Category: Symetra Tour

Former Symetra Tour player Brittany Kelly ready to return after ovarian cancer battle

Brittany Kelly played for Ball State and on the Symetra Tour. She’s battling ovarian cancer, but hopes to return to golf soon.

At first, the signs of ovarian cancer were easy to ignore for former Symetra Tour golfer Brittany Kelly.

The bloating, fatigue, frequent need to urinate and abdominal pain are symptoms many women learn to tolerate, so cancer didn’t initially cross her mind.

The 2019 Indiana PGA Women’s Player of the Year started to experience the symptoms last November during a tournament in Florida. The discomfort didn’t affect her play, as she battled her way to a 15th-place finish among other top assistant professionals.

When the former Ball State University star and two-year Symetra Tour player returned home to Indiana and the symptoms continued, she knew she had to see a doctor.

“I didn’t know much about ovarian cancer,” Kelly said. “Ovarian cancer is what they consider a silent killer. It happens so fast and as soon as you get it it’s typically a later stage and the survival rate isn’t very high.

“The symptoms are the biggest thing. You can’t just go and get a test for it. It’s based off of how your body is feeling. It’s normal symptoms, I think women kind of brush them off.”

An MRI in early December revealed a mass on her ovary. She returned for more tests on Christmas Eve and surgery to remove the mass was scheduled Jan. 9.

The tumor was removed and sent to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, to determine if it was cancerous. After a grueling three-week wait, Kelly learned that the tumor was cancerous.

She was diagnosed with Stage I clear cell ovarian cancer. Stage I means the cancer is limited to the ovary/ovaries or Fallopian tubes and has not spread, but it was also Grade III, meaning the cancer cells were abnormal, making them more likely to spread and come back.

Chemotherapy was the recommended plan of action. She had her first round of treatment Feb. 28.

“I’m doing a lot better,” she said. “It’s usually a week right after treatment that I don’t feel very well. Other than feeling a little tired and not being able to do what I used to do, it’s not too bad.”

The stagnation and days spent on the couch recovering have been hard for Kelly. The former three-sport star is used to being active and spending hours on the golf course perfecting her craft. Her weakened immune system, coupled with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic created added responsibility to not push her recovery too hard.

She listens to her body and does what she can on a given day. The extra time inside has allowed her to focus on cooking — she’s a whiz on the grill — she’s also spent more time reading. She enjoys self-help and motivational books like “Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World” by Bob Goff and Donald Miller.

One unexpected side effect of chemotherapy has been weight gain. The steroids she’s taking for recovery can lead to increased appetite and added water weight.

“I’m used to being up and doing stuff constantly,” she said. “I have to keep reminding myself I need to take it a lot slower than usual. I’m trying to do workouts and go on walks and runs when I feel well, but I notice my body can’t take as much. Even when I’m practicing my golf game at home, I can’t do the typical long practices, I get a little winded, out of breath.

“It’s a little bit harder knowing that I have to take it slower to work myself back up to where I used to be. I know that’s not going to happen until a few weeks after my last treatment, I’ll work my way there eventually.”

Kelly underwent her penultimate chemo treatment May 22. Her final treatment is scheduled for June 12. If her blood count numbers look good, she’s hoping to be back at work at Woodland Country Club in Carmel within three weeks.

“I always saw the end date as June 12th. I guess (I’ll feel) excitement that it’s over,” she said. “I’ll be able to finally ring the bell, but cancer is always going to be a part of my life. Whether or not you’re thinking about the possibility of it coming back or reoccurring.”

Returning to work will be a big milestone for Kelly. She considers the Woodland staff one big team, and she’s eager to return to her role as assistant golf pro.

She’s been able to stay involved remotely via video calls. Other daily duties include answering emails, setting up tournaments, and working with the PGA and other organizations.

Head golf professional Patrick White calls Kelly the glue that holds the club together.

“She has her hands in everything, whether that’s merchandising or tournament operations,” White said. “She’s always the one that understands where everybody is and what the game plan is.

“It speaks volumes to her personality and her drive to be successful in everything, whether it’s golf, life, beating cancer. It’s who she is, she’ll never give anything but 110% in whatever she does. … It’s awesome to see her have that mindset and mentality with everything that’s going on right now.”

Another milestone Kelly is hoping to achieve is her return to competitive golf.

She helped Team USA top Team Canada in the PGA Cup at Barton Creek in Austin, Texas, last year. She hopes to return there in July to play the PGA Professional Championship. By then, she’ll be just more than a month removed from her final treatment.

Every participant must get tested for coronavirus before coming to the event and each participant will get tested upon arriving at the event. Still, the looming uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus pandemic could force Kelly to alter her plans.

She’s preparing herself for the wave of emotion she’ll feel once she’s finally able to tee off at a tournament again. She credits her family and partner Gretchen Lulow, a former Ball State field hockey player and current ICU nurse, for giving her strength through the difficult parts of her journey. She knows returning to the course is bigger than just pars and birdies.

Kelly hopes her return to the course can help spread awareness about ovarian cancer. She sports a teal band on her wrist for ovarian cancer awareness with the phrase “BK Strong” on it.

She stresses the importance of early dedication and hopes her story can help women who may be experience symptoms but or not sure what they cause may be.

“It’s not the score I shoot or anything like that. I just want to play competitive golf,” she said. “I enjoy playing the game, my perspective has changed tremendously.

“I still have high expectations but my body has been through a lot, so I can’t expect too much at this point other than to get back and compete again. I’ve got four or five other tournaments on my radar that I’d like to compete in as long as my body lets me and COVID doesn’t get involved too much.”

Akeem Glaspie works for the Indianapolis Star, part of the USA Today Network. Follow Akeem on Twitter at @THEAkeemGlaspie.

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Annika Sorenstam’s foundation to award $50,000 in grants to Symetra Tour players

Annika Sorenstam will award $50,000 in grants to current Symetra Tour players through her foundation in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The new ANNIKA Foundation Crisis Relief Fund plans to give 100 players grants in the amount of $500 each. …

Annika Sorenstam will award $50,000 in grants to current Symetra Tour players through her foundation in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The new ANNIKA Foundation Crisis Relief Fund plans to give 100 players grants in the amount of $500 each.

There are currently 146 players on the Symetra Tour that have competed in Sorenstam’s junior and college events and more than 60 LPGA pros.

The Symetra Tour held one event in March before the season was halted due to the coronavirus pandemic. The tour has 10 tournaments left on its schedule with a couple of events pending. The total number of LPGA cards on offer has been cut in half from 10 to five. The 2020 Q-School has been canceled.

“You think of all the players – a lot of alumni – they are just starting out their dreams,” Sorenstam told Golfweek, “and it’s been cut off. We wanted to figure out a way that we can help. This is one way that we thought can help them.”

Annika Sorenstam puts on a coaching clinic at the 2018 Annika Australiasia Invitational Junior-Am at Royal Wellington Golf Club in New Zealand. Photo credit: Dave Lintott

Applications for the initial round of funding are due June 12 and foundation organizers expects to distribute funds around July 1.

Players will be asked to share basic earnings information to demonstrate financial need.

That shouldn’t be difficult given the lack of playing opportunities.

Other individuals wishing to help can also make a 100 percent tax-deductible contribution by visiting annikafoundation.org/crisisrelief.

Symetra Tour rookie Bethany Wu and Annika Sorenstam (Photo credit: ANNIKA Foundation)

Last year, more than 600 girls from 60-plus countries competed in Sorenstam’s events. Her foundation annually hosts six girls-only invitational tournaments on five continents. The LPGA icon has gotten to know so many players of the players on a personal level through her events and clinics.

“Many of them need some support, and also for them to know that we’re thinking of them,” she said. “We had a little extra money. We said we can we do that, and tell them we’re thinking about them, and continue to inspire them and make sure they’re ready when we do open up again.”

Symetra Tour cancels two more events, further pushing back possible restart

The next two events in July have come off the Symetra Tour calendar, further pushing the 2020 season.

Two more events are gone from the Symetra Tour schedule, pushing a possible restart for the developmental tour back to late July at the earliest. The tour announced Friday that it was canceling the Prasco Charity Championship in Cincinnati, Ohio (July 8-10) as well as the Danielle Downey Credit Union Classic in Rochester, New York (July 16-19).

Both tournaments will return in 2021.

“While it was a difficult decision to cancel these events for 2020, there is a silver lining in that each will be back next year,” said Mike Nichols, the Chief Business Officer of the Symetra Tour. “We are grateful to work with such outstanding partners as Prasco and the credit unions of the greater Rochester area, and look forward to working with everyone involved for years to come.

Only one Symetra Tour event has been played in 2020, the season-opener in Winter Haven, Florida, in March. Since then, the coronavirus pandemic has put the tour on hold.

The next event on the schedule is now the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship in Battle Creek, Michigan, to be played July 24-26.

The LPGA announced earlier in the week that it would allow players on both tours to retain their 2020 status for the 2021 season and also that Q-School and Q-Series will be canceled. Normally the top 10 money winners on the Symetra Tour would earn an LPGA card for the next season, but this year that number will be reduced to five.

Lakareber Abe will keep focusing on the details as soon as Symetra season returns

Lakareber Abe finished third in her Symetra Tour debut before the season came to a crashing halt for coronavirus.

Sometimes, it’s as simple as just tieing your shoes. Even amid a global pandemic, the little things count.

When Symetra Tour player Lakareber Abe finds herself quickly shoving her feet in laced-up tennis shoes, she tries to remind herself to stop, untie and retie them. This follows a theory she recently read about making time for the little things. It’s a lesson she learned in a book by John Wooden, legendary UCLA basketball coach.

“It’s the same as the make-your-bed theory,” she said. “Being really diligent.”

Concentration on the little things can take a golfer a long way. It was the big goal this season for Abe, a 24-year-old who was eager to start her second full season on the Symetra Tour.

And oh, how well she did start. Abe fired rounds of 70-74-71 at the Country Club of Winter Haven in Winter Haven, Florida, to tie for third in the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic, the kick-off event for the 2020 season. That means that while the Symetra Tour is dormant because of the coronavirus, Abe sits third in the Volvik Race for the Card standings.

It would be easy to be bitter about the season stopping so quickly after that performance, Abe’s best Symetra Tour finish to date.

“Every day I just try to tell myself, it’s one thing when it’s a ‘you’ problem you’re dealing with, but when you step back and look at it, this is like a global thing happening,” she said. “Me not going to the LPGA is a drop in the bucket compared to what other people are experiencing.”

Abe remains at home in The Woodlands, Texas, with her family. At first, she had a net set up for hitting balls but as things creep back to normal, she’s getting back to the golf course and the driving range. Abe loves to cook, so she and her mom Fiora tend to alternate making dinner during the week. Lakareber just whipped up a mean enchilada recipe the other day.

In some ways, it mirrors what she’d be doing if she were on the road.

“I don’t eat at chain restaurants,” she said. “I’ll try to find an interesting restaurant.”

Abe has never fancied herself much of a baker, mostly because she never felt like she had time for it. Time is one thing she has an abundance of now. She cultivated a sourdough starter and has made some type of bread every week, from donuts to cinnamon rolls to hamburger buns.

In a normal Symetra Tour season, Abe would travel by car, particularly through the part of the schedule that’s in the Midwest. She might fly to events on the West Coast.

Over the past season and a half, Abe learned how to manage her time on the road better and that she needs to shut it down after four events. She played 22 of 24 events on the schedule in 2019, making the cut in 12.

“If you can do three, that makes it easier,” she said. “Obviously it’s a bit harder on Symetra because you have to play so much. Most people play every week. Finding those breaks has been more difficult.”

Sometimes she takes a caddie and sometimes she’s on the course herself with a push cart. Sometimes, a family member will make a cameo. She had her mom on the bag for a few events in 2019, and older sister Tezira, a former University of Texas player who recently graduated from law school at the University of Michigan, took over caddie duties at last year’s tour stop in Albany, New York.

Abe works with instructor Justin Poynter of Crown Golf in Arlington, Texas. There have been many short-game conversations lately. Everything is so much more magnified in professional golf, Abe says (who had a successful college career at Alabama), that when it comes time to start shaving strokes, it’s the little shots that have to tighten up.

Lakareber Abe hits a shot during the 2018 NCAA Championship, where she helped her team to a runner-up finish.

Overall, Abe thinks her self-awareness has gotten better on the golf course.

“It’s me having a better understanding of my body and my golf swing and how it moves and how I need to get to certain positions,” she said of the progress she’s made these past few years. “The best way for me to swing my swing and have it be repeatable.”

Last year ended with a trip to play the inaugural Magical Kenya Ladies Open on the Ladies European Tour as a sponsor exemption, where she finished T-16.

Abe’s family is from Uganda. An aunt and cousin in Kenya even helped set up a safari for after the event. It was a week she won’t forget.

“It’s really cool to see golf growing in that part of the world,” she said. “For me, playing as close to where my parents are from as I’ll probably get in my lifetime was pretty cool.”

They’re the kind of good memories that will carry her through until the season restarts.

Player diary: Sierra Brooks waiting for a fresh start on her Symetra Tour journey

Sierra Brooks’ rookie season on the Symetra Tour came to an abrupt start thanks to the coronavirus. She’s hoping for a fresh start soon.

Editor’s note: This is the second of a four-part series with 21-year-old Symetra Tour rookie Sierra Brooks, who will chronicle her 2020 season on Golfweek.com. The former Florida standout finished second at last year’s NCAA Championship to Maria Fassi and was a finalist at the 2015 U.S. Women’s Amateur. She won three times in college and represented the U.S. at the Curtis Cup, Junior Ryder Cup and Junior Solheim Cup.

In some ways, my professional debut on the Symetra Tour in March feels like a lifetime ago. In other ways, that feeling of wanting to push my golf bag into the water on the 10th and just sink right along with it is as fresh as if it happened yesterday.

My debut didn’t go as I’d dreamed, and by now, I thought I’d have dozens of tournament rounds in the memory bank to push it down. But the fact remains that after opening with a 71 at the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic, I blew up with a 10 on the par-5 ninth hole of my second round at the Country Club of Winter Haven. I tried to go for the green in two and hit it in a bunker. Then I skulled the next shot into another bunker over the green. The next thing I know, I’m walking off the hole with a 10. I don’t even remember the number of putts I took.

My dad, Brent, who was watching from outside the ropes, disappeared after that (probably to go grab a drink somewhere). Can’t say that I blame him, he’s usually living each shot right along with me.

Especially after I hit it in the water on the 10th tee, dropped one and hit it in the water again. That’s when I wanted to disappear.

I posted an 84 that day and missed the cut. Gosh did it ever sting.

I could never have imagined that a global pandemic would put that embarrassing 10 squarely in perspective.

Back in March at the pro-am party in Winter Haven, Florida, some of us wondered if the coronavirus would impact our California swing. We never dreamed it would push our entire season into an unprecedented level of uncertainty. We recently received word that our restart has been pushed back again to late July, canceling two more events on our schedule.

I’d already booked flights for those two. Maybe I’ll drive everywhere now.

Sierra Brooks chats with media at Heathrow Country Club. (Photo: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports)

I was ready to sprint into this next chapter of my life, having given up my last semester at Florida to move closer to my dream of an LPGA card. I miss competition. It’s frustrating to watch so many events fall off our calendar but I’m trying to make the most of this time.

But, in a way, this time at home in Lake Mary, Florida, has been refreshing. I’ve been fortunate to have my course, Heathrow Country Club, stay open throughout the spring. It’s actually been hard to get on the course sometimes because it’s so packed with members.

Never in my life have I had so long of a stretch to really work on my golf game. My dad and I would get a small window here and there, and then I’d be off to another tournament. I’ve always struggled to make something we’ve been working on become my own. That’s what this great pause has given me. The gift of time.

I did take two weeks off completely. I was sad to finish the most recent season of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” She’s my favorite. My workouts have moved to the garage gym, where we have dumb bells, a squat rack and bench. My brother, Brayden, is finishing up his senior year of high school at Lake Mary Prep. My mom, Lora, teaches AP government there so she’s always keeping us updated with the current events. They’re on their computers eight hours a day.

At first, I was glued to all the COVID-19 news. Now I’m mostly sick of it.

I miss watching real-time sports. I can’t wait to watch Rory, DJ, Rickie and Matt Wolff at Seminole. I played in so many of the same junior events as Matt, and at this time last year we were both gearing up for the NCAA Championship in Arkansas. It’s so cool that he’s playing with these guys in a celebrity skins match. His early success is inspiring.

I have no idea when our tour will really start up again. I had planned on using host housing, but it sounds like that’s not going to be an option. After my memorable start in Winter Haven, we decided that I should take a caddie on the road for the rest of the season. Initially, my plan had been to go it alone with a push cart.

I’m trying to mentally prepare for whatever comes next. Whether that means we have a whole slew of events this summer and fall, a wrap-around season or another go at Q-School. I’ve considered all the scenarios. Whatever it is, I’ll be ready for it.

I’ve taken up bike riding during quarantine life. There’s a trail next to my house and I go there when I need an outlet, a space to clear my head and dream of what will be – someday.

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Suzy Whaley’s daughter, Kelly, learned to caddie at Seminole and her short game is better for it

Kelly Whaley spent much of the offseason caddying at Seminole and the Symetra Tour player’s short game is better for it.

Kelly Whaley thinks she’d caddied maybe once in her life, for her mom, before she took a job at Seminole Golf Club last November. Knowing that she likely wouldn’t get her first start on the Symetra Tour until May due to limited status, Whaley decided to that she needed to make some money.

Her mother, PGA of America president Suzy Whaley, thought caddying would be a good gig. After an email and a short phone call interview with Seminole head pro Bob Ford, Kelly found herself in the caddie yard in no time. At the time, she was the only female looper.

“My first time going there,” she said, “it’s so private, and you just feel so special when you enter the grounds.”

On Sunday, the renowned club will make its debut on national television for the TaylorMade Driving Relief charity skins match featuring Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler and Matthew Wolff.

Whaley, who played college golf at North Carolina, said she stopped working at the club in March when golf courses were shut down in South Florida due to the coronavirus outbreak. She lives with her family at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, about 20 minutes away from Seminole.

Whaley said her first loop around Seminole was with a family friend, so that made her feel more comfortable. The caddie attire at Seminole consists of a white collared shirt, khakis and bib. Her biggest whiff was a dead range finder mid-round. She quickly learned to carry extra batteries.

Members were generous tippers, she said, which will help fund travel when tournament golf cranks up again. She’s signed up for several upcoming Women’s All Pro Tour events in Arkansas and Texas. The Symetra Tour is scheduled to restart in July.

Last year she received four sponsor exemptions on the Symetra Tour and opened with a 66 in her first round to co-lead the Danielle Downey Credit Union Classic in her first start.

“I think that really helped me for this year to prepare,” she said.

There were more 60 caddies over the winter at Seminole, she said, and several were also pursuing their dreams of professional golf. Whaley said she was able to play the Donald Ross treasure as many as four days a week if the tee sheet was quiet. Playing on Seminole alongside aspiring Tour players proved a tremendous learning opportunity for the young pro.

The caddying helped too.

“Reading greens for someone else, you’re so much more focused,” said Whaley, “which sounds crazy because you want to play the best when you’re playing. But you’re trying not to screw up – you pay attention to every little thing, things I’ve never really thought of when I was playing.”

The 15th hole is Whaley’s favorite. It’s a par 5 that plays safe down the left side (they call it A1A after a local highway) and shorter down the riskier right side (there’s water). She likes that it was Arnold Palmer’s favorite hole too.

“I had a chance to play not too long ago,” she said. “It was super quick – the greens were like a 13.”

Depending, of course, on how her other job goes, she’d love to be back there working next winter.

Who could blame her?

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Symetra Tour player Sarah Hoffman has returned to her nursing career to aid in coronavirus fight

Sarah Hoffman is a Symetra Tour player who recently returned to her career as a nurse during a nationwide pandemic.

Sarah Hoffman recently moved in with a co-worker at Michigan Medicine so that her parents wouldn’t be at a higher risk of contracting COVID-19. That first night, the co-worker apologized that she didn’t have a dresser for Hoffman.

“That’s OK,” Hoffman told her. “I don’t have a dresser for nine months out of the year.”

Such is the rather remarkable life of Sarah Hoffman, a Symetra Tour player who recently returned to her career as a nurse during a nationwide pandemic.

“I just couldn’t keep sitting on the couch and not helping my friends who were on the front lines,” she said.

Sarah Hoffman (courtesy Symetra Tour)

There’s nothing about the Hoffman file that’s standard. She didn’t grow up playing AJGA events. Didn’t compete in any tournaments outside of country club golf until the summer before college. In fact, Hoffman was set to play basketball in college until she took an abrupt turn to Grand Valley State.

“I’d only broken 80 twice in high school,” she said.

They laugh about it now, said former teammate Allie Tyler. The time Hoffman stood on the first tee of her first tournament qualifier at Grand Valley State and hit a worm burner.

“It maybe didn’t even reach the red tee,” recalled Tyler.

Oh, but that just makes the story all the better. The way Hoffman worked her way into the lineup by the spring season and went on to win 11 times at Grand Valley. That she got so good in such a short amount of time that her college coach, a former touring pro, told her she’d someday regret it if she didn’t at least try to play at the next level.

It wasn’t until her senior year that Hoffman decided to pursue the highly competitive nursing program at Grand Valley.

“I think she changed her major maybe four times,” Tyler said of her brainy friend.

To this day, Hoffman remains the only nursing student Rebecca Mailloux has ever coached at Grand Valley. It took five years and a summer to graduate from nursing school. For that entire fifth year, Hoffman didn’t touch a golf club.

Former Grand Valley State players Allie Tyer (left) and Caitlin Bennett (right) support Hoffman at a Symetra stop.

When she finished school, Hoffman, the youngest of four, had a sit-down with her parents about turning professional. Her father, a financial planner at Merrill Lynch, told her there are two reasons businesses fail: Either they run out of money, or they quit before they’re successful.

Hoffman knew her game wasn’t ready, and she wanted to self-fund. So she moved into her parents’ basement and took a job at Michigan Medicine in Ann Arbor. For two years she worked the night shift and banked around $60,000, enough to get her started on the journey. She’d work two shifts from 7 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. and two shifts from 11 p.m. to 8:30 a.m. On her days off, she’d practice.

“I do remember one time I was playing in the Michigan Amateur,” she said. “I worked a 12-hour shift and then teed off an hour after I stopped working. I was up for over 24 hours. We had a rain delay and I was just chugging Red Bull.”

Hoffman can’t remember what she shot, but it was enough to get her into match play.

After a couple of years, she turned pro, going to Q-School for the first time in 2016 at age 26.

During the offseason, Hoffman returns to work full-time as a nurse from October to December, earning enough money for the next year.

In 2018, she joined West Orange Country Club in Windermere, Florida, and had to work her way into the men’s group. They wouldn’t let her play in the big Friday skins game, but agreed to a nine-hole match.

“I started talking trash to them and shot 33 from the tips,” she said. “They realized I could hang with them and at the end of the year, threw a big going-away party and donated enough money for my entry fee in Q-School. It was awesome.”

There are times Mailloux can’t believe that Hoffman is still pursuing the dream, given all the bad breaks she’s endured at Q-School alone. There was the crazy stomach bug that left her throwing up on the golf course. Another year, her grandfather, the man who introduced her to the game, died during Q-School. And then last year, one of her ribs popped out of place and she was forced to withdraw.

Hoffman tees off at the Symetra Tour’s season-opening event in Winter Haven, Florida. (Photo: Symetra Tour)

“The kid just can’t catch a break,” Mailloux said.

There’s something about this balancing act between tour life and nursing, however, that gives the 29-year-old a unique and refreshed perspective.

Hoffman has worked in the orthopedic trauma unit since 2014. She can put a bad day on the golf course in perspective after taking care of patients who are fine one day and then find out they may never walk again after a catastrophic car accident.

Golf is inherently a selfish game. During the season, she enjoys being able to focus on what she needs to realize her dream of the LPGA.

“It can be exhausting to be a nurse and constantly putting others first,” she said, “missing your lunches or taking a patient to the bathroom when you have a full bladder.”

At the end of the golf season though, she can’t wait to get back to helping people. It’s in her blood.

“She cares,” said good friend and fellow tour pro Katelyn Sepmoree. “That’s really the best part about Sarah. She cares about the people around her and what’s she’s doing.”

Because elective surgeries have been put on hold, Hoffman’s unit now looks considerably different, with patients battling any number of diseases and conditions, including COVID-19.

“We went from 229 patients admitted with COVID-19 to 95 as of yesterday,” Hoffman said on Sunday. “Had those numbers kept on growing, it would’ve been very scary and we would’ve run out of ventilators. We are just so thankful that didn’t happen.”

The course is open at Hoffman’s childhood club, Travis Pointe, but the practice facilities are still closed. She works three 12-hour shifts a week and works on her game the other four days. The Symetra Tour is currently slated to restart in early July. Hoffman said she’ll taper off her nursing duties when she gets three weeks out from competition.

Hoffman has never wanted to give herself a timetable for success. She knows that her blue-collar approach makes her older than most. But she also feels like it has given her a mental edge.

“I wanted to be able to keep on playing,” she said. “I didn’t want to have any regrets.”

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Stuck at Home With: Symetra Tour’s lone winner, Janie Jackson

Janie Jackson, the Symetra Tour’s only winner before COVID-19 put the season on pause, tells Golfweek what she’s doing while Stuck at Home.

The “Stuck at Home With” series profiles players, caddies and staff in the women’s game who are making the most of an unprecedented break in tour life due to the coronavirus pandemic. New stories will be posted every Tuesday and Thursday.

Janie Jackson got the keys to her new apartment in Phoenix, Arizona, the day before she left for the Symetra Tour’s season-opening event in Florida. The Huntsville, Alabama, native first moved to Arizona over the offseason hoping that better weather would lead to added motivation.

What was supposed to be a temporary move turned into a one-year apartment lease.

Uprooting her life to move West quickly proved to be one of the best decisions of her young life. Jackson, 26, won the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic on March 8, lapping the field by eight strokes. It marked her first win in 60 starts on the developmental tour.

“I feel like if I hadn’t moved,” said Jackson, “that wouldn’t have happened.”

On the range at Silverleaf Country Club in Scottsdale last winter, Jackson remade her golf swing into something she could be proud of.

[jwplayer S823sXjH-vgFm21H3]

Growing up, Jackson worried anytime someone of importance stood behind her while she was over the golf ball.

“My whole life I could feel uncomfortable or insecure if they saw my swing from behind the line,” said Jackson. “What is she doing? How does she even make contact?”

Jackson was referring to the inside move that led her to pull over the top and swing left through the ball. The 5-foot-10 Jackson was athletic enough to manipulate the club to her favor on most days. But when it was off, it was wildly off. And after a poor showing at Q-Series last fall, Jackson sat down with her longtime swing coach, Mark Blackburn, and addressed what needed to change.

“My whole life I’ve been a sub-optimal swinger of the golf club,” said Jackson matter-of-factly.

Of course, it was a good enough swing to earn her a record three state championship titles in high school and a scholarship to Arizona, where she played freshman year before transferring to Alabama. It also helps that Jackson is one of the longest hitters in the game, averaging 285 to 290 off tee. She currently leads the Symetra Tour in driving distance at 298 yards.

Making this swing change has been in the back of Jackson’s mind for years. If someone whose opinion she cared about watched her from behind, she tried to change it on the spot. But her body wouldn’t do what her head wanted.

It took every bit of three months on the range in Arizona to get comfortable enough to bring what Blackburn had taught her into competition. Blackburn works with a number of PGA Tour players, including Charley Hoffman, Kevin Chappell and Chez Reavie, and is based at Greystone Country Club in Birmingham, Alabama.

Blackburn, however, splits his time in Arizona during the winter months working with clients and helped connect Jackson to Silverleaf.

The club has been open throughout the coronavirus pandemic, so Jackson has been able to continue the work that led to her first title. The Symetra Tour hasn’t held an event since the opening one in Winter Haven, Florida.

There are days when Jackson focuses on the glass that’s half full. She won $18,750 that week and tops the money list, collecting her first title since high school.

And there are days when she’s bummed that she couldn’t carry over that momentum. When the newly announced July restart seems like a lifetime away.

“If I’m being honest, right at the moment it’s hard to get motivated,” she said.

Pickleball has become a new passion. She likes to get out and throw the softball with friends.

“I’ve never watched so much TV in my life,” she said. “Outer Banks,” “Money Heist,” “Little Fires Everywhere,” “SEAL Team” to name a few.

Janie Jackson on a side-by-side ride through the desert. (Janie Jackson)

When Jackson first turned professional, she couldn’t stand going on the road for five weeks at a time. Even though she traveled throughout junior and college golf, the lifestyle still came as a shock. It took her two years to even feel comfortable on the road. Nothing could’ve prepared her for it, she said. It’s something you simply have to live through.

Only 68 players on the Symetra Tour have cashed a check this season. Jackson knows her timing was fortuitous. She’s hoping that the next time she gets to a competition, wherever and whenever that might be, those winning feelings come flooding back. In a way, that’s when that first victory will really sink in.

For now, she’s enjoying her new life in the desert.

“Moving out here made all the difference in the world,” she said.

She has the trophy to prove it.

Click here to read more from the “Stuck at Home With” series.

Coronavirus: Financial chasm between men’s, women’s tours even greater in tough times

The hardship of the coronavirus pandemic proves the financial chasm between men’s and women’s tours is even greater in tough times.

It took Daniela Iacobelli 14 hours to compete her application for Florida’s unemployment insurance program. She joked that the state needed to call Netflix for advice on upgrading the server.

As frustrating as the process turned out to be, it does bring added security for golfers like Iacobelli, who won’t get back to work until June at the earliest. The federal government’s COVID-19 relief package, known as the CARES Act, now includes benefits for independent contractors. Individuals can receive an additional $600 per week as part of the pandemic relief.

In addition, the LPGA is offering a $2,000 loan program to Symetra Tour players and $5,000 to LPGA members. The money will come out of players’ future checks, 25 percent each time, until its paid back through 2021.

Iacobelli, a three-time winner on the Symetra Tour, said she appreciated the LPGA’s loan offer but had no plans inquire about it. She doesn’t want the added pressure at tournaments down the road.

LPGA Chief Tour Operations Officer Heather Daly-Donofrio said the tour plans to soon offer a webinar with financial experts to give players and caddies an opportunity to ask questions. Several players on both the LPGA and Symetra Tour, she said, have already taken them up on the cash advance.

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“That’s the most important thing with our athletes,” said Daly-Donofrio, “keeping it so they can manage their bills and pay their rent so they can train.”

The PGA Tour shared with players details of its cash advance program several days ahead of the LPGA. The program, as reported by Golf Digest, allows players ranked 1-150 in the FedEx Cup standings the ability to take up to 50 percent of their projected FedEx Cup bonus, up to $100,000.

“I would say if (LPGA players) read about the PGA Tour cash advance,” said  LPGA commissioner Mike Whan, “I would just say to all of my members, I’m sorry. I wish I was on the PGA Tour cash advance program, but I’m not, either. But listen, we don’t sit on the same savings account, and I know I’m not going to solve players’ full financial problem, but at least it’s something.”

Earlier this week, the PGA of America unveiled its Golf Emergency Fund. Members of developmental tours, including Symetra, are included among those eligible to apply for a grant.

Iacobelli finished second in the only event the Symetra Tour held this year before the season was postponed due to coronavirus, earning $11,771 at the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic. She’s doubtful that the tour will resume in June, though she is still able to practice on a regular basis at Suntree Country Club in Melbourne, Florida.

Iacobelli calls Suntree her little bubble. She drives to most places, including her parents’ nearby house, in her golf cart. The 32-year-old purchased her home two years ago after a ninth-place finish at the LPGA stop in Hawaii.

Lori Beth Adams working on the house. (Lori Beth Adams)

“Biggest check I’ve ever made in my life,” she recalled, “and now I own a house.”

Iacobelli didn’t go to Q-Series last fall. Didn’t plan to go to two Symtra Tour events scheduled in California either. She’s never had financial backing or sponsors and thought it made the most sense financially to sit those two out.

“By the time you get a hotel and a caddie and food, I rounded up to $6,000,” she said. “I would rather live in my house for three more months.”

When the PGA Tour canceled the Players Championship in March after one round and split the $15 million purse evenly throughout the field, it worked out to about $52,000 each in unofficial earnings.

“It’s tough to make that in a year doing what I do,” said Iacobelli, who won on the Symetra Tour last year and finished 16th on the money list with $60,912.

During tough times, the financial chasm between the men’s and women’s tours feels even greater.

Steve and Lori Beth Adams (photo submitted)

Lori Beth Adams spent the early part of the pandemic working in the shop at her local course, Indian Valley, in Burlington, North Carolina. After tearing a tendon in her shoulder in the winter of 2018, Adams felt like she came out of this year’s offseason ready to make some noise.

Or at least make enough money to move out of her parents’ house.

It has been a tough road of late for the Adams family, long before the global pandemic. Last April as Adams was driving to the Symetra event in Arkansas, her mom called to let her know that her father had fallen 12 feet and broken both of his heels.

A diabetic since the age of 4, 65-year-old Steve lost his job and, as a result, Lori Beth lost a good portion of her financial backing. Surgery is not an option for Steve, and he can’t stay on his feet long.

“If they even cut a two-inch incision,” said Lori Beth, “he’ll lose his feet.”

Ryan French, the man behind twitter’s popular “Monday Q Info” account, helped her set up a GoFundMe page. So far she has raised $860.

Lori Beth also filed for unemployment in North Carolina. She can still get out and practice in Burlington and recently started helping a family friend flip a house.

Symetra Tour officials called last week to check in in Adams.

“We’re all in this together,” she said.

Stuck at Home With: Symetra Tour player Samantha Wagner

Like the rest of the golf world, Samantha Wagner is grounded for the time being, waiting to get back into form on the Symetra Tour.

The “Stuck at Home With” series profiles players, caddies and staff in the women’s game who are making the most of an unprecedented break in tour life due to the coronavirus pandemic. New stories will be posted every Tuesday and Thursday.

Samantha Wagner had put a brand new set of clubs – Callaways – in her bag for this 2020 season. She had spent the last few months overhauling her swing with a new instructor on the other side of the country. After two years learning the ropes on the Symetra Tour, this figured to be a big year on her climb to the LPGA.

It’s what makes the waiting these past few weeks so much harder.

Like the rest of the professional golf world, Wagner is grounded at least until mid-June, which is the anticipated restart date for the Symetra Tour. It’s one thing for an established player to take a forced break in her career, but it’s something entirely different to be on the kind of launch path that Wagner felt herself on, only to have it come to an abrupt stop.

“It feels like the off-season,” said Wagner, an Orlando-based player slated to make a solo trip to California right before the coronavirus brought the country to a screeching halt.

It’s a steep learning curve going from college to professional golf. Wagner, 23, played two seasons at the University of Florida before making her pro debut at the 2017 U.S. Women’s Open. After two more professional starts, Wagner advanced all the way to final stage of Q-School that fall but came up short of any LPGA status.

In her first Symetra Tour season in 2018, Wagner made the cut in more than half of her 20 starts. She had back-to-back top 10s in June. It was important to learn how to mentally deal with knowing exactly how much money she needed to land an LPGA card (only the top 10 money earners do that).

“You’re thinking, ‘If I have three top-20 finishes or better, obviously I’m not sure what everyone else is going to do, but it’s going to be close,’” she said. “You’ve got it in your head and you’re playing with that. It’s hard to stop yourself from doing it.”

Wagner was inside a tightly packed top 30 with three tournaments left that season, but ultimately landed in 50th on the year-end money list. Life goes on.

The Wagner family is a tight-knit one. Milestones are shared. So after Wagner’s older brother C.J. proposed to his girlfriend Madison at the end of 2018, their Oct. 25 wedding date went down on the calendar with a big circle. The only problem was, as Wagner later confirmed, it was going to fall right on top of the LPGA Q-Series.

Family discussions ensued, and C.J. assured his sister he’d understand if she couldn’t be there. It became hard to focus on the golf.

“In my heart, I knew where I wanted to be,” she said. “All year, it was like, ‘If I don’t play well here, it’s just making my chances of being at his wedding worse.’”

Samantha Wagner and her brother C.J.

Ultimately, Wagner missed the last eight cuts of the 2019 season, decided not to enter Q-School and doesn’t regret her decision for a second. The weekend marked two new beginnings: a new marriage for C.J., and a game overhaul for Samantha.

If there’s a silver lining in this shutdown, it’s that the extended break has given Wagner time to groove a brand-new swing, built with help from California-based instructor Chris Mayson. Her decision to change coaches “was my first adult thing,” Wagner says, considering Mayson is her first instructor who didn’t know her as a teenager.

He took one look at her swing – which involved an over-the-top, drop-it-inside move – and told her he wasn’t sure how she was making contact.

“I know I struggled mentally with all the stuff about the wedding last year, but my swing was really off as well,” she said.

Wagner made such monumental changes that she spent an initial six weeks on the range adjusting, “which I have not done ever in my life,” she said. She has tested it only once in competition, at an Eggland’s Best Tour event in Daytona Beach in January. She finished fourth.

Samantha Wagner practicing in her down time.

As this break from competitive golf drags on, Wagner’s mom Amy has had much-needed words of wisdom.

“Pick something to work on,” she told the whole family.

For Samantha, that means blogging. She made her first post on a new blog site on March 29.

“It’s exciting,” Wagner said of her writing. “I feel like it’s something I’ve been going back and forth on wanting to do. I never knew where to start.”

She has a stack of books to read, too, and is considering taking a class to earn her real estate license. The family brought home a new Golden Retriever puppy, Yoddha, last month, too. Despite all the distractions, a feeling of suspense persists.

“The first two years, I had two things that were in my control with school and my brother’s wedding. And it’s not just me. I have friends all over the country and all over the world, some aren’t even playing.

“We’re all just waiting.”

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