Sarah White emerged as the champion of her very first Symetra Tour tournament – the Founder’s Tribute at Longbow in Mesa, Arizona, in mid-August.
She did it in her first year as a professional and playing via an exemption earned for a fifth-place finish in a tournament on the Women’s All Pro Tour (WAPT), the official feeder tour to the LPGA’s Symetra Tour.
She opened 68-65 then logged closing 68 in the 54-hole championship at Longbow Golf Club, which included a final birdie for a one-shot win over Casey Danielson of Wisconsin and Sophia Popov of Germany. Popov, the very next week, shocked the golf world as a surprise runaway winner of an LPGA major championship – the AIG Women’s British Open.
And White, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, surmises she might be the person least surprised by the dramatic golf happenings.
“I always knew I had it in me,” said the 23-year-old former GAM Junior Girls State Amateur Champion (2015) and Division 1 state high school champion (2014) who played collegiate golf for a year at Western Michigan University before transferring to play at Texas State University.
“Winning was relieving in a way. I had been working so hard on my game and I finally did it the way I knew I could. It was more like a big breath of fresh air, or even a weight lifted off my shoulders. I wasn’t necessarily surprised because I always believed I had it in me and finally I proved to myself that I could do it.”
She made $18,750 for the win and earned immediate Symetra Tour membership through 2021, which meant she hopped in a car and drove to California for the next Symetra Tour event. She made the cut, and then made the long car trip home to Michigan, stopping on the way to play in the Symetra event in South Bend, Indiana. She missed that cut, then hit the road for Florida and North Carolina and more Symetra tournaments.
“My life has changed drastically in that way, much more travel than I expected,” she said. “Brett (her brother, a professional golfer) told me my first year as a professional would be a huge learning experience. That is so right, but I know I belong out here.”
Brett White, 27 and like Sarah, a former GAM tournament regular, was her caddie in the Founder’s Tribute win, and again two weeks later in South Bend after he came home from winning the $115,000 Turtle Creek Casino Michigan Open Championship on The Bear at Grand Traverse Resort near Traverse City.
Their parents, Doug and Patty, were not golfers. Brett, a former Eastern Michigan University golfer, became interested in the game at a young age, and by age 5, Sarah was tagging along. She did the same in hockey, and even played goalie for the boys’ varsity team at East Kentwood High School.
Their father said their dreams were in golf, however, and they pushed on.
“I have dreamed about being a pro golfer since I was 5,” Sarah said. “Brett got me into it and we had brother-sister rivalry where he would always try to one-up me, but it is amazing to see both of us having this dream we’ve had for a long time come true. For both of us to win big tournaments within three weeks is truly special for our family.”
Doug said after his son’s Michigan Open win that he was still trying to grasp all that happened in recent days.
“Golf’s a tough game, both kids have had their bad days and tough losses, Brett’s had his health issues, so we’ve seen that side of it, too,” he said. “We like this though and we’re really proud of them. They kept working so hard and believing they could do it.”
Sarah, who is already third in average driving distance on the Symetra Tour (295.63 yards), has worked recently on her putting with Craig Piscopink, an award-winning teaching professional in Ypsilanti who also worked with Brett as he recovered his golf game after a debilitating brain infection three years ago.
“We’ve changed my putting drastically,” Sarah said. “Everything is different, a different putter, different grip. We didn’t change my stroke, but we changed my focus on putting from trying to hit the perfect putt to focusing on the speed of my putts. It’s made a big difference. In the tournament on the WAPT where I earned my exemption I had 20 birdies. In my win at the Founder’s Tribute I made some 20- and 30-footers and putted with a consistent speed. It’s boosted my confidence.”
When the global pandemic hit in March, Sarah had completed her golf at Texas State and had earned her business management degree. She lost a part-time job to the shutdown though and stayed in Texas because the golf course where she practices didn’t close completely.
“I took the extra time and practiced,” she said. “I was turning pro. I worked a lot so when the WAPL started I was ready.”
Sarah has never shied away from working on the game.
“I always tried to take the mindset that I have the potential and if I’m not working, then somebody else is working and could beat me,” she said. “Brett and I – we inspire each other. He’s a competitor. I’m a competitor. I believe I belong here. My thought now is how do I stay here? Work. The win was a huge boost in confidence. I don’t have to think I can win. I know I can do it.”
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