 66 and won the event. This week was a really fun finish to the first half of the season. Susie, Olivia and I all were placed in the same host house with Laurie and Charlie, who were the sweetest couple. We stayed right on the golf course and got to spend our evenings eating healthy dinners and playing banana-grams. Traveling with Olivia and Susie this season has been so great and makes me feel so grateful for the support I have on tour. Seconds after the trophy ceremony Olivia and I hopped into her car and drove west from Tulsa to Phoenix over the next day and a half. I was able to fly from Phoenix back to San Diego, where I am home for a week before I head to Denver for the Colorado Women’s Open next week.
These past seven weeks have been a big learning experience and I am excited that my game is trending upwards. I have genuinely enjoyed The Women’s All Pro Tour so far and I am looking forward to the second half of the season. But before that, I will be participating in the Inspirato Colorado Women’s Open in Denver, May 29-31.
Thank you for reading and as always for supporting me on this journey. I appreciate everyone who is following along and cheering me on. Thank you!!!
