LPGA star Angela Stanford was named assistant captain for the 2021 Solheim Cup by captain Pat Hurst.
Angela Stanford was hitting balls in her new at-home hitting bay when Pat Hurst called on April 21. Stanford went back and looked up the date recently because keeping a secret for that long isn’t easy to do.
At last, she can tell the world that she’ll be by Hurst’s side in the role of assistant captain at next year’s Solheim Cup.
“I told (Hurst) it was kind of between tears and total excitement,” Stanford told a group of reporters, “and it was so hard because when you’re in quarantine, I was bouncing off the walls the rest of the night and there was nobody there to enjoy that with me.”
Assistant captains play a more visible role in the pod system, which three-time captain Juli Inkster put in place for the 2015 campaign and Hurst will continue. Each assistant is assigned a pod of players based on personality, and back then, Stanford was actually in Hurst’s pod. Stanford played a vital role in Team USA’s memorable comeback that year, earning the winning point against Suzann Pettersen in Germany.
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“That morning when I walked out on the putting green,” said Stanford, “I remember looking at my caddie and saying, ‘Hey, this is my turn. This is it. Let’s go.’ It felt so good from start to finish, one of the best rounds I’ve ever played in my life … it’s a memory that’s hard to put into words. I kind of get chills just thinking about it.”
A member of six Solheim Cup teams, the 42-year-old Stanford has six career LPGA victories, including the 2018 Evian Championship. Hurst and Stanford paired together in the 2007 Solheim Cup, defeating Iben Tinning and Bettina Hauert, 4 and 2, in foursomes. Stanford said Hurst took her under her wing early on in her LPGA career.
“Angela and I are pretty similar in a lot of ways,” said Hurst. “We both have a passion for the game. We love the red, white and blue, playing for our country. Angela, even playing for TCU, she’s just the biggest supporter of them, and she’s that way with representing the United States. That’s the way I am and that’s the way she is. … She’s level – she’s determined. I wouldn’t say level-headed; let me rephrase that.
“She wants to win. That’s … I see that in me.”
When asked about being a playing assistant at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, next September, Stanford said she’s at peace with whatever happens.
“I’m still a professional golfer and I’m still going tee it up and try to win golf tournaments,” she said, “and whatever that means in 2021, that’s what that means.”
Quarantine life has given Angela Stanford a small window into retirement, and the homebody has enjoyed the view.
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.
Angela Stanford was working out on her treadmill when she saw the news flash across the bottom of her TV screen: “Augusta National closing its doors.”
If the most famous golf course in the world is closing, she thought, mine are probably right behind it. She immediately put in a call to Mike Wright, director of golf at her home club, Shady Oaks Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, and asked if he could put her in touch with someone who could help build an at-home hitting bay.
When Stanford built the extension off her driveway in 2009, she thought she might one day use it for a practice area but never really wanted to go through with it.
Why?
“A home should be a place where you get away from your job,” she said.
The turf was in and the net was up by the end of March. One month later, she’s already looking forward to using the space during the offseason to keep sharp. Simply having an area to hit balls no matter what transpires has brought much-needed peace of mind during the coronavirus crisis.
“Those first couple of weeks I was losing my mind,” she said.
Stanford’s new at-home hitting bay. (Photo courtesy Angela Stanford)
With no paychecks coming in anytime soon, Stanford thought she might cut down on the landscaping bill by getting to work in the flower beds. She weeded, sprayed and put down mulch over the weekend. The woman who ran her first marathon in Los Angeles in early March couldn’t believe how sore she felt in the aftermath.
“People do this all the time and I’m dying,” she said while on her way to Mira Vista Golf Club for a round of golf.
Quarantine life has given Stanford a small window into retirement, and the homebody has enjoyed the view. She had to learn how to grocery shop for weeks at a time, though gourmet cooking didn’t happen overnight.
“I’ve always believed that high-end cooking is like a hobby,” she said. “For now, there’s a lot of chicken on the grill. There’s a lot of pasta and my rice cooker.”
And while the toilet tissue has been hard to come by, she’s grateful that the shelves are still fully stocked with Diet Dr. Pepper.
Stanford’s newly mulched landscape.
Prior to the pandemic, Stanford wasn’t a binge-watcher. She mostly watched live sports and “Friends” reruns and felt like there was too much to do to spend time taking in entire seasons on the couch.
But that was then.
She burned through “Schitt’s Creek” on Netflix and has moved on to “Mad Men.” She’s mostly into lighter shows, noting that “Ozark” is as dark as she gets.
But the real must-see TV in Stanford-land is “The Last Dance,” ESPN’s Michael Jordan documentary.
“I’m in heaven,” she said of reliving her childhood.
A six-time winner on the LPGA, Stanford is grateful that the golf world came to a halt this late in her career. Like many veteran players, she thinks often of those on tour who are just getting started. She has played professional golf for 20 years, won a major and represented the U.S. in six Solheim Cups.
So much history brings added perspective.
Stanford thinks often of LPGA commissioner Mike Whan and his staff. She got mad when an ESPN writer left Whan’s name off a list of sports commissioners who were scheduled to meet with President Donald Trump. So mad that she quit watching ESPN during her morning workout, switching to “Friends” instead.
“It bothers me that Mike Whan doesn’t get the attention he deserves,” she said, noting that no commissioner has it tougher now.
LPGA player Angela Stanford with her L.A. Marathon medal. (Photo submitted)
She used to think that golf might be the easiest sport to get back, given the size of the playing field, the fact that they’re outdoors and naturally far apart.
But once she peeled back the layers and started thinking about 144 players and caddies traveling separately to an event, it didn’t seem as tidy as entire teams flying together on a corporate jet and then hunkering down in the same hotel.
If the LPGA starts back up in Arkansas in mid-June, Stanford’s opinion is that there won’t be spectators. She’s thought about driving to Arkansas from Texas and basically avoiding airplanes until the tour goes to Europe. Not because she’s scared to fly, but because it’s easier to control her schedule by car.
She worries about the size of the locker rooms and player dining. A neat freak in general, Stanford signs autographs with her own purple Sharpie in part because she’s a TCU grad, but mostly because she doesn’t want to touch someone else’s stuff.
That’s heightened even more now.
“Even getting bottled water on the course out of cooler,” she said. “People are touching them all day.”
Angela Stanford takes a selfie with the Evian Championship Trophy in 2018 at Evian Resort Golf Club. Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images
Stanford thinks a lot about tour sponsors while she’s at home. She’s been around long enough to be profoundly grateful of the kind of partner that will stick it out during tough times. The same goes for the donors who back her scholarship program for students who have been impacted by cancer.
“I have tremendous respect for anyone that’s in a decision-making position right now,” she said.
The unexpected time alone at home has opened the door to new things, as much as it has deepened an appreciation for the old.
Click here to read more from the “Stuck at Home With” series.
Betsy King and her Golf Fore Africa charity are gathering together some of the most generous hearts in golf to promote #GivingTuesdayNow.
Typically, GivingTuesday takes place immediately after Thanksgiving. But with so many facing desperate need in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s a new campaign launching on May 5 called #GivingTuesdayNow.
Betsy King and her Golf Fore Africa charity are gathering together some of the most generous hearts in golf to promote the day. On Friday, May 1, King will be joined by Lorena Ochoa, Juli Inkster, Angela Stanford, Katherine Kirk, Amy Olson, Azahara Munzo and Kendall Dye for a live one-hour Q&A video chat at 2 p.m. ET. The Zoom call will be open to the public.
The 64-year-old King, a 34-time winner on the LPGA, is in the midst of a five-year pledge to raise $10 million to bring clean water to 200,000 people throughout Zambia. She personally pledged $1.3 million to help accomplish the goal. Golf Fore Africa is well over the halfway mark to that $10 million goal, but donations have dried up completely in the wake of COVID-19.
Kendall Dye
“The need is more dire than ever,” said Golf Fore Africa board member and LPGA player Kendall Dye. “We’re still talking about hand washing and hygiene, and we thought we’d be flying cars by now.”
All of the participants on Friday’s call have personally raised money to fund at least one well in Africa. Several have their own charity initiative as well.
We are so excited to host this virtual event to learn what life has been like for the pros during this time of quarantine! Listen in as they discuss a variety of topics including the generous golf community. Click on the link in bio to set your reminder to join us on Friday! pic.twitter.com/0Rqdn5xPUE
King’s main fundraising event in Phoenix was canceled last month along with one that was set for late June. She has postponed the event in Houston around the U.S. Women’s Open to Dec. 14, one day after the championship is now set to conclude.
The COVID-19 virus is only now beginning to impact Africa, and the World Health Organization has warned that the continent will become the next epicenter of the virus.
Amy Olson and Kristy McPherson. (Kendall Dye)
Dye has been traveled to Africa twice and has seen the needs there firsthand. With basic sanitation being at the heart of coronavirus prevention, clean water has never been more vital. Of course, it’s important to raise funds for local and national needs, Dye said, but it’s also important to remember the poorest of the poor.
“Nobody expected this pandemic,” said Dye, “but we can’t forget the least of these.”
Kendall Dye with children in Africa. (Photo provided by Kendall Dye)
Angela Stanford, a six-time winner on the LPGA, crossed an item off her bucket list on Sunday afternoon.
Move over, Evian Championship trophy. There’s going to be some new hardware on the shelf. Perhaps a framed photo, too. Heck, Angela Stanford might wear her L.A. Marathon medal to the first tee. The 42-year-old Stanford, a six-time winner on the LPGA, crossed an item off her bucket list on Sunday afternoon.
“I kind of had to prove it to myself,” said Stanford. “Running is really the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
It took Stanford 5 hours and 41 minutes to complete the 26.2-mile course. She got an email afterward that said she was 616th out of 1,086 runners in her division (females age 40-44).
LPGA player Angela Stanford with her L.A. Marathon medal. (Photo submitted)
To celebrate, Stanford dined on a burger and beer with her mom after the race, and then headed to Napa for a wine-tasting adventure with friends, a package she bought at one of Betsy King’s Golf Fore Africa fundraisers.
“Everyone talked about this feeling you have when you cross the finish line,” said Stanford. “I didn’t have it. I feel like I’m about to die, so I feel like that’s my cue that it’s a one and done.”
Actually, Stanford wanted to quit around the 13-mile marker, saying both of her runner’s highs happened early in the race. But then she thought of all the money that she was trying to raise for her own foundation and dug deep.
“In the back of my mind I’m thinking, it’s money for those kids,” said Stanford, who raises college scholarship money for kids who have been impacted by cancer. She raised over $10,000 through the marathon and will fund a scholarship.
Toward the end of the race, Stanford ran past Brentwood Country Club. She remembers looking over at the people playing golf and thinking, “Yeah, that seems a lot easier now.”
Stanford will get back to her regular job next week at the Volvik Founders Cup in Phoenix, when the LPGA resumes after a month-long break.
Angela Stanford signed up to run a marathon in the middle of the LPGA season, her first marathon, in hopes of rebooting her system.
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Angela Stanford signed up to run a marathon in the middle of the LPGA season. Her first marathon. Actually, her first race outside of a 5k Turkey Trot.
Phil Mickelson fasts to reboot. Stanford races.
It’s a big, bold goal that she talked about out loud in public for the first time on Wednesday at the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions. She’ll run the LA Marathon on March 8 before starting the LPGA’s West Coast swing.
“I played just about every sport except soccer growing up because I didn’t like to run,” said the 42-year-old Stanford. “And I feel like I’m hopfairly athletic, and running has always been really hard. So I thought, you know, I didn’t feel very strong mentally last year. I felt pretty weak in general. I thought, you know what, I’m going to figure out how to beat this. I have to be stronger mentally out here, and I guess the best way to do that is to train for something. So I’m going to do it. And not qualifying for Asia was a blessing for me at this time in my life. I’ve always enjoyed going to Asia and playing there, but it was nice to be at home in October.”
After Wednesday’s pro-am round, Stanford planned to run four miles with Cydney Clanton. She recently ran 16 miles on the treadmill to avoid the rain and watch football.
“My legs have never hurt like that,” she said.
She already has pulled so many things from the experience that she can relate back to golf, and the race is still two months out. She’s been conscious about staying healthy too, working closely with a trainer. Last year Stanford had the LPGA physios look at her stride. She’s trying to change her diet too, though some days are better than others.
“Some of my best runs have been after I’ve had pizza,” she said, laughing.
After winning a major for the first time at age 40, Stanford came down out of the clouds and experienced her first serious injury in a 20-year career. Coming back from that has proved difficult. The 2019 season couldn’t end quick enough.
But there’s a pep in her step this week at the Diamond Resorts, where coming face-to-face with Justin Verlander stopped her cold. Stanford is a sports fan in general, but baseball is a particularly strong passion. In 2014 she visited the Twins’ Target Field, her final stop on a tour of the nation’s ballparks.
She’s in heaven this week, but the goals don’t stop at fun.
“First and foremost, I need a top 20 because last year was the first year in my career I didn’t have a top 20,” said Stanford. “So I think that one hurt the most because I’ve always taken a lot of pride in being consistent and always having a top 20, top 10, always being in the top 50, 60 in the money, and I just wasn’t. So I have some small goals like that. Then I have that outrageous goal of the Olympics. You just never know.”
Angela Stanford has always said that when she walked away from the LPGA, she wanted her life to still have meaning. She found it.
Ty Washburn remembers looking in the mirror with one eye closed, practicing what it would be like to function with limited vision. This wasn’t idle curiosity, but rather Washburn’s fast-approaching reality.
At age 9, Washburn’s right eye was removed during surgery, along with parts of his cheekbone, upper teeth and a host of other tissues on the right side of his face. He wasn’t emotional. Washburn can’t explain how he reacted so matter-of-factly on the day cancer took away parts of his face.
“I’m thankful that was the case,” said a now-grown Washburn, “that I didn’t let that crush my spirit.”
Angela Stanford has always said that when she walked away from the LPGA, she wanted her life to still have meaning. Washburn is one of 13 college students currently on scholarship from the Angela Stanford Foundation. The 41-year-old Texan, a six-time winner on the LPGA, first hosted a charity tournament in 2006 and formed the foundation 10 years ago.
In 2012, after her mother, Nan, had fought breast cancer, Stanford began giving scholarships to Texas students who had either battled cancer themselves or had close family members who’d been impacted by the disease.
The first scholarship application Stanford ever read came from a girl from her high school whose mother died from breast cancer. An emotional Stanford pushed back from the table and told board members that she couldn’t read anymore. It was too difficult.
Nan Stanford poses with her daughter Angela Stanford during a photo session for a Golfweek story at Dallas Baptist University. (Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports)
“We have a committee of, thankfully, people older than me,” said Stanford, “who made me sit down and said, ‘No, it’s even more important that you read it because your name is on it. You have to believe in what you’re doing.’ ”
Now students like Washburn sit across from Stanford in interviews to tell their stories. Again, Stanford is thankful for board members who keep her from giving away more than what’s in the bank.
Christian Englert is studying to become a pastor at Dallas Baptist University. His current path can be traced back to a cancer diagnosis at the age of 15. Hand tremors run in the family, but after Englert’s tremors grew progressively worse, an MRI revealed a tumor the size of a ping pong ball in the center of his brain.
Englert’s cancer, PPTID (Pineal parenchymal tumors of intermediate differentiation), was so rare he said doctors could count on one hand the number of patients who’d been diagnosed with it since 2000. He was the first teenager.
“Just getting to the tumor, they would have to move a vein that if my surgeon struck wrong, I could have a stroke and die,” he said.
Even with a successful surgery, doctors were certain there would be adverse side effects. Englert instead came out virtually unscathed. He called it a miracle.
His battle renewed his faith and gave him purpose. Now Stanford is finding hers in lending a hand.
“Without the scholarship,” said Englert from a stately study on the DBU campus, “there was a very good possibility that I wouldn’t be able to continue my education here.”
Never stop fighting
Nan Stanford couldn’t even say the word cancer when she was first diagnosed in 2009. Didn’t want anything to do with the color pink.
“I didn’t feel bad for me,” said Nan, “I just thought – why not me?”
Chemo, radiation, reconstructive surgery. She worked through it all, telling her daughter that if she was going back to the office, then Angela had to stay on tour.
Nan fought breast cancer and won.
Then last year, after a routine checkup, the doctor’s office called and asked if she was driving.
Could she pull over?
Nan knew it was bad.
“She just said there was no cure for what I had,” Nan said. “It had gone into my bones.”
Nan kept waiting for some kind of timeline for her future, but there is none. So she kept living, going on to Arkansas as she had planned to watch Angela compete. She was in Portland too.
Franck Riboud of Evian and Jaques Bungert, Tournement Director kiss 2-10 Evian Championship winner Angela Stanford. (Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
Nan didn’t travel to Evian, France, in 2018. Actually, she couldn’t even watch the television at home in Saginaw, Texas, when Angela found herself in contention at another major. Nan stayed in the back room praying.
“I never ask on golf,” she said of her talks with God. “Whatever happens, happens. But this time, if we could just get in a playoff. If you could just give her another chance.”
Last year Angela became the second-oldest player in LPGA history to win her first major, behind Fay Crocker, who won the 1955 U.S. Women’s Open at 40 years, 11 months. She learned that never-quit attitude from her best friend – mom.
If Nan wasn’t going to give up, if she was going to have a purpose every day, then Angela needed one too.
“That has been in the back of my mind when I think about the foundation,” said Stanford. “I’m trying to give these kids a purpose.”
Success stories
When Madison Conant’s mom was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer in 2011, her father lost his job around the same time.
“There is no Stage 5,” said Madison of the severity of the diagnosis.
Lynn Conant volunteered throughout her treatment and is now in remission. Madison said there was always an understanding that her parents weren’t going to be able to help financially with college. The four-year Angela Stanford scholarship recipient went to Collins College for two years before transferring to her dream school, Dallas Baptist.
Madison Conant graduated debt-free in May with a degree in finance and now lives in Tennessee working as a data developer. She carried a 4.0 GPA.
Megan Cronan was 16 when her mother, Laurie, was diagnosed with cancer. Doctors caught it early, and she’s now cancer-free. Laurie almost skipped that particular mammogram because insurance wouldn’t cover it.
Now 20, Megan studies psychology and criminal justice at North Texas and said the scholarship brings her a sense of peace.
“I’ve always said if I had been a senior in high school when my mom was diagnosed,” Stanford said, “I don’t know where I would’ve ended up.”
In 2018, the American Cancer Society estimated that 1,735,350 new cases of cancer would be diagnosed in the United States. The number of new cancer cases per year worldwide is expected to rise to 23.6 million by 2030.
Around the time Stanford shifted her focus to help families impacted
by cancer, board member Mike Wright’s father died of prostate cancer. Three weeks later, his mother died from a broken heart.
Angela Stanford poses with her trophy after winning the 2018 Evian Championship. Photo: JEAN-PIERRE CLATOT/AFP/Getty Images
Stanford’s work holds special meaning for Wright, the longtime director of golf at Shady Oaks Country Club, where Stanford is a member.
“She was bound to do something like this,” he said.
Her goal is to raise enough money to endow the scholarship fund, making it possible to give back long after she retires. To date, 46 students have received scholarships totaling $246,500. The program gives $10,000 scholarships over four years. One day she’d like to offer full rides.
Stanford didn’t grow up at a club like Shady Oaks. More like a “cow pasture,” according to Nan.
“As a matter of fact,” she said, “they’re tearing it down now to build houses.”
This a player who wears blue on Sundays in honor of her blue-collar roots. Giving back comes naturally to Stanford and brings meaning to life in ways that trophies can’t.
“You could shoot 62 the rest of your life,” she said, “and it’s not going to be the same as somebody saying, ‘You have no idea how you helped me.’ ”
