No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 347: Sophia Popov

Episode Date: August 27, 2020

2020 AIG Women's Open champion Sophia Popov joins us 48 hours after one her stunning performance at Royal Troon. She takes us through the nerves and emotion of the final round, her career development, overcoming Lyme disease, almost giving up the game, her Cactus Tour run, and a lot more. This one was a lot of fun. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm going to be the right club today. Yeah. That is better than most. I'm not in. That is better than most. Better than most. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No Laying Podcast. Got a bonus episode for you this week. Recorded this with Sophia Popov, who obviously just won the AIG Women's Open this past weekend. Didn't want to sit on it until next week.

It's very timely. You can just sense her excitement. We recorded just about 48 hours after she had clinched the title and the emotion was clearly still there and it was a lot of fun to talk to her. She seems awesome, very easy to root for and is a really fun story to follow. Of course, Callaway is a big supporter of the LPGA tour weekend week out. There are more Callaway Maverick drivers and fairway woods, Apex Pearl Irons, jaws MD5 wedges and Odyssey putters in play, then clubs of any other brand. You know, we do, we do watch a lot of women's golf. We see a lot of Callaway logos out there.

Goes to show that the, the world's best players, people that have games that are somewhat, somewhat, they somewhat resemble the golf that you and I play, mostly meaning club head speed, more so than actual talent, of course, but when they have a choice of what to put in their bags, they choose the clubs that fit them the best. As always, you can learn about Calaway products and find out what's right for you at calaway golf.com without any further delay. No further interruptions in today's bonus episode. Here is Sofia Popov.

All right, so how many interviews is this? What have the last 48 hours been like? Take us to what, how much your life has changed? It's been a crazy 48 hours. I think honestly, I had no idea what winning a tournament would entail as far as media goes. It took about three and a half hours until I could make my first phone call to my parents, which was crazy because they got really mad about that.

And they said, well, finally, and I'm like, oh, I didn't know that all this was going to happen. So it was pretty crazy. And then obviously now getting as soon as I landed back in Germany, that's where I am right now. It was just crazy with the request coming in and then between my agency and I just, I can't even, sometimes I'm so confused, I'm like, did I just miss something? Did I, I was panicking, I'm panicking half the time, I'm almost more nervous to miss something than I was just walking down like the stretch on Sunday because I'm like, what if I just miss my golf channel interview and just getting all nervous about those things which is very weird and definitely a different kind of scenario for me to be in right now. Well, have you gone back and watched it?

Is that available to you anywhere? Have you watched the highlights? Or how many times, I guess, would be the better question? So actually, I have not watched the coverage. I've just seen a bunch of highlights. With some of the interviews I did, they would show some of the shots I hit. So I saw a couple of the shots coming down the stretch,

but I honestly haven't seen the full coverage. And I really just want to sit down and watch that. I just don't know how. Someone sent me a link to this. I don't even know. So I think it's but there are a compilation of everything instead of, you know, the actual coverage. So hopefully soon, that's what I'm hoping for. I bet when you go back and watch it, you're gonna be like, wait, I did that. I made that face, I did that. All the things you probably don't think you're doing when you're under extreme pressure.

And I do want to go like blow by blow here when we get into it. But I also want to go back to your career timeline a bit. A lot's been made about, you know, your professional career and it is a crazy story. But you were a four time all American at USC if I have that right. And if dealt with you've dealt with a lot since turning professionals. So while this was out of nowhere in terms of your world ranking, it's not like it's not like you're some hack. So kind of take us through,

your timeline of your Amateur and Pro Golf career and some of the things you've had to overcome. Yeah, so I definitely like to think myself as not just another hack, but. I specifically said you were not a hack for the record. No, no, no, I know. It's interesting because sometimes the way the story is formulated on some of the media,

it kind of makes it sound like, oh, you know, I came out of nowhere, but I like to believe that my ability, that I've been around with my ability to play really good golf, it was just obstacles of which I'll talk about, but so let's go back to college, I guess. My amateur career was pretty, you know, if I'd look at a graph, it was just straight line up, just to highlight as far as like European champion

and I won a couple German championships and then played the junior soul home cup and then went to USC and we won a national championship there in 2013 and it was highlighted by I guess the four-time all-American status. So turning professional obviously I had high expectations of myself. I think a lot of people had high expectations of me and I got through Q-school through European tour and LPJ 2014 and I thought, you know, wow, this is just going to continue the same way and I was extremely excited. I couldn't wait to get started

and then my first event in Australia, I started getting weird, you know, fatigue symptoms. I would have a hard time getting out of bed. I just blamed it on jet lag, but I knew something was not quite right. I would sleep for like days at a time. And I'm not that kind of person. I'm like, I wake up, I'm excited, I'm pretty energetic, which you probably can't tell at all right now. But I'm pretty kind of the go-go-go kind of person.

And I talked to my, you know, I was telling my mom because she was with me, I said, something's not right. And, you know, it took three years to finally get my diagnosis for Lyme disease. And in between that, I had, I think, three surgeries and just a bunch of doctor visits and just no one being able to tell me what's going on. And it's tough. They call it the silent killer. And as probably a lot of people have read with Jimmy Walker too, I mean, it's just this thing that you can't, you can't really fully grasp, like you don't know exactly what it is. No one can tell you, okay, this is the, this is what we're going to do and it's going to go away, you know. So I think the last two and a half years have just been personal research, working on my diet, my exercise,

like everything, just putting everything together in order to be that player that I wasn't college again. And it was just, it's so much harder, I think, than people think or can see from the outside, you know, the struggle, the daily struggle of you know, making sure okay, no sugar, you know, people go no sugar. That's not the worst. I'm like yeah, you try to go through every day of your life without having any sugar and

stuff like that, you know, just and then working really hard, waking up early, working out with my trainer and all the hours that go in. I feel like almost I had to work twice as hard to just get my body to the point where I can do the practices that I did before. And then on top of that, I did play almost every year. I played on LPGA, I think I had four seasons. But it was very tough.

It was always kind of around that conditional status line, you know, getting into events, having three or four good events, and then having three or four bad events, and then just missing out on my card. And I feel like that would happen to me almost every year. And that was the hardest thing for me to battle, the fact that I couldn't quite get full status and get myself into every event every year and had to fight for just being able to be around and play all those tournaments.

Instead of just, you know, okay, I have my status and I can choose my schedule. I just had to play whatever I got into and that was very hard to because it made the traveling tougher and everything that goes with that. Yeah, and you're not, when you can't make your schedule, you can't, I don't want to say relax, but you're playing with extra pressure

every single time you tee it up. And you don't know when the next one's going to be and it's got to just be a whole level of discomfort. And the quote was circulating that you mentioned afterwards that you had contemplated quitting golf about a year ago, which I know probably sounds ridiculous to a lot of people and considering you just want a major, but all of that going on, that all makes sense. And it's not, it's not, I don't know the proper way to say this, but like for, for male

golfers, like 27, you're 27, right? Yes, correct. That's young, that's right in the middle there, that's prime, but that's not young on the LPJ tour, is that fair to say? That's absolutely fair to say, and I think that obviously women have to battle other things. What do you do? Obviously, if you're trying to have a family, you have to go into that kind of soonish because, you know, that that kind of makes your timeline a little bit different than for the guys that you need to take advantage,

I guess, of your prime years. And so obviously that's always in the back of your head. You're like, how many years can I get myself before? I'm going to throw in the white towel and say, I'm going to go and have my family and this is it. We have that to think about, unless you don't want that, then it's a little bit different. But I honestly had a bunch of people, my family, my close friends, they said to me, everyone peaks at a different time,

and 27 is still not old. I kept trying to tell myself, I'm still young, but I'm like, man, 27 and all these girls, rookies are 20, they're 19, 20, 21 and they play with you. And you mention that you're 27 and it makes you feel older and veteran status-y kind of. And then you're thinking about all these things. But I think now, having won, I look back and I go,

27 is not, this is probably, you know, exactly how it was supposed to be. You know, I just wasn't ready when I was 21, 22, 23. And it took this long, and yes, I had all these battles, but I think mentally I had to get to this point too. There was so much for me to learn in the six years since I graduated, and I just needed the time. And that's the way that I would like to think of it, rather than, you know, there was,

I won later in my career, you know what I mean? So just, when you think of, I guess when you think of guys and you think of some of the stories, because I get that, it sounds kind of brutal to say I was thinking of quitting the game, but it was a very natural thing at that time, really. I think no one would have even said to me, probably a lot of girls would have said, come on, no, you definitely can do well out here and it's too early to quit.

But others would have said, yeah, there are other phases in life to go through. But when you think of some other players, whether it's Max Homa or Justin Rosen who's working a year or something like that, and when they talk about their struggles, no one's even, you know, it's kind of more of a, they say, yeah, of course, that's very normal. But for me to say that, people said, well, that sounds harsh. If you win a major in the following year to just say that, but it really was that we all go through those periods where we're thinking, you know, there's, you could have stopped at any time.

And it was very real, I guess, would be my, my answer. It was just a very real thought that I had probably right around like last October or November. Yeah, honestly, I see enough like many tour guys and stuff the guys that have played for a long time that are still going and I'm kind of looking at them like, oh really? Yeah. Because it's not, I mean, it's got to be a stressful life, I would imagine. Yeah. It's not all, you know, obviously things are a lot different now. I want to get to some of the positives here But you know you can go it's a long way to go from thinking you might give up the game to winning a major So what when did things really improve for you? I imagine it wasn't just like hey week before I just figured out golf

So like you and you were lighting up you were you play it sounds like you were playing great golf You know while the LPGA tour was suspended, but you know, when did like things really start to click for you? So I think it definitely didn't just happen overnight. I played during the quarantine. I played a lot of cactus tour events, which is our mini tour in Arizona. And I won three events there, which, you know, at that time, that was my first professional win,

which for me was crazy because I'd played so many seasons on LPGA in Cymetra to call a cactus event. My first win was kind of it was weird, but weirdly satisfying, I guess at the same time. And it gave me a pretty big confidence boost because I would go on to win the following week also again on cactus tour and then a few weeks after that I won again. And so I knew my game was there. And I think all the work that I put in mentally which to me was probably the biggest thing I did during quarantine definitely put my game to another level at that point and so just from the last few weeks I think I was slowly building

up to this point. I mean obviously obviously, I played okay in my first metropolitan event back in Battle Creek. That was all right, but I knew I hadn't quite piece it all together. Then I cadded for AVD, and that was a whole new, a whole different experience in itself. And then at marathon, I felt like, okay, now everything is starting to come together.

I have the right mindset, but for the British, my expectation levels were just not high because I said, you know, this is a total bonus event for me, essentially. I qualified for it, I get to tee it up. This is amazing. I'm gonna take it all in and just see what happens, basically. Knowing at the same time that my game was 100% there. So I said, I mean,

it can happen for sure. And I'm confident about that. But my expectations are low, which was probably the perfect combo to go into the tournament. Good luck channeling that the rest of your career. I don't know if you'll ever be able to get the tap back into that now. I know. I know. Did you have much link, golf experience? I mean, I know you're from Germany, but just curious how much, how much competing you experience? I mean, I know you're from Germany, but just curious how much competing you've done on links golf courses. So I've actually probably played,

I grew up playing the British Am and the British girls a lot. So I would say I played at least 10 or 11 events on links courses. So I had a lot of experience until probably just after college like 2014 just from all the amateur events And then I played I played the British Open 2011 and then I played the Scottish Open two years ago at Gullin So I did have I did previously had a lot of experience, but to be honest From last week. I, it had been two years before the

last time, or since the last time I played Lings golf. So it was definitely a different kind of golf, but something I was really excited for. Like, I love that kind of golf. I love being able to putt from 15 yards off the green to hit just be super creative chip with eight iron six iron your hybrid. I think I was so excited for that to be able to be creative on the golf course. So it's always been something that I owe that I look forward to really much. Well, kind of take us to let's go round one. You shoot 71 and round one under par. I think I had that right. Maybe it was 70, but you're one of three players under par.

So for those that weren't unable to watch, can you describe what those conditions were like on opening day? To describe it for everyone out there, I was on the driving range, and I hit my first shot with my, like I usually start off my 54 degree wedge. I hit my first shot with my, like I usually start off my 54 degree wedge. I hit my first shot and fell backwards, like a good five or six yards

and my catty or slash my boyfriend. He was like, what was that? I'm like, I just couldn't hold myself. Like I had that was a massive gust and I just, I couldn't stand and he goes, well, well, that should be really interesting out there. So it was it was pretty wild I mean we had gusts up to I think 45 miles an hour You know the front nine's pretty much all into the wind the back nine's kind of all downwind

But with a little sidewind enough enough to make it extremely uncomfortable and so it was a pure shot making day It was like you need to picture your shot perfectly. You need to just to give you an example. Number one, I remember I had 126 yards into the first green, to the first pin. And I hit four iron, like just low four iron. And normally I hit my four iron like 190, 195. So that's the amount of wind.

So it was a good five club wind in the morning. So it was pretty crazy. And it was just being able to keep your head in it and be super patient and just not fly away. I guess it was pretty tough at times. Well, I just want to know when the freak out time comes or when this starts to get really real for you. We can go round by round or we can just zoom right past when we're you.

Is it after round one, you know, you're tied for second? Is it after round two? You're tied for second, but only one back. Is it after round three? You have a three shot lead going in. If you tell me it was after round three, I'm not going to believe that. So there's got to be a time when you're like, holy crap, I'm actually in contention to win a major. It was actually after the second round. That was the first time where I, because that actually that second round was, it was really key for me because the conditions were extremely tough at the beginning of the round, probably the first 12 holes.

And I knew I had to just, if I could get through 12 holes even par and somehow stay around that even par mark, it was going to be, you know, I was going to be way ahead of the game and I was able to do that. And after that round, I remember coming in and everyone already left the golf course, it was so late. And I'm thinking, okay, cool. I'm like, third. And there was no more media around.

No one even cared. I said, all right, that's fine by me. I can just go and have dinner and leave. And honestly, it was just kind of a very peaceful setting at that time. And I said to myself, inside I said, you know, I think that's the first time where I almost pictured myself holding the trophy at the end of the week, although there's still two full days of Ling Skolf. And I think after Saturday, and just going bogey free on Saturday, and also not very easy

conditions. I felt like my game was just on a whole nother level that week and it became real real and that's also why I got so nervous. I mean Sunday morning I couldn't eat anything. I was just I was trying to be funny around people and joke around and anything to just distract me from having to tee off at 145 and then going from there. I think on the first hole after that bogeon one, I just told myself I said it's fine it was just not the right club off the tee, everything else was okay and I think that helped me to make birdies on two and three and Okay, and I think that helped me to make birdies on two and three and on 16 maybe after I made that pot on 16 it became real real. I knew

If you hit the green on 17 or gold Honestly, I started getting like this tingling in my hands and in my arms and it's almost like you don't You can't can't quite control what you're doing with your swing. And I said just do anything, but don't like chunk it or something. I don't know. I said just don't do anything really stupid and just go after it. Hit it as hard as you can. Because if you do that, the chances are going to be higher. You're going to hit a good shot. And I did that on 17 and I hit the green.

And like all this adrenaline started to just I don't even know if it's like build up or come down like I don't I can't even describe the feeling. It was like just tingling in my whole body and I was just I mean something I've honestly never ever felt before. It's wild. Well, I'm smiling here because it's funny. You know, I'll be playing like a qualifier and two holes into it. I can start into picture myself with the trophy of the tournament that I'm not

even yet. So when you're saying that like about halfway through, like you're starting to picture yourself with the trophy, I just, I'm so happy to hear that professional golfers also somewhat think that way of like, I can imagine winning it. And then that's what I find so hard and it's so relatable if like what you're going through is how do you ignore any of that and continue on playing. And that's, it felt like to me,

so I'm watching you come down the back nine, and especially after 14, and you have a three shot lead at that point. I am just like, okay, let's steer it in. Come on, steer it, steer it into the house, just get it in the house. We just need to scrape some parts. And then you step up like at that point, are you thinking steer it in? Because you birdie the next two holes, you drain some big puts that, honestly, as you were lining them up, I'm like, okay, just two put this and we're totally fine. But you're drain them.

I love how you, how you're like, just line it up and just make two puts from here because that's exactly what I was thinking. I said, Sophia, line it up. You don't have to worry about the line anymore. Just just speed, all speed. And then I head, it's just, just get it close. Give yourself to happens. Let's keep this easy.

And then I was a little lucky on 15 because Minji basically gave me a good line. Like I knew that putt was gonna break a little bit more than what I think we both expected. So I just lined up my ball, a tad more than what I thought. And then that one rolled in. And what I loved about that putt was that I putted it aggressively.

It wasn't one that just, you know, died in at the end. It was actually one that probably would have gone by three feet, but it went in. And I was, I think I was very happy just because I left a lot of putts short online that day. And, and I thought, you know, if with that pot, you just gave yourself another cushion. And it gave me the confidence on 16 to just do the same thing. Just, just hit a good, make a good, aggressive stroke. But at the same time, of course, in my head, exactly what you said, it was like, just don't do anything stupid.

Just don't hit it like three feet by. Then you, you know, get the jitter, is the new live out, and you do something stupid. And, but the crazy thing also at the same time is, although I used to think that way, and I used to be like, don't do this or don't do this, I knew at that moment that was not gonna help me at all. So all I kept thinking was good speed, good speed,

good speed, all the positive things that you could say because obviously when you say don't do this, don't do this, your brain's like, I'm gonna do that. So I think it was very- That's the thing is,er at home never works. Is the thing- No, exactly. I'm sitting there watching that thinking,

that's exactly what I would be thinking, but that's why I was just so, I don't wouldn't say I was surprised by the birdies. I was just like, oh my goodness. So much had gone right for you to drain those right in the center because it seemed like on 17. It was right before, you were getting right,

I think hit your birdie putt on 17. You took an extra deep breath. It was kind of like, and the commentators actually said like, it seems like she's very well aware of what's going on, which I don't know how you couldn't be. But it seemed like that was maybe a moment where it was starting to get very, very real for you. Yeah. It was 100% because I was, I hit that shot into the green and in my head, I'm just thinking, my God, this was, this was the shot all day to me. That was so important because on 17 green, like everything on the right and on the left kind of falls down. So you need to hit like the center of the green in order to basically not kind of or like and you

have to have a good good distance on it otherwise you're gonna kind of roll down the right or left side of that green so when I hit that green I knew I had a long pot because I just I thought with the adrenaline that my six iron would get there and it didn't quite but it didn't matter to me I said it doesn't even matter if I'm on the green or off the green. If I can put it, we're gold. And I get up there and I knew, okay, just breathe and try to get this close again, just speed, speed, speed. And because if you can two put this, it's over.

Like we're done. And I, you know, that putt honestly was like perfectly online again. And I just left it, you know, maybe two feet short. But I felt so comfortable over two, three, and four footers all day that I was cool with that. Because Max, my boyfriend said to me, he said, oh man, when you left that two feet short,

I was like, oh, that's uncomfortable. And I was like, no, I really didn't feel that way. I felt like that was totally fine. I just didn't want to hit it like four feet by. That was the was the intention. And then after I think that's why I took such a big breath because I was like, if you can just two-put this, you're going to have you can actually enjoy 18. You know, if you three-put it, a bad T-shot on 18 could still make things, you know, tough for you. So, but with a two pot, I had the free shot lead and you won't really believe this,

but I actually didn't know. I honestly, I didn't even see the scoreboard until I got to 18 green. I just knew in my head, I knew I have to have a cushion right now, but I didn't actually know whether it was two shots or three shots or what it was, but I knew it was big enough, but it's only because at some point, I think maybe on 14, I saw out of the corner of my eye,

I saw someone at four under or might have been 15 because I think Jasmine had just birdied. So I knew, okay, I'm an eight under. She can't be close to eight under. So that was kind of, that's where like my comfort level set in. I was like, all right, I think I think we're good, but I actually didn't know. I was gonna ask that. I guess a very reasonable thing to some people just get so in the zone they don't worry about the leader board, they don't hone in on it. So that was on my list of things to ask. So you say you, if you make this put on 17, you're going to be able to enjoy the 18th. Were you able to enjoy the 18th?

I definitely did. I think especially after I hit the fairway, I needed to enjoy the 18th. Were you able to enjoy the 18th? I definitely did. I think especially after I hit the fairway. I needed to hit the fair. So actually that tee shot on 18, I was super nervous. And I said, I'm not gonna hit driver, just in case I, for some reason, totally vomit and get into that bunker. I'm just gonna hit three wood, we should be fine. And I just hit, it was so weird.

I love hitting my three-wood off the tee because it was always kind of a club that reminded me a little bit of, I'm a big Henrik Stenson fan and I love how he hits his three-wood off the tee and all I could think of was like, just pull a hand right, just pull a hand right, just like smooth as three-wood off the tee and it's all good and I hit a good tee shot

and after that, it was kind of like, let's just look around and let's look out on the ocean, kind of all the scenery, everything you can usually really not see, because the grandstands are around and everything, so just take that moment in because you don't know when it's gonna happen again. And so just walking off that tee, it started,

I started really getting super excited and honestly pretty emotional actually. I was gonna say, you lag your put up to a couple inches. And that's one of the best, my favorite moves ever is when you mark the easy gimme to win a major championship. But I, it's rare to see it really cool as a golf in to see like somebody break down before they've even finished.

And I was unavoidable at that point for you. It felt like it was all this build up, but I don't, I can't recall seeing someone kind of break down emotionally before they've actually finished out. Where now I'm watching this like, oh my gosh, you're going to be able to put it. Like she's crying. Like what happens now? Like I, I't stable yet. It was funny because I had put it in.

I mean, I put it it so close that I knew even if I'm absolutely bawling and you know, you see everything 10 times. It's like when you're way beyond drunk and you see everything like a million times because you have so many tears. I can still put this, like this is, I'm not gonna miss this.

But like even if I, if I almost missed the face of my potter, this is still gonna go in. This is way too short. So then I was just, I couldn't even, I couldn't stop it because it was, it almost came out after I hit that pot onto the green.

I was like, get it together, get it together. Like hit that first pot. If it goes in, obviously amazing. If not, you can just collect yourself again. And then I hit it that, you know, to that whatever, two, three inches, short of the whole. And it just automatically, everything came out. I couldn't even, I couldn't stop it. Like it was almost like my, like the last six years just kind of started. The pictures from the last six

years coming up in my head and and you know everything that happened and I've been through and I just couldn't even stop it. And it was such a relief. It was kind of like finally I can just you know, there's so much tension for so long and you can just let it go and it's okay. And it's fine and you can cry because no one cares. You're in a spot where it's okay to cry. And yeah, just everything at the same time just came together and the emotions were unreal at that point.

Yeah. I mean, I said this early in the week too, it's like, you don't, there's not that many opportunities for something like this in sports, in any sport, you know, like a true underdog story, and that's what I felt watching it. I think everyone, like just seeing the social media reaction and yeah, what's that been like? I mean, what's the coolest thing that's happened in the last 48 hours, and I've even had a chance

to kind of catch up on all the fervor that was happening on Twitter as this was going down. Yeah, I mean kind of, but I'm not gonna lie, there's so there's so much stuff out there that I haven't even seen yet. And it was just very, it was interesting to me when I went on social media later on to see that this story had become the thing that it was because to me it's just my life. It's what happened to me and it's real to me. And then it turned into the story which obviously was amazing and I love that people are just showing all the support that they are and being able to feel, I guess, feel for

me and what I've been going through because it's been for me, it's been such a long time coming and I love that people can see that the hard work that I put in and how it pays off that any week can be everyone, anyone's week, you know. I always said, I had people say that to me, and now I say that to other people, I always say you'd never know. Like, any week, no matter if you're a golfer or any other athlete or regular work,

I feel like any week something can change and suddenly your whole life turns upside down like it did in my case, and it was just crazy to see obviously the outpour of support from everyone and the congratulations and I honestly didn't think that I would ever reach that many people with this with the story because because I was just telling it how it is I'm just I'm just telling how people how my life was and I didn't know it would turn into story. And then I guess one of the coolest things was

just to see some of the guys supporting Ian Polter, Eddie Pepperel and Luke Donald, all like reposted stuff and posted congratulations. And honestly that brought tears to my eyes because I was like, I can't even fathom right now how these guys are even posting about this right now that they care. This is a thing for them and something special to them too and that was probably the coolest thing.

Yeah, I don't know. Just the whole thing blowing up overnight I guess to surreal I can't I honestly can't really put it into words and well that's what makes it work at least for me like I get a little little bit jaded just watching you know like top-tour pros win and how it doesn't seem to change things for them but to see a win and a weak change someone's life so enthusiastically like, it just gets my juices flowing as far as a sports fan.

So did you really have no idea what the winning prize was for this tournament? I, no, no. I mean, I mean, I did know not exactly. I knew approximately, but I wasn't really 100% sure. It was also because I really didn't want to care. I was like, this is not why I'm here, this is not why I want to win this tournament. Let's not even think about that and how it could change my life in that way because I knew if I would go down that road, things would get a lot tougher just because, you know, you're thinking about the

monetary side of things, how that's going to change your life. And it's just that there's no room in your head at that point for anything like that. And now obviously, I know people ask me, they said, did you know that that was going to be the prize money? And I say, yeah, I mean, of course you know, majors have the largest prize money for the winners, but it hasn't quite hit me because it also hasn't hit my bank account. So ask me again, and like probably a day or two. Okay. And I'll probably think there's like a legal activity on my account or something, so it's going to be pretty crazy.

Well, because the other benefits that come with it are as valuable, and maybe probably more valuable to you than the money. I mean, you have a five-year exemption now. What else, I guess, what else comes with this? Obviously, the five-year major exemption into all majors, which, honestly, I think is probably the coolest thing, just because, I've only played a handful of majors until now and now I get to play five majors every year from five years which is which is pretty incredible and then a little bit of the job security side you know not gonna lie it's tougher out here than then people realize and

I love that's why I love when you guys in your podcast you you allude to that a lot, where whether it's made to our guys or corn fairy guys and girls, some mature to our girls, we have, we work so hard and we work just as hard as everyone else does, but we hardly make any money every week, right? And so it is, it isn't easy. I think I've managed over the last six years

I've played enough LPGA and smetcher events to stay afloat and to be fine. But at the same time, obviously, this means so much to me as far as job security and being able to breathe. You know, just, okay, I can do this. I can do what I love for another however many years and I'm going to be fine. I can relax a little bit about that. I think that's just been kind of the craziest thing about this whole, about the whole win and when and everything was just kind of getting out of the zone where you're constantly thinking about whether you can support your career. Yeah, it just, it frees you up to not to relax might not be the right word, but it probably helps you perform better. You're not playing for your your life almost on a week by week basis, but obviously nothing,

nothing at this to this level, this stage, but had you gone through anything in your golf career that compared pressure wise or like I always think when I'm really nervous over a shot I'm trying to be like how do you how do you prepare for this how do you practice for this how you can't control when your nerves really take over and for you to be in that scenario and nerves have to be a huge factor but had you ever anything comparable to anything you'd gone through in your career nerve wise. I guess one other event would be what have been two years ago at the Meyer in Grand Rapids at the LPG event. I was actually in contention after three days and I was in I think the second to last group

on Sunday and I played some really good golf that day and just double 18 to drop out of the top 10 and that's some of the most, I guess the most pressure I've had playing on the big tour. Other than that, I mean, it's tough to say because I think the pressure doesn't change as much from amateur golf, from junior golf to college golf to turning professional. I think that the nerves are the same regardless of whether you're playing for money or just for the win because at that moment, that tournament that you're playing is the most important thing to you.

So it doesn't really change, so the nerves don't really change. But I mean, I'd be lying if I said this wasn't the most pressure packed, like four hours of my life. This it would just be a total lie. It's okay for me too. Just watching it. Yeah. Yeah. I know. I know my parents were. They call me and they said my dad was pacing never sat down.

He said, I knew if I sat down, things would go sideways. I was like, what are you talking about? That's just I was super surface. But it was it was funny. I just for everyone that I knew And I was like, what are you talking about? That's just, are you super surface? But it was funny. I just, for everyone that I knew who was watching, they say, they were so incredibly nervous,

but they almost felt calm watching me because it looked like I was calm. And I almost can't believe that because internally, things were just absolute craziness. But at the same time, I was just so, I don't know, it was a weird feeling of calmness in me because I said, you know what, this is why I play golf. I play golf to be in exactly this situation. If I didn't want to be here right now, I shouldn't be doing this job. So we play this game in order to be in contention every week.

That's what we thrive for. And if we get so nervous that we don't like that situation anymore, then that's not really a great sign. So I said, you know, you just have to enjoy it and try to treat it like any other golf round that you play, whether it's with your your buddies or your family or whatnot, it's not going to work for sure because it's unrealistic, but it's at least going to put you in a spot where you can say, all right, I just want

to hit some good shots right now. I just want to hit my hit some good irons, see if I can make some pots. It kind of calms you down in that sense a little bit. But I honestly can't even say how I kept it together because looking back, I'm nervous now even still two days later I'm going like, is who are we done already? Like did I just finish the round? The rate this is crazy.

I'll second that you look like you had it together. That's why 17 stuck out to me so much because I was like, you took that deep breath and I was like, oh, I know that deep together. That's why 17 stuck out to me so much, because I was like, you took that deep breath, and I was like, oh, I know that deep breath. That's something's going on here, and it's unavoidable. Well, I should have mentioned this at the top of the interview here, but a story that was circulating as well from Q-School or Q-Series this past year,

where I guess you had about a four-foot putt in my as I understand it to get status on the LPJ tour. Yeah. Could you take us kind of to that? I feel fine asking about that now that you've won the WIMMS British, the WIMMS Open. So, yeah, no, no, it's fine. I mean, I had about, I would say it was a little bit more.

I think it was about six feet to get status back for this year. And I missed that pot after having eagled my second to last hole and I mean I honestly don't know if I was ever as disappointed as I was then ever in my career because I felt like I just lost something that I knew for me personally I'm deserving of or I'm totally I'm so capable of playing out on LPGA and I think I was so mad at that at that point because I couldn't I just couldn't believe that you know after

being after six rounds I think I was 12th and totally fine and and everything was good. And my seventh round almost like crushed like my dreams at for this year at Q series. And so that pot really just it was like a dagger in the heart at that point, you know, and also just kind of knowing I didn't know what was going to happen with COVID, but after COVID, it was like, okay, here we go, another year and a half on the semester tour. This is crazy. I feel like, I should be, I wanted to have that chance to get my LPJ card at least for next year and it put a damper on everything for sure and just really, really hurt in that moment.

But of course, now, now I can't even remember, right? Well, that's just like that's a full spectrum of golf, right? Like, for sure. Putt for your status and then going to women, winning a major. But so you mentioned it in the beginning too, and we didn't really talk about it much, but you did, you caddy for Ian Van Dam at the drive-on championship the first event once the LPGA tour started back up.

How did that come about? And are you guys especially close and then kind of that's not, I don't think that's not a very normal thing. Of course we're in very uncertain time. It's not a normal thing to caddy for another LPGA player. No, definitely not. So An and I have been very good friends for a long time. And especially over the last probably like five or six months,

because of quarantine, we ended up spending a lot of time together, and just traveling, well not traveling a lot, because we couldn't really travel, but we just did a lot of activities together, and she started getting into triathlons, and she got me into training and blah blah. We started doing all these things together and then we did my scheduling. I decided basically that she said,

I don't have a caddy for drive on in marathon. And I said, oh, that's funny. I have that week off. And because I'm just a semester member and I'm not an LPGA member, I am allowed to Cadi. You know, as an LPGA player, you cannot Cadi for an LPGA player. But because I didn't have LPGA status this year,

that was an option. And so she said, you would really do that. And I said, I'd honestly love to. I think that's such a cool opportunity. And so I finished my Symmetra event and Battle Creek the previous week. And then I drove up and I went through all my testing and everything. And officially became a caddy that week, which was really funny.

I have my caddy credential with me. And then we just started the week and had such a good time. I think it was cool to see just the golf game, I guess from a different perspective. Or her golf game specifically, which is obviously very cool to watch. She hits it a mile. She has an incredible swing. And I think just from practicing together with her and doing a bunch of stuff with her,

I think energy wise and the attitude she has, she had an incredible impact. I think on me, this off season slash quarantine, because she's a kind of person that says, my game's there, I'm so pumped, I just want to go out there and I just want to crush, I just want to crush it. And I really fed off of that. As a caddy and as a player, because the following week, you know, she would, she would see me before I tee off and she goes, you know you can play, so just go out there and crush it. And I'd be almost like that hell yeah, you know, just super pumped, way to pump for golfer. But I would go out there and be really excited about playing. And I think that changed me and my mindset so much on the course. And I, you know, that's what

she, she called me after my round and we Face. I said, and I thanked her for that because I feel like it had Such a big impact on these past couple weeks for me and Just my and also that I played another semester event the week before the British and I came in second there And I felt like I didn't even have my best game. So I'm like man, what's going on? I feel like I'm just So I'm like, man, what's going on? I feel like I'm just, you know, it's coming. It's almost, it feels pretty easy. Like I feel like I'm just hitting all these,

all the shots I want to hit. And if I can keep it together in my head, then it's going really well right now. And so honestly, it was like a kind of a shout out to her for these past couple of weeks. And especially that weekend at Inverness because it was just we just had a really good time. Awesome. Well, we'll get you out here on this, which I shouldn't have waited this long to ask

this question, but what was the celebration like on Sunday night or Monday night or how long is it lasting? What's the party been like? It's been awesome. I mean Sunday night. I had all, you know, all the players were waiting for me in the lobby and then they popped a couple of champagne bottles as soon as I walked through the elevator and it was just, it was incredible just because I think support from other tour players means that much more just because they know what you're going through and a lot of them are just very good friends of mine. And that was that, but I didn't go overly crazy because my flight was at 6 a.m.

And I wanted to keep it together. And I was like, what if I lose my trophy? I know, I know, I know, I knew you're gonna say that. But the real celebration. No, I just thought, you know, if you go overboard and don't get any sleep, you're gonna forget stuff, you're gonna not know what you're doing. And I didn't want to get to that point because I also really wanted to take it in and enjoy it. And then I'm kind of celebrating every night a little bit, but when I get back to the States, I think that's where we have the big party.

That's happening. I'll let you know the details. So that's happening hopefully next week or the week after. Well, that's awesome. Well, I know you've had a crazy busy week. I didn't plan to keep you this long, but the story is just awesome. And you're great at telling it. So we really appreciate you coming on, sharing the insight and congratulations, and we can't wait to see what's next. I think this is this is definitely not a blip in the radar, I think. Thank you. Thank you.

I appreciate that. Thanks, guys, for having me. You bet. It's going to be the right club. Be the right club today. Yes. Be the right club. That's better than most.

How about in? That is better than most. How about in? That is better than most. Better than most.