No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 423: Madelene Sagström

Episode Date: April 21, 2021

Madelene Sagström joins to chat about why she let us follow her around a tournament with a video camera for a week, her career on the LPGA Tour, why she decided to speak out about being sexually abused, what that did for her, and so much more. Be sure to check out "A Week In The Life" on our YouTube channel this week featuring Madelene.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ladies and Better than most. Expect anything different. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No Laying Up Podcast. Salah here. Got a great interview with Madeline Sagstrom today. This interview goes hand-in-hand with a video that is premiering on our YouTube channel at 9 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday. It's called A Week in the Life. Madeline, for some reason, let us follow her around for an entire week, beginning to end during the Gainbridge LPGA last month or two months

ago, I guess now. And we documented the whole process. It's a project we really wanted to do. DJ has been absolutely grinding in the edit bay to get this thing out. And as Randy said on the podcast this past week, it's something that we're maybe the most proud of, of anything we've ever put together. And I say we, I didn't really even do anything. I just encouraged DJ along the way. There's a lot of color added in this interview to what you're going to see in the video as well. And we talk a little bit about Madeline's, it's a tough subject about her sexual abuse that she went through as a child. We don't really spell it out in great detail, understandably here on the podcast, but when you hear us talking about a difficult time in her life,

that's definitely what we're referring to. We discussed that as well in the video this coming week. We thank Madeline and the LPGA and everyone involved for letting us get involved in this way and bringing this product. Please head to our YouTube channel and check that out if you are listening to this past 9 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday. No Laying Up is brought to you by Precision Pro Golf. I just got off the golf course here. We're at Pinehurst this week. Used my Precision Pro Rangefinder on every single hole.

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coupon code NOLANGUP at checkout for $20 off our favorite range finder, the NX9 Slope. Swing with confidence. Hit more greens with Precision Pro Golf. Let's get to Madeline Sagstrom. All right. So when you were approached by DJ and Randy to say, hey, we want to follow you around for a whole week while you're doing your job and film it all, what was your honest reaction? My first reaction was that it was something that I have had in my mind that I would love to do. I would want to watch what somebody else does. And I was like, heck yeah, let's do this. It's going to be so much fun. Was it distracting at all though? And be honest. No, it wasn't. I think people around me thought it was going to be a bit more distracting, but I honestly, with the

preparations that I had in front of before that tournament, it was honestly probably the best I could have had because it made me focus on what was important to me and not just, because I mean, I always do want to portray myself in a way that's authentic to who I am. And so it made me kind of put more things in perspective and kind of just go out and go for it rather than worrying about my game,

where I was at and blah, blah, blah. Well, when you saw the Week in the Life video for the first time, you texted DJ that you noticed yourself doing a few things that you never realized you did. I'm curious what those were and what it was like to watch it. But, you know, kind of those little clues, like the little words that you say under your breath. And I was like, wow, do I actually say that? And I also, I speak very fast.

I didn't realize how fast I spoke. And my first reaction after I watched the video, I was like, oh, she's cool. I want to be her friend. And I was like, nice. We do. That's one of the things I think we promised was we're going to make you look real cool. I promise that's the case. But you did a good job.

Well, what's your biggest takeaway as far as like something that people don't really realize about LP, you know, life on the LPGA tour? I know you mentioned in there that, you know, nobody ever sees anything outside of Thursday through Sunday. And beyond that, nobody sees anything outside of those who are in contention. So kind of just expand on what day-to-day life is like out there or things that you think people probably aren't fully aware of. Well, I think the biggest thing is just, I mean, it's hard. Like everybody gives their heart and soul out there. Everybody wants to be at the biggest thing is just, I mean, it's hard. Like everybody gives their heart and soul out there. Everybody wants to be at the top.

And you just, and when focus only is on the people that are playing well, like you don't forget, but you don't see anything about the people that are like fighting with things or struggling with their game. And I think that that's when golf is really hard. Like I know, I mean, everybody who plays golf knows how hard a tough round is and it's just having those in the spotlight trying to make a living out of that life is just really difficult so I think that sometimes that don't get talked about enough because it's we get put on our sometimes the pedestal like you know people want think that our lives are perfect and it's just it's not it's not the whole reality of it like we work so hard they put their heart and soul into everything they do and

it's I mean it's it's not as easy as people think it is because you only see the people that are winning and I think that sometimes it's you just lose a little bit of that perspective that everybody who's out there is we are the best at what we do but it's still not easy to maintain that level of like professional golf I want to pick your brain on this this thought and if you do not agree with it at all I feel free to disagree with this but you know we we cover you know the men's game a lot and it when I go out on the LPGA tour, I feel like what I see or my reaction to everything is that I don't feel like the LPGA players, and I mean this in the best possible way, I don't feel like you're defined as much by what you do for a living as I feel like some of the

men are. And what I mean by that is just that you guys are, you work so incredibly hard at your game, yet I feel like you're better at keeping things in perspective as to what it all means overall in your life. Does that make any sense at all? Do you agree or disagree with that? Well, I hope it's true because I think it's easy to get stuck in that world. It's easy to define yourself a lot with the game. And personally, I think a lot of people will feel better both about their golf and about themselves as human beings if you can make that distinction between I am not my results. Like this golf is a big part of my life, but it's not everything that I am. So, I mean, I'm hoping you're right because that would be great

because I think that we're doing something really good then. Yeah, I just remember when we shot the Wild World of Golf with you and Annie Park, you know, just how just hearing her talk about golf and her life and everything. It just, I was, I was very impressed by that. Mostly because I, you know, if you're the, you're the, I think the 72nd ranked player in the world as of right now. And if you compare that to the men's tour, like 72nd ranked player on the men's tour has a whole huge team. And one of the things, one of the big takeaways we had from, you know, spending some time with you is that you seem to handle a lot of your own responsibilities as far as sponsorships, media requests.

Is that rare on the LPGA Tour? And what has that been like? Well, I wish I could afford one of those huge teams. I do think that it is a big difference. Money is a big part of it probably because it is much more difficult for us to make it go around and you have to take a bigger responsibility for yourself.

And we don't have the same things to offer to sponsors sometimes because we can't promise perfect TV times. We can't promise some of these things that, I mean, if you're playing the Masters, you know that you're going to be seen on TV. You know you're going to have those highlights. And I think in a sense that, well, I'm personally a control freak. So I struggle with that a lot to give somebody,

I struggle to delegate. That's, that's one of my issues, but it is different. And I think that it's just watching, I mean, men's and women's sport in general, it looks extremely different all across the board. It's not just women's golf. It's, I mean, watching, I mean, comparing basketball, you can't, it's, it's, it's really hard to compare men's and women's sports. Well, before we get too down, too far down a million things, I want to ask you, it probably is helpful for listeners to do a little bit on your background. I think this is now between you and Pernilla, this is now a Swedish women's golf podcast, but I want to hear some about, you know, growing up in Sweden and how you ended up, all the, what you think the key things are that led you to where you are today?

Well, one of the big things is actually, I think the distinction, like the distinct seasons we have back home, because when I was young, I put my clubs in the basement from probably from November until March, April, because I couldn't play golf. So that was kind of one of the first things. So I was surrounded by a lot of different sports. I played soccer, I did gymnastics for a long time. So I would say overall, most people coming from Sweden

are pretty well-rounded athletes just because we've been forced to do other things. And then I think also the mentalities. From my perspective, mine comes a lot from Annika, just knowing she made it to America. She made it on the big tour. She came from this small country, and she proved that we also can be something.

And that has inspired me to kind of spread my wings and just see how far can I go. So that was always my mentality. I was like, okay, I want to get out of Sweden. I want to live the dream. Let's go for it. And now bringing that full circle, you teed up with Annika Sorenstam at the Game Bridge the week that we followed you around. I mean, is that like a pinch me moment for you? It wasn't until I stood, until I walked to the tee box on the first day. I was holy crap like is this actually happening and i

was like i am so proud being both myself and my journey that i've that i've done over the years and also being swedish and i was like we are three the three three of the best women's golfers from sweden and we're playing in a feature group in america on the best tour in the world and i was like this is sick i was like this is crazy i just felt really humbled and just really really really proud when i walked to the t-box well i honestly don't think i had realized it till i was out following you guys the first two days like i've never seen annika play golf in person like i never saw her you know she retired in 2008 and i definitely wasn't doing this job back then. It was really cool to just see greatness up close and personal.

She's obviously not in the prime of her career, but you commented afterwards, at least she, again, hasn't played professional golf in 13 years and comes out and amazed you with her wedges. One, you said you were going to follow up with her on some tips on wedges. Did you actually do that after the event? And what amazed a fellow professional golfer when another player does that with her wedges? What was it that stuck out to you? Well, I think I know for a fact, when I go into my off-seas and I put the clubs on the shelf for two weeks and I go back and I was like oh goodness what have I done and I was like that was 13 years of that it takes it takes time to get tournament fit like we feel that every year

it's like it takes time to get back into the groove of things and how how do you play competitive golf because it's easy when you're out with your friends and just whack it around like everything within a club blanks is a gimme you know like, like it's different. So, I mean, just her hunger and her how serious and how many shots she can still pull off was obviously, I mean, it was phenomenal. I mean, she didn't have the distance that I know she used to have. And I think that comes with both not playing and also she is older now than she was. But just that, I mean, the touch in her hands is still there. It's insane. it was crazy for people that maybe aren't familiar with your pro career how would you describe it where do you where do you fit into the LPGA landscape and I could read off stats and your

resume if I wanted to but I'd be I'm kind of more curious to hear your answer on it well my answer is I always see my career kind of as a roller coaster, but at the same time, I always know that it's like if you look at it from a big perspective, it's always gone up. I've done every stage of both Symmetra Tour and LPGA. I did went to college to LSU, so I consider myself one of those people that kind of followed the rule book of how you're supposed to do it. Just done like done every little step along the way, trying to stay a little bit on each step and not too long and just continue to grow and get better.

So I've done a little bit of everything. Because I've having watched you play, you know, we did the wild world golf one and then watching you play for 36 holes. You seem to hit the ball differently than in almost every LPGA tour player I've seen. SH Park comes to mind in terms of similar ball striking, I think, and in terms of how far you guys both hit it and just the way the ball flies through the air. You're an excellent putter. I don't want to say the results don't seem to match the game, but if somebody asked me why is she not a top 10 player in the world, I would struggle to answer that. So I'll just ask you that.

What is keeping you from being, say, a top 10 player in the world? I would consider that those six inches between my ears at the moment. I feel that same way to a certain extent. I want to tighten my game up a bit. I think people consider me a better ball striker than I might consider myself. I don't really see the consistency there. I'm way too much of a perfectionist in general.

So I think I'm the thing in my way really I mean pretty much and that's what I'm working really hard off because I can feel my potential and I and I I and I thank you for that I see it as a compliment because I I do see my game being able to be like up there fighting in majors and and be one of those players but I'm not there yet. Continuously working on that. Right. But yeah, I think just to that point, I watched, you know, what MB Park is able to get out of her game. Right. And you're capable of things with the golf ball that she's not capable of, but you know, it's, it's, it's just something that it's so hard for somebody that follows the game as closely as I do for me to really separate out at the highest level of both men's and women's golf, like what makes certain people special. But it was interesting that your mind

went, your answer went straight to your head. So would you say you struggle with confidence or, you know, what have you learned about the mental side of golf over the course of your career? I think I struggle a lot with confidence. I know, I mean, I can watch some of the girls on tour and I was like I want to believe in myself as much as you believe in yourself I do think that I deep inside I do believe in myself and I do know I know that I do what I love to do but then sometimes in the heat of things I do question my own ability and I wish somebody would just be able to give me the key. This is like, here's the key to all your problems. Like, you're welcome. But it comes with practice. I mean, the same thing is if you want to get good at six footers, you have to hit a lot of six footers. And if you want to be confident, you have to practice being confident. So that's

kind of where where I'm at just kind of keeping myself accountable of continuing to improve those areas where I feel like I'm lacking confidence one one thing being extremely extremely hard on myself is another thing and just being acceptant of where my game at is one thing I prove myself I proved something to myself a few weeks ago that I've struggled a lot with. I started out with double bogey in Carlsbad at Kia Classic, and then I went on and shot one of the best rounds of my life. And I think that for me just proves like it doesn't have to be perfect, but you can continue. If you continue working on, continue grinding, something good can still come out of it. I'm curious with your Swedish background, if you're familiar at all with Vision 54. I know uh Pia Nilsson and and their team is quite popular out on the uh on the LPGA tours have you worked

with them at all on the mental side of golf I haven't worked with them personally but I say hi to them when I see them I I know a bit of how their uh system works uh but I I work really close with my coach back home Helens Larsson he is I, I consider him my, he's not my swing coach. He's my performance coach. He's in every single part of my game and my life, and we're picnicking and just trying to perfect every part. I work with the mental coach, Marcus, through the Swedish national team, so that's kind of the route that I have been on so far.

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Use coupon code NOLAYINGUP at checkout for 15% off. Let's get back to Madeline Sagstrom. I want to hear some about your relationship with Robert Carlson, how that started and what kind of role he's played in your career and life. That started through the national team back in 2015. Cause I was the only Swedish, uh, player, well, girl going through Q school at that point and the Swedish national team, national team offered like, Hey, would you want Robert to be at Q school?

And I was like, uh, heck yeah. Why would not Robert Carlson, like in front of the best Swedish male golfers of all time, like if he wants to be there, I want him there. So that's kind of how it all started. And we figured out really quickly that we look at the world in very similar eyes and just think about the game similarly. So we worked really, really closely together in 16 and 17. Me kind of really growing into that role of professional golf because when I came out on

tour I was so extremely uncomfortable and I was like what am I doing here like I don't belong out here so we worked super closely then both off weeks and he came out to a few tournaments and it was just so nice to be able to speak to somebody who understand how you feel because sometimes like I'm gonna give the example of my parents but because they don't they don't play professional golf so sometimes when I say something like just don't think and I was like well it doesn't work like that you know so it was it was it was so nice when somebody can relate to you and just come up with legit like legit answers to like this to me too. I did this to get through it. So it was such a nice way to pick somebody's brain and just learn from one of the best.

And his role in the story that you decided to tell here in the last month or so I found particularly interesting. And you came you came forward with, you know, a part of your life that was obviously incredibly difficult. And I'm gonna I going to use some of the words you used in the LPGA Drive-On video, which is also included. Parts of it are included in our Week in the Life video. But you said, I'm sitting in a hotel room in Greenwood, South Carolina, and I can't stop crying. It's March 2016, and I'm here to prepare for a Symmetra Tour event later in the season. I want to give myself the best chance to succeed, but I can't keep this inside me anymore. I need to tell someone about the secret that I've kept bottled up inside of me for 16 years. I'm wondering as best as you can tell us that story. And then

I'd like to get into as well as why you, you know, what, how telling that story has helped you in recent years. So when I started working with Robert, my only intended focus was this is for golf. Like I'm going to be so I'm going to become such a better golfer by working with him and blah, blah, blah. And I think most of my decisions in life have been like golf, golf, golf, golf, golf, everything is about golf. And when I really started working with Robertbert he made me understand that if i like how i am as a person affects my golf and who who i am and how i view myself and how i view the world is also gonna affect how i play so i kept like i've had this thing come up before but i've never said like this is no point why why even waste thought about this? And I've kind of just kept like pushing it down, pushing it down.

But us working on me being free, being free in my mind, being free in my golf made me realize I am stuck here. Like I don't want to open this door. And if I open this door, I know I have a lot of work to do. And that week when we were we were playing a practice round because for it was one of my biggest metro tournaments uh we were there early and and I know okay for me to be the best version of myself to become the best golfer I can be I need to open this door now and I need to start working on myself and that's when I decided

to open up to him and talk to him and it was, I mean, looking at it now is the best decision that I've ever made. I wish I would have made it earlier but that's when I was ready for it and that's when I was ready to face really something that has defined me or more an explanation of how, why I have reacted to things that I have, why some of my behaviors are the way they are. It's not everything, but it was a huge part of that develop, like my developmental stage into professional golf and to how I define myself in that world. Sexual abuse is not a, I mean, it's a difficult topic, right? I mean, it's difficult for me to ask you about even. And your, I guess, the video starts with Bethann Nichols saying,

Madeline Sagstrom is a brave woman. And that's the word that comes to mind when I think of you deciding to tell this story in such a public way. Why was it important for you to tell it in a public way? Was it a bit of therapy for you or was the goal to help people? I'd like to hear kind of why you felt it was time to tell the world about this. I think it's a bit of everything. I mean, every time I open my mouth and I talk about it and just saying the word sexual abuse is it just becomes easier and easier so for me speaking about it speaking about my own emotions and and just my trauma in that sense helps me as a person and dealing with my own stuff but at the same time like you said it's it's hard to speak about and

I was like it I want to make it less hard to speak about it because so many more people than we can even understand are dealing with this and it's unfortunately like we're never gonna end like it's like you can't you're not gonna be able to reach the predator but i can reach the victims and i can reach them and make them understand that first of all you're not alone in this and also there is light in the tunnel like you can go through this and still survive like it's not going to determine how you want to live your life. How would you describe what the reaction has been like both on tour and in any other aspects of your life? Every time you go out with something very personal and something that you stand for, it's

always hard. And I was worried. I had talked about it back in 2017 before and the reactions then were very good. I was still worried this time too because you never know you never know what reactions you're gonna get but the amount of love the amount of support the amount of people that can relate the amount of people that have opened up it's just it's been overwhelmingly good I I thought I was it's gonna be it was gonna be a bit too much for me but I realized really quickly that like, I want to be in the middle of this because this is something that's really close to my heart and something that is important to me. And it's just been, I mean, it's been so empowering for me. I mean, I'm growing every day just standing up for this and also standing up saying that, okay, this is a part of me,

but it's not everything. So now I mean, I have to keep myself accountable. Like I have to show all those other sides for all the other people that are also looking at my journey. So it's been so empowering. And it's been so much love. And I couldn't ask for anything else. Watching the video, I'm not gonna lie, I teared up and maybe even actively wept a little bit when Mike Wan publicly said that you were a hero of his I just thought that was the coolest thing that you know he joined your press conference uh when you you had that at the game bridge and and what was what was your reaction to hearing something like that from the commissioner of the LPGA tour well I was shocked there was I

was so surprised that he was there um I don't know it's so for me I've always felt so so much love and so much I've been so grateful for this tour and for this organization the LPGA because they they really care about us players like we are their children like they like they love us and they want to do the best thing for us and just just having their support in everything we do and in who we are. It's, it's just, I mean, that's all we can ask for. I mean, from our employer. Uh, so it's, it was so important for me, for him to acknowledge this is more than just golf, because that's what I have come to understand over all these years. Like life is more than just golf, Madeline, it's not everything. Well, on a completely separate note, and again, I never have this much material to work off of as I prepare, but this video really does dive so deep into what a week in the life

is like. There it is. There's the name. You talked about gratitude for golf in that video and for getting back into the season. Is it the downtime that you had leading up to this tournament that gave you that perspective? Do you feel that way after four to five weeks on the road? I just really appreciate to hear a professional kind of speak to being outdoors and loving golf. As you know, some professionals are very tired of golf at a certain point, but I enjoyed hearing

that you have such gratitude for the game. What drives that? 100% it was sitting inside in London for four weeks. Because it was, I mean, that was completely shut down. I couldn't do anything. I was so happy. I mean, we were staying with Jack, my boyfriend, and his parents because we were getting our visas done. And I was in a very good situation, obviously. But just the fact of appreciating the life that I live

and have created over here and just like, okay, what I do for a living, the golf courses that I go to, the grass that I play on, I feel like when you kind of step away from the game, when you get perspective, you get that sense of gratitude. Of course, when I play a million weeks in a row, I get sick of it. I just want to get out of it. I think perspective is something that you, it's a choice that you make. And I think it's easier when you decide to go and find that and find the balance of it. Because if

you're out on the golf course day in and day out, it's easy to get tired of it. And one thing that, you know, just in meeting Shane, your caddy who, you know, traveled from Ireland for this event, it got me like a lot along the line of thinking of, you know, you play golf at the highest level for women's golf. So the amount of money that you guys play for, it's well-documented as not being nearly as high as the men's tour. And I'm coming at it again from Shane's perspective, right? A percentage of earnings on the PGA tour for a caddy can be a great living, but I would say for the majority of LPGA tour caddies, it's not necessarily the same. And I'm wondering how that, does that ever have any effect on you? Do you ever look at say like pressure to, you know, somewhat earn money for the guy

toting your bag and going on the journey with you on that? I'm just always curious about that. It is hard. I three whacked on the last hole at Kia a few weeks ago. And the first thing I walk over and I say to him, I am sorry. Because I know it means, I mean, it's not going to make a humongous difference. But at the same time, it does make a difference. Because, I mean, he's got a family to support at home. And I have my life to support. So you want to do well.

And it is hard to make everybody happy. But I think that deep down, even though I three-whacked, I still tried to make everybody. But it wasn't like I was going up there and just missing it on purpose. So I think that it does put perspective. But at the same time, it's like going through hard periods with your caddy. It's like when you succeed, it's so much worth it. periods with your caddy is like when you succeed it's so much worth it like it's like you have that um you just have that feeling of success together so i think i mean obviously they're a bit crazy

like we are because they love they love that life traveling around the world some weeks you're not going to make a paycheck and some weeks you're making a massive paycheck so it's uh we're all a bit crazy that's what i consider yeah it is it. It's such an interesting way to go about life. And I have great admiration for it. But in the video, you and Shane sit down after a practice round and you go through the book in detail. And I was curious, is that a normal thing? Or is that just because this is a course you weren't really able to fully experienced or fully versed on and you didn't have that much time to prepare on site for this tournament. Is that a very normal thing to sit and go through a book in that much detail?

For me, that's something that I do all the time because I truly believe that if I can make the best preparations possible, I'm less likely to do a strategic miss. I'm always going to hit bad golf shots, and I understand that. But if you can learn how to miss in the right spots then you're still gonna be able to score and you can turn a very average week in a pretty into a pretty decent week or a really bad week into still making the cut you know I think I think trying to take variables out of play and just like okay this pin it's stupid we can't go for that that's just not in today. This year we can be very aggressive and just kind of, I mean,

it's kind of like watching American football. Like they have their game plans on their little things and they do little things and tell each other. You know, it's the same thing for us. I think the more we can be on the same page, the easier, the better communication we're going to have when we're on the course. We know where the wind's going to come from. We know, okay, if it's downwind on 14,

I really don't want to hit driver. And then when we stand there, we're not really going to argue about it as much as we might have if we didn't talk about it. On the caddy note, Pernilla, she and I talked about how her husband caddies for her. Your boyfriend is a caddy on the LPGA Tour,

but is not your caddy on the LPGA Tour. Any reason behind that and how have you guys worked together as player caddy there's plenty reasons behind that we have actually we did end up working together for events uh in the end of last year uh that was on purpose uh but it's it's something when we when we met it was a decision that we decided to do I give everybody who is working together living living together, traveling together, I mean, I give them so much credit because it's hard. Like, you spend so much time together, and we just made that decision very early.

We're going to just do our lives, have something different to talk about each night. But he does coach me very closely. We practice together when we're home. So he has many roles already. So we decided not to give him a caddy role. Are you guys, when the tee sheets are coming out every week, do you ever ask the LPGA tour, hey, can you please put me and Carolyn Hedwall in the same side of the bracket or same side of the draw

so you guys can wake up at the same time? Yeah, I mean, I wish. He's working for Jay Murray Green at the moment. And every week, you obviously look. he's working for uh jay murray green at the moment and every and every week you obviously look that's the first thing you look for like are we in the same wave and then you decide okay i have to wake up really early to take you to the golf course so you know i have that that moment but um you i mean there's nothing that we can control it's a choice that we have made but obviously when we play in the same wave, it's much easier. So in certain weeks, you really hope to be in the same wave.

In certain weeks, it doesn't matter. Well, what can you tell us about who was on your bag when you won the game bridge in 2020? Yeah, that was funny. My caddy back then, he wasn't going to make it from South Africa. So I asked Jack's dad dad and I was like, hey, I need a caddy for a week. I don't really want to get to know somebody new. Would you want to carry my bag and just count numbers for me? Because I'm really bad at math. And he goes, hmm, let me see.

And he actually, this is what I said, and he never said yes either. So I was just asking Jack, do you think he's actually going to do it? Because if not, I'm kind of screwed here. I need to figure something out. So I had his dad on the bag for a week, and he is 100% and done. He's retired now. What's it like trying to close out an LPGA tournament with an amateur caddie on the bag? an LPGA tournament with an amateur caddie on the bag?

Well, I think a caddie, over time, is going to help a lot. For me that week, it was really a lot about me being comfortable, a lot about me having a good time. And I think also me having that responsibility of taking more ownership of my own game really helped me because I tend to lean a bit too much on my caddy sometime ask for what do you think what do you think what do you think rather than just sticking to my gut so that week I learned a lot to just like trust like I I'm actually the boss of my game here like I need to trust myself even more but it's it was I mean the fact that it was him it just made it such a wonderful experience like

Jack's mom was there too so we all I mean as a family we just had such a fun week we all stayed together in a house they were in America rather than in in the UK so we just had such a good week together and it just really put perspective on life again just going out there and enjoying it well it looks like when you win, when you find out that you've won, shock doesn't really even define the look on your face, really. It looks like you didn't really even understand that you had won. Did you know exactly what the situation was? Or kind of take us through that immediate reaction after you find out you win. I think on those last few holes, I was so present in what I was doing I was so in

the moment and I just I just my only focus on 18 well after I missed that second shot was like I need to make up and down here to get into this playoff because I mean Nasa had a chance to make birdie first of all so everything just turned so quickly and I didn't know what was going on once she missed a putt I kind of knew where we were standing but quickly and I didn't know what was going on once she missed a putt I kind of knew where we were standing but when she missed her putt I was like oh hold on where's everybody else at like is any like like I don't know where everybody else is at so that was the first thing that ran through my head and I looked over at Alan Jacks out and he goes like that's it I was like are you sure and he's like yes I'm sure

do you is it easier to you know once you've won on tour is are you able to draw on that you know everybody still goes through ups and downs but are you able to say to yourself like look I have won like I've done this before does that help you out in confidence in any way since you've won 100% I mean that's always something like I'm an LPGA Tour winner. I will forever be an LPGA Tour winner, and nobody can take that away from me. And I think that is just, I mean, if I ever have that, whenever I have that in my head, that's like what the first thing Jack reminds me is like, you have won on tour. You know how to do it. You can do it again. And I was like, yes, true, true, true. but I still don't hit that 58 degree

wedge close enough you know but it's something that I after I won I was on a really good run I was playing really really well um then COVID hit and I had a really bit a bit of a struggle coming back into it but of course I think it's kind of it's kind of like that with everything in life like once you get that first it it does get easier. Knowing that you can do it, knowing that you can perform under the most amount of pressure, it's just, yes, you got it done. never start offline. So it's either the speed or the read. And I was just like, man, what a way to go through life one to get to that. Is that do you? Is that something you tell yourself? Like, it's not going to start offline? Or do you truly, truly believe that you will never hit a putt that starts offline? Well, I mean, clearly, it could start offline, but I don't believe it does ever. I know that I put in the work for it. for it I consider myself having gotten to the point

with my mechanics that okay you might not look beautiful but I know that it starts online and also I do I mean I'm aware that sometimes if I'm aiming somewhere and I might I feel something different it's not it could start offline but in my mind it's never going to be a ball start mistake. It's either going to be a misread, a mental block, or the speed is off. That's kind of those three things that I always go back to. That's awesome. I think I'm going to channel some of that now. It's like, oh, it's going to start online. Just focus on the speed.

But you're big on the Truvis balls. You play a Truvis ball, Callaway, and this is not a sponsored segment. I'm a huge, huge Truvis fan. But I want to know why you play a truvist ball Callaway and this is not a sponsored segment I'm just I'm a huge huge truvist fan but I want to know why you play it and I'm I'm honestly surprised after playing it for so long at least for myself that more tour players aren't using them I'm obsessed it's helped me so much around the greens why do you use the truvist well I think people get a little bit like it's a lot like they think it's a lot but i think you get so used to it though it's ridiculous um actually the the main reason why i started was because i will call it marketing call it like me giving a kid a ball that is the only person they can get it from is me you can't copy that ball like that ball the only person that have those balls are me so that was the whole

reason because it's it's I wanted it to be special I wanted it's like you can design your own ball man I was like yeah absolutely I want to design my own golf ball so that was kind of the the main reason at first and now I mean I just love when that when you get that roll in that ball and it just rolls perfectly oh it's so satisfying. So I mean, I love it. And now I was like walking on the fairway, I never guessed which one is my ball. Like it's like, there's so many things that I love about it.

But from the start, it was the fact though, I wanted those little kids to have a special ball for me. That's cool. Was I like, when I used to put a black line on a ball, you know, when I would putt, I would obsess over whether or not that black line rolled perfectly end over end, right? And I would, when it didn't,

it would get in my head, but the Truvis looks like a perfect putt every time you hit it. And one, I was connecting the two questions there. Do you never think you start one offline because the Truvis makes you think it goes online? And two, I just- Yeah, no, I don't have that issue.

That's very fair. But that is something that I just, as one of the few professionals that uses it, I figured that would be something to ask you. But what's something, if you could go back in time, something you could tell rookie Madeline Sagstrom, what's an example of something maybe you would help a rookie out with or something you wish you knew when you were just starting out in professional golf? I think just taking the space that they have earned.

It's easy to go stand in the corner of the range. It's easy to not stand next to Lexi on the range. Like it's easy to make yourself smaller than you actually are. I think I did it quite well, but it's like you're on the LPGA tour for a reason like make sure that you remember that reason when things get tough or when you succeed like I think the people that go out there and are confident and trust their own game and trust that the path that they're on they're gonna do great but it's it's easy to see people making them some making themselves smaller so that's kind of what I always tell people that come out the new rookies and people that I'm close to. And just myself too, when I started doubting myself, like I don't

belong here. Like, do you, like, you don't deserve to do this and that. I was like, no, I do. Like I have earned my spot here. I deserve to be out here. That's very interesting. Yeah. You got to tell yourself you, you belong, you know, it's, it's your, it's your spot. That's interesting. Uh, so you had told either Randy or DJ that they had said that Randy or DJ that you said you want to own a farm in the country someday. You already have the animals picked out and named. So with that in mind, what do you want to get out of the game of golf? How do those two things correlate? I mean, I only play golf for own satisfaction. At the same time like I love I mean I I see myself as a professional athlete but more than anything I see myself as an entertainer that's how I would consider my job description

like I play golf because people enjoy watching me play golf so that's kind of my it's like I want to go out and just show my love of the game and I just I also want to see how far I can go like how much how many how much can I push go like when will that stop and currently I'm not there I'm feel like I have a long ways to go to find that to reach my potential and what I can do but I think in the I mean the reason with the farm it's more just peace and quiet and perspective. And I think that's because my biggest thing is that I lose perspective on things and just lose a little bit of grip or reality when I get stuck in golf too much. And that's kind of what I like to focus on. But I mean, I play golf because I love the game. I don't want to share the love of the game.

And I mean, now too, with telling my story and everything that comes with that, I think that I have found even more, like more and other different kind of purposes in life. So that's, I want to continue to grow that and to continue to grow that comfortableness about dealing with your own stuff, so to speak. Well, what, you know, kind of, this is, uh, maybe something I should have worked in more in the background, but what you're, you've, you know, you grew up in Sweden, then you went to school in Baton Rouge and now you live in Orlando. Those are three, I would say very different, all very different cultures. What was the acclimation

process like at, uh, both, both the second and third stop along the way there. Insane. It was, I don't think I, I mean, because when I moved to college, all I knew, I was like, okay, I want to move to America. I want to go somewhere where the weather is good and good practice facilities, I can play year-round. Like, that was my criteria. It's like good school, play with the best players in college, blah, blah, blah. And I went to visit LSU, and I was like, this is awesome. I want to go hereSU and I was like this is awesome I want to go here and I said yes and then when I came there and I was like okay

it's a bit different than home you know like I remember first day of class I sat I found my classroom sat down and then I sit there and I observe I was like everybody's talking to each other and I was like how does it come that everybody knows each other here and I was like this is crazy and then somebody started talking to me and I'm like hmm I don't know you and then I realized like oh no that's how people do it they just talk to each other and I was like okay I can live with that I can live like I can I can get used to this and it was just cool because as a golfer back home I never felt like a superstar or like you know I didn't feel like at home it's like soccer is bigger or ice hockey and stuff and then when I when I told people at

LSU's like I play golf for the golf team they're like no way that is so cool so I felt really cool I felt very accepted because everybody kept talking to me all the time and I just loved it I loved the food loved the culture I loved everything about it and then now I think Orlando's like a bigger mix more more similar to home but at the same time I have that American version of it too because you didn't like Orlando necessarily right when you when you arrived is that right no that's a very good thought because, I mean, I was told that when you're done with college, make sure you stay. Like, don't leave right away. Don't change the things that have taken you to where you are right now. And I did stay for a bit and then I decided to move. And I was comfortable in Louisiana. I was was comfortable with the people i kind of had my

network of people there and then when i moved to orlando i had i had nobody in that sense like i didn't have coaches i didn't have friends and it was it was hard in the beginning and then a year into it i i mean now like i don't think i'll ever leave like i love this place so much now i i love my golf course i I love the membership. I just have the most amount of amount support here and just the people here are fantastic. A couple of hobbies we picked up that you have are photography and knitting, which I had a good laugh at the time-lapse you have of you knitting on the

plane, but I'd love to hear just kind of how, how you, you know, how you found hobbies, what it was like to, you know, from what I gather, professional golf is very lonely at times, right? You have to have things that kind of keep your mind busy. Anything else you tried out and how did you end up with those as kind of two of your main hobbies? Well, I'm not a terrible, I do draw too. I'm quite decent at that too, actually. I like things to keep my hands occupied. I do like to keep my mind occupied. And I think that I always try to go away from things that are not on my phone or not on my computer or TV. I mean, I do enjoy watching Netflix.

Who doesn't watch Netflix, you know? But at the same time, I want to... I mean, knitting for me is kind of like meditation I've tried meditation I continue to suck at it like I really struggle to meditate but knitting for me is now become how do I stay in the present how do I deal with an issue like when one of the little strings is in the wrong place and like how do I and when I drop something like how do I deal with my patients so it's it's kind of like a mental practice for me in a sense. And photography is just going in and getting that perspective of things,

like finding beauty in whatever I see. I mean, I love sitting editing photos and just finding, okay, this is nice. I mean, I love to take photos of nature and especially animals because then you really have to be present. You can't. If you're not there, you won't catch that moment. And gosh, this has been a lot of fun off the course stuff, but back on the golf run, I asked Pranila this question and she had a very, what I consider a very interesting answer to this, but you know, women's golf, what, what, what can, what kind of help does women's golf need? Where would you say, if I were to help, if men's PGA Tour golfers were to help in some way,

and you could wave a magic wand on it, what would it look like? What would help from people either in media or in other aspects of golf? What would that look like in an ideal world for you? That's such a hard question. I think that when members of the course asked me, what can we do for you? And, that's such a hard question. I think that when, when members of the course asked me, what can we do for you? And I was like, watch us just watch a turn on the TV and watch women's golf. That's what I tell, like, that's what most people can do. I think that just watching and engaging. And I think there's, I mean, the biggest thing that I saw today was one

of the warriors, uh, guys wearing an LPGA hoodie. And I was like, just supporting us in every, in any way you can. I was like, people are not going to be able to change our TV rights or prioritize women's golf in front of PGA sometimes. But I think just engaging, coming out to tournaments whenever we can do that again, and just seeing actually how good we are because we are really good at this game.

And it's even more relatable, I think, to the average golfer because, I mean, PGA Tour golf is just so extremely different and there are different kinds of athletes. But, I mean, somebody with a 5 to 10 handicap is going to be able to relate to women's golf more than men's golf, I think. Well, one of the things that seems to be really lacking in women's golf is statistics. So how do they work? How does it work on the LPG Tour? I've heard that players in some events, maybe all events, you have to keep your own stats. What does that do for you professionally?

No, I think that normally it's actually the scorer that does the stats out there. And it's, I mean, it's simple. Did you hit the fairway? Did you hit the greens? How many putts did you have? Were you in the green bunker? So it's nothing, I mean, it's nothing fancy at all. I know that there is people doing a bit of more stats on the side, but nothing that the tour uses.

Yeah, I think a shot link of some kind would be super, super helpful for fans that follow it. For us that refresh your scores every couple of holes, it would help a lot too. I know that I'm sure for your family and friends as well. But you keep a Rubik's Cube in your bag. Talk to me about that.

Yes, a miniature one at the moment. It was kind of the same thing in college. Well, I thought college golf took forever, so I needed something to distract me when I was out there, and I didn't want to talk to somebody else and just needed to focus on myself. So I kind of learned how to do the Rubik's Cube off YouTube and just kept doing that when I was playing and just to keep my mind occupied. It was the biggest thing, and now it's kind of simple in my bag.

You know what? I probably should have asked you this when we were talking about Annika, but you were a captain's pick when Annika was the captain in 2017 for the Solheim Cup. What's your standout memory from that experience? How extremely nervous I was for nine holes. It was, I mean, it's one of one of those like you can't prepare anybody for that moment like it's it's like you have to kind of it's kind of same thing you have to get through your first one and I know that I would handle a second one better than the first one it was just

it was mind-blowing it was overwhelming it was fun it was crazy it was sad it was it was everything all the emotions like the whole palette of everything was there but at the same time I was I mean I was so honored to be there I was so proud um but I was so scared at the same time and I just wanted to do well what was it hard getting the tea in the ground on the on your first hole and they made a drivable and I'm like who puts the drivable part four as the first hole i saw him cop and i was like oh it's like okay great and i'm gonna go for it with a driver don't mess up here and you have the hardest short game shot of your life after that with the shakes and i was like great it was you know it was kind of like okay okay how do we deal with this like how

how like i should have this is the moment that i practiced for my entire life like just let it happen but it was hard it was very hard i i can't i hope i hope we make it to the solheim cup this year that's that's an event i i need to need to find myself at last question and we're gonna let you out of here uh i was i was told to ask you this question i'm supposed to ask you if orlando has nice sunsets. Orlando's got beautiful sunsets. I told Randy and them, I was like, you guys have ruined some things in life for me now because we have so many internal jokes now just from spending so much time together.

It was just, I mean, you guys are so awesome. I really appreciate the work that you guys do. And I think that we, as in women's golf need people like you, that you guys got our back no matter what, because you really enjoy women's golf. So, I mean, I thank you guys for being the best supporters and,

um, continue to encourage us and display us in every possible way. We, I mean, we really appreciate all the work that you guys do. Yeah. Well, we appreciate you letting us in and the access in this past hour

and the many, many, many hours you gave us back in February at the GameBridge. So thanks a ton, Madeline, for your time and for all of your contributions you've made to our content, and we look forward to following you along the way. Thank you, Chris. Thank you for having me. Cheers.

Be the right club. Be the right club. Be the right club today. Yes! Johnny, that's better than most. How about him? That is better than most. Better than most! Yes!

Expect anything different?