Michelle Wie opened up about her recently-announced pregnancy and what she wants her daughter to learn from her.
Michelle Wie never thought she’d raise a family on tour. Not for any particular reason really. Mostly just thought it looked too hard. She idolized Lorena Ochoa and admired the way she walked away on top of the game to start a family.
“I really want her to see me play,” said Wie, “and I want her to see me be a strong woman.”
Watching Suzann Pettersen pick up her son in the midst of pandemonium after clinching the Solheim Cup for Europe sticks out to Wie. Same with Tiger Woods winning the Masters. An injured Wie worked in the studio for Golf Channel during the Solheim and found inspiration there too with moms Paige Mackenzie and Cara Banks, who were managing life with newborns amidst the controlled chaos of live tv.
“It’s a tough job already and the baby’s not even out of me,” joked Wie, who barely left the house in the first trimester due to morning sickness.
2019 brought a rush of emotions for the five-time winner, who took a prolonged break from golf due to nagging hand and wrist injuries, got married, moved to California, dabbled in TV, turned 30 and then found out that she and husband Jonnie West would be welcoming a new addition in the summer of 2020.
As an only child, Wie always dreamed of having a big family, though with her hectic lifestyle, it seemed like a faraway notion.
“I really do think my injuries have come at a special time for me,” she said.
In an ideal world, Wie would get to compete while pregnant. One gets the impression that she wants to experience everything now to the fullest – to tell her daughter about it one day. Her body will dictate when and how much.
Doctors say that rest is the best medicine for her right hand and arthritic wrists. If felt good to hit a few balls out at Lake Merced and work on her putting. Mostly though, it has been a waiting game.
There were times when Wie wasn’t sure if she wanted to keep playing. The pain she felt trying to compete left mental scar tissue.
“There was a moment when I would look at a golf ball and I was just terrified because I knew what it was going to feel like,” said Wie. “The memory of it is getting less and less.”
Wie gets antsy when she’s at home too long. There are projects in the works and a contract with CBS for the upcoming Masters. Amazingly, Wie has “zero” experience at the iconic course.
“My husband played it,” she said, “so he’s been telling me a lot about it.”
Wie enjoyed her work with Golf Channel in 2019 more than she thought she would and said further announcements regarding television are coming soon.
As for her own golf, Wie said feels she has a lot of unfinished business left on the LPGA: “I still feel like I have more to prove.”
Though plenty of players have won more than Wie, Stacy Lewis still believes that no one on the LPGA moves the needle more. A new mom herself, Lewis said her desires to advance women and create more opportunities have grown even stronger now that she has dreams for daughter Chesnee, too.
She knows exactly how Wie feels.
The LPGA recently updated its maternity policy so that members can play in as many events as they want in a maternity leave year. They can also take up to two years off and come back with the same priority status. Players are no longer forced to come back before their mind and bodies (and babies) are ready.
“Extending the policy is huge,” said Lewis, who, looking back, could’ve taken a couple more months off before returning to the tour.
Wie has plenty of women on the LPGA to talk to about doing it all. Seven babies were born in 2018 alone. There’s certainly no shortage of inspiration.
“It’s definitely a dream of mine for my kid to be in the crowd and to watch me play,” she said. “Did I think that a couple years ago? Not at all, but it’s definitely changing.”
Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols details her top five storylines from the past decade, ranging from amateurs to a Hall of Famer.
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Some stories stick with you, both as a reader and a writer. When I sat down to make a list of my top five story lines from the past decade, the process took all of one minute. I sat there longer, of course, jotting down all other ones that came to mind. But the top five didn’t change.
What do those five stories have in common?
Inspiration.
The athletes highlighted in these memorable stories range from major winners to amateurs to soon-to-be rookies. Even a Hall of Famer.
All proved unforgettable.
Lorena Ochoa retires from the LPGA on top of the world
My editor flew me down to Mexico when Lorena Ochoa announced her abrupt retirement in 2010. But he didn’t just send me to Mexico City, where she held her press conference. I also traveled to Guadalajara, where her father opened up the doors to her childhood home and lifelong friends and mentors sat down at the clubhouse patio to shed light on one of the most beloved figures in the game. But when I met Angelita at the 10th-hole snack bar, I knew exactly where this story had to begin.
Cameron Champ’s stellar U.S. Open start brings family joy
It was Friday at the 2017 U.S. Open and amateur Cameron Champ was racing up the leaderboard. I caught up with his father on the 17th hole at Erin Hills and introduced myself. Thank goodness the final hole is a par 5, because I needed every inch of that long walk to the clubhouse to get the foundation of Champ’s story and his grandfather’s phone number.
I’ll never forget walking to the back of the media tent where it was quiet and sitting down on the steps to call Mack Champ. He was hooked up to a dialysis machine back home in California when I called and didn’t realize that his grandson was two shots off the lead at a major. I can still hear his heaving sobs of joy. So beautiful.
I was out of the country celebrating a friend’s milestone birthday the day Stacy Lewis won in Portland. I woke up in the middle of the night to a text from my husband that Lewis had given us one of those “this is why we love sports” moments. We somehow knew this would happen.
Even with all of her onsite obligations, she took my FaceTime call and reflected on what it meant to win for Houston. It’s a day I’ll never forget. I pulled an all-nighter and then went paragliding over Lake Como for my friend’s 40ththe next morning. No doubt Lewis was flying higher!
While standing on the 18th green after Haley Moore sank the winning putt for Arizona, I turned to her mother, Michele, and asked if kids had been mean to her daughter growing up. Michele didn’t hesitate in answering. In May of 2018, I wasn’t quite sure how to ask that question. Now, Haley talks with ease about using her experience of being bullied as a platform to help young kids.
Tiger Woods won on Sunday at Augusta National in 2019. But if you had been there the week before, you would’ve already felt chills coming up the 18th. Walking onto the grounds of Augusta National and seeing nothing but women line the range and putting green was nothing short of surreal. That Jennifer Kupcho and Maria Fassi put on a show for the ages at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur made a day that many gave up on long ago all the more spectacular. Decades from now we’ll look back on it as a watershed moment in women’s golf.
I remember pulling into the course in Rochester, New York, like it was yesterday and seeing Meredith Duncan walk toward my car with an armful of trial-sized toiletries. I rolled down the window to say hello and inquire about her load. Thus began one of the most authentic interviews I’ve ever had about life on tour. (I did manage to park my car before returning to talk to her on the range.)
Golf, especially the women’s game, has been blessed with givers. And we were reminded of that at every turn in 2019.
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Jin Young Ko’s family went into great debt to get her to No. 1 in the world. Golf is an exceptionally expensive game in South Korea, and Ko said it wasn’t until after she won five times on the Korean LPGA that they were able to pay back the loans.
“I want to be a better player obviously,” said Ko, “but I also want to be able to spread the gratitude.”
The words are heart-warming, but the actions are too. This winter, Ko plans to buy coal for those who can’t afford to heat their homes in South Korea.
After Sei Young Kim took home the biggest check in women’s golf history – $1.5 million – she was asked what she planned to do with the money. Kim said she needed to give it some thought, but that she wanted to do something “meaningful.”
Golf, women’s golf in particular, has been blessed with givers. And we were reminded of that at every turn in 2019.
When Ko won the Evian Championship earlier this year, she was overcome with joy after having met Lorena Ochoa in France. Ko happens to employ Ochoa’s longtime caddie, David Brooker.
It wasn’t Ochoa’s record that caused such a stirring reaction from Ko. The admiration runs much deeper than that.
At a private Q&A session at Evian, Ochoa and Lindsey Vonn took the stage to talk about their triumphs and life after retirement.
Ochoa didn’t wait until after she left the game to start her foundation. Giving back is what fueled her to dominate.
“The more I play, the more I win, the more I can help,” she said of her mindset.
It takes around 12 million pesos (about $621,000) each year to run Ochoa’s school, La Barranca. The life-changing campus sits on the edge of a magnificent ravine, where thousands of underprivileged children have been able to look out and find unending inspiration.
“They are my No. 1 motivation,” said Ochoa, who goes to more than a dozen events per year to raise money for the school. “I think it’s important that they remember us for the things that we did outside our sport.”
The same is true for Ariya Jutanugarn, who had trouble finding motivation after she reached the pinnacle of the sport until she realized that she can help more kids if she’s on top of the world.
“For what?” asked Jutanugarn. “What’s the point? For an extra $2,000? I don’t play for money. I don’t care about money. I play for the kids.”
Sisters Ariya and Moriya Jutanugarn already have a thriving foundation that gives back to the children of Thailand. They too focus on education.
Earlier this year at a luncheon celebrating Kathy Whitworth’s 80th birthday, Suzy Whaley gave a talk that proved so inspiring that the woman sitting next to me, who was on the verge of quitting the game, was headed to the range that afternoon.
“Don’t be afraid to be brave,” urged Whaley, the first female president of the PGA of America.
It’s a trait shared by these women who dare to be great with a generous heart.
Earlier this year, the LPGA lost one of its Founders, Marilynn Smith, whose passion for giving back stretched into her 89th year. The Marilynn Smith Scholarship Pro Am will continue in 2020, where LPGA pros will gather ahead of the Founders Cup in Phoenix to help raise money for female college players.
The scholarship idea stemmed from a conversation Smith’s father had with Kansas athletic director Phog Allen in 1949, when he asked for travel money to send Marilyn to the national championship.
“Mr. Smith,” Allen replied, “it’s too bad your daughter is not a boy.”
To date, Smith’s pro-am has raised nearly $1 million worth of scholarships for 189 young women.
But the giving in this beautiful game isn’t limited to those in the spotlight. Sometimes they are the ones on the receiving end.
Smith would’ve been pleased to see the golf world rally around Haley Moore, a woman who overcame bullying to lead her Arizona team to an NCAA title. After Moore and her family detailed the financial struggle they faced in paying for the opportunity to compete at the next level, friends and strangers alike came together to raise $34,420.
As an empowered Moore readies herself for the next level, she’s already talking about ways she can use this larger platform to reach kids who’ve been bullied.
Those who helped Moore take that first step toward her dream will be part of everything she does from this point forward.
“When you give to others,” Whaley said, “you empower them to succeed. And that’s really what leadership is all about.”
Of the tour’s 19 rookies, several have already made big impressions on the LPGA.
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This year’s Louise Suggs Rookie of the Year contest was such a runaway that winner Jeongeun Lee6 spent months working on her acceptance speech. The 2020 campaign should prove to be much a tighter race.
Of the tour’s 19 rookies, several have already made big impressions on the LPGA. Some are among the most decorated players to come out of collegiate golf in recent years, including Duke’s Leona Maguire and Andrea Lee of Stanford, who won a program record nine times for the Cardinal.
Of course, Lee’s priority ranking (161st) makes it difficult to know how many starts she’ll get at the start of the year. A strong early showing would put in her good position for the spring reshuffle, the route Cheyenne Knight took in 2019. Knight made the most of the opportunity, winning the last full-field event on the LPGA schedule in Texas.
Esther Henseleit, at No. 162, is in a similar position. The German rookie recently secured the Order of Merit title on the Ladies European Tour after a victory in Kenya.
Here are five standouts with strong status to keep an eye on next season:
Patty Tavatanakit, Thailand
UCLA star turned pro after the spring season and made it look easy on the Symetra Tour, winning three times in her first eight starts. An explosive player who shot 61 in the final round of the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic.
Yealimi Noh, U.S.
Made a run at two LPGA titles in 2019 after Monday-qualifying for both events. The 2018 U.S. Girls’ Junior champ finished second at the Cambia Portland Classic. Made a name for herself quickly as a pro despite having no status on any tour.
Leona Maguire, Ireland
No one spent more time at the top of the World Amateur Golf Ranking than Maguire. One of the best players in the history of college golf, the Duke grad finished seventh on the Symetra Tour money list to earn her card for 2020.
Haley Moore, U.S.
Graduated from Arizona and LPGA Q-Series before she even turned 21. The ceiling is high for a player who is learning how to keep her emotions in check. No stranger to the big stage, Moore is familiar with pressure.
Albane Valenzuela, Switzerland
Former Olympian and Stanford star is a seasoned player when it comes to professional events, particularly the majors. A two-time runner-up at the U.S. Women’s Amateur, skipped her final semester of college to make a run at Tokyo 2020.
The following is the complete list of 2020 LPGA rookies, with their priority ranking in parenthesis:
2019 Symetra Tour graduates
Patty Tavatanakit, Thailand (95)
Jillian Hollis, U.S. (98)
Leona Maguire, Ireland (100)
Esther Lee, U.S. (102)
LPGA Q-Series top 45 and ties
Yealimi Noh, U.S. (128)
Albane Valenzuela, Switzerland (135)
Jennifer Chang, U.S. (138)
Yui Kawamoto, Japan (137)
Haley Moore, U.S. (143)
Jiwon Jeon, South Korea (147)
Maia Schechter, U.S. (150)
Matilda Castren, Finland (154)
Linnea Johansson, Sweden (156)
Andrea Lee, U.S. (161)
Esther Henseleit, Germany (162)
Yujeong Son, South Korea (163)
Nuria Iturrioz, Spain (165)
Bianca Pagdanganan, Philippines (167)
Kyung Kim, U.S. (169)
The moves signal CBS’ bullishness on strengthening coverage during a time when the PGA Tour contract is being negotiated.
Continuing an extensive announce team overhaul, CBS Sports announced the hiring of Frank Nobilo and Trevor Immelman to full-time roles Tuesday, while Michelle Wie joins as a Masters digital team member.
The news arrives on the heels of Davis Love’s hiring after contract options were not picked up on longtime broadcasters Gary McCord and Peter Kostis.
Nobilo leaves Golf Channel after 15 years where he was an integral member of the Live From broadcasts as well as tournament coverage. In recent years, he has split time between CBS and Golf Channel at select tournaments, including major championships where he has taken the Amen Corner booth slot.
Trevor Immelman is a rising star in golf broadcasting who has worked a variety of roles for Golf Channel since 2016 while still playing some respectable golf in recent years. He will join the CBS team as an analyst on PGA Tour events as well as the Masters and PGA Championship, both CBS properties. The network also announced an expanded role for Mark Immelman, who has worked partial schedules for the network in recent years on top of his duties at Sirius/XM radio and as Director of Golf at Columbus State University.
Wie’s hiring comes after a successful first broadcasting stint during Golf Channel’s Solheim Cup coverage. The five-time LPGA Tour winner will be a digital contributor for now, though her hiring suggests the network may be in line to pick up LPGA Tour coverage under the next PGA Tour-negotiated contract for both tours.
CBS also elevated Andrew Catalon to the role of lead announcer when Jim Nantz is not working events. A contributor to the network’s digital coverage since 2011, Catalon hosted several events in 2019 in between roles for CBS broadcasting NFL and college basketball.
The moves signal CBS’ bullishness not just on strengthening coverage, but also in signaling that the network has big plans beyond 2021 when the current PGA Tour contract expires.
The LPGA’s Mike Whan laid out details to unite the LPGA with the struggling European tour and players voted in overwhelming favor.
At the Ladies European Tour’s player meeting on Tuesday in Spain, Mike Whan laid out the details of a plan that would unite the LPGA with the struggling European tour.
Players voted in overwhelming favor of the 50-50 proposal.
Spain’s Azahara Munoz, who keeps up membership on both the LPGA and LET, said it almost sounded too good to be true.
“(Players) literally couldn’t believe how good everything Mike was telling us,” said Munoz. “Pretty much there nothing to lose from us. Nothing.”
Whan told the LPGA board that he believed it was the tour’s responsibility to help boost the tour in Europe. While there likely won’t be an immediate pathway to the LPGA in terms of automatic cards like the Symetra Tour, he sees that day coming. The initial move would provide access to LPGA Q-Series.
“Two teams, joining for one common purpose, will create opportunities we simply could not have pursued on our own,” said LET Board Chair Marta Figueras-Dotti in a statement. “At its foundation, this joint venture is about creating opportunities for our members to pursue their passion, and their careers as professional athletes. In just the 60 days since we began working on this joint venture, we have already seen a dramatic impact on our LET Tour schedule – an impact that will be a positive result for virtually all of our LET Members.”
Earlier today it was announced that the tournament prize fund for the Andalucia Costa del Sol Open de Espana would double for 2020 from €300,000 to €600,000.
In addition, the Ladies European Tour Order of Merit will be renamed the ‘Race to Costa del Sol’, with an additional bonus pool of €250,000, split between the top three finishers.
“I want to make sure the European Tour players know that this is not some American growth strategy,” the LPGA commissioner said last week at the CME Group Tour Championship. “I’m not expecting to make money at the LET.”
Munoz competes primarily on the LPGA, but said she wanted to see European players have more opportunities.
“When I go back to Europe and play, you can tell that they haven’t been competing,” said Munoz. “Some of them have a second job. it’s so hard to compete at a high level not playing.”
In 2008 the LET had 28 tournaments. In 2017 it dropped to 15 events.
This year’s schedule includes 20 tournaments, but three of those are jointly sanctioned by the LPGA: AIG Women’s British Open, Evian Championship, Ladies Scottish Open. They’ll play for almost $15 million this season, though roughly $10 million comes from those three co-sanctioned tournaments. The LPGA competed for $70.2 million this season.
“I think by coming together and providing some pathway to the LPGA … we engage country federations throughout Europe who have money to spend on women’s sport,” said Whan, “but they need a – they need to make sure that that path can lead to Olympic athletes and people that can live on the top of the Rolex world rankings. And they know that path to the LPGA is required to do that.”
Whan compared the LET’s current state with how the LPGA looked in 2009 before he came on board.
“The majority of the tour is very grateful for this offer, that’s for sure,” said Beth Allen, an American who 2016 Player of the Year title in Europe and continues to compete there full time.
Beth Ann Nichols breaks down the LPGA players who have made the most money each season throughout history.
NAPLES, Fla. – On the eve of the biggest payday in the history of women’s golf – $1.5 million – we take a look at the LPGA’s most lucrative seasons. Not even a victory tomorrow from Jin Young Ko would top Lorena Ochoa’s 2007 season, when the World Golf Hall of Famer won eight tournaments and finished second five times. Ochoa banked $4,364,994 that year, the most of any player in LPGA history.
Yani Tseng came the closest to Ochoa in 2011, when she earned $2,921,713. Tseng triumphed seven times that year, winning two major titles and finishing runner-up twice.
Ko, the 2019 Rolex LPGA Player of the Year, came into the final event with $2,714,281. While she can’t catch Ochoa, a second-place finish at the CME would make Ko the second player to break the $3 million mark. A victory would get her to $4,214,281.
Ko won two majors this season and has a chance to join Annika Sorenstam as the only players in LPGA history to break 69 in scoring. The World No. 1 surged up the leaderboard on Saturday with a 66. Second place at the CME gets a $480,000 paycheck.
Annika Sorenstam ranks third on the all-time list with $2,863,904 in 2002. She won 11 times that year and finished runner-up on three occasions.
Mickey Wright owns the LPGA record for most wins in a season. She won 13 times in 1963 and earned $31,269.
And what about Nancy Lopez’s incredible 1978 rookie season, when she won nine times? She collected $189,814 for her efforts that year.
Take a look at the LPGA’s annual money leaders throughout the years.
Despite players being constantly surrounded by competitors, life on the LPGA can be incredibly lonely.
Karen Stupples makes a living talking about golf, but she’s actually quite shy. To escape the bullying she sometimes endured at school back in England and enter a world where her own creativity and drive could blossom, Stupples shoved a couple of clubs into her backpack and rode her bike five miles down the road to Princes Golf Club, where the practice ground was tucked away from chatty grown-ups and peace and quiet prevailed.
For Stupples, the solitary nature of golf was a natural fit.
“I’m a firm believer that whether a player is successful or not on tour,” said Stupples, “is how comfortable they are with that loneliness.”
There are no teammates in professional golf. Players are constantly surrounded by competitors, and it takes effort to make friends. Even winning can be lonely.
When the hugs and handshakes and press conferences are over, the victor often walks out of the clubhouse to the startling realization that the tour is gone. The traveling circus has packed up and moved on and, unless family is on the road, there are times the winner is left standing alone with the trophy.
Karen Stupples working as an on-course announcer for the Golf Channel during the Ricoh Women’s British Open. (Photo: David Cannon/Getty Images)
“I think I felt more lonely when I played well,” said Na Yeon Choi, a nine-time winner on the LPGA, including the 2012 U.S. Women’s Open.
Being alone, of course, isn’t the same as feeling lonely. How a player builds her support system for this nomadic life can have a deep impact on performance and longevity.
“I think far more people struggle coming out on tour because of the lack of community and loneliness,” said 27-year-old Amy Olson, “than from a technical problem in their swing or their putting stroke.”
Growing up different
Angel Yin showed prodigious talent at an age when some kids are still learning how to color inside the lines. By 7 she was competing in tournaments and began separating herself from “normal everyday kid life” to focus on the future. For the exceptional, the battle with loneliness can begin early.
“We’re friends with competitors, but you can’t just go cry on their shoulder because maybe they played worse than you,” said Yin. “You’ve got your mom, but this is your job. You have to accept it. Sometimes you just hold it inside, but you want to let it out.”
Yin, one of the longest players in the women’s game, loves to make people laugh. She’s a cut-up during interviews and doesn’t appear to be an introvert, though she says she tips that way.
“I close myself off,” she said. “I disappear for a while.”
It’s easy to do when more than half the year is spent on the road, away from friends and family. In high school, classes forced her to connect with people. As a professional, she had to make a choice. She chose not to connect. She has since realized the need to change.
“I enjoy being alone,” said the 20-year-old American. “There’s nothing wrong with that, but we do need friends in life.”
More than a number
Mo Martin lines up a putt at the 2018 Volunteers of America LPGA Texas Classic at Old American Golf Club on May 5, 2018 in The Colony, Texas. (Photo: Darren Carroll/Getty Images)
Mo Martin calls it “performance-based communication.” Win a tournament and your world explodes, like when she won the 2014 AIG Women’s British Open at Royal Birkdale. Calls and texts poured in along with interview requests. Miss a cut, on the other hand, and nobody wants to talk to you.
“I think that’s hard mental health-wise to balance,” said Martin, 36, who is rehabbing a back injury. “You get a lot of exposure when you’re doing well, but when you’re not doing well, you’re either criticized or ignored.”
Vision54 performance coaches Pia Nilsson and Lynn Marriott call the human side of golf the forgotten piece. So much of being a professional is centered around results. Players sometimes feel reduced to a pile of numbers.
“The real you is your values,” said Nilsson. “I think it’s more important today than ever … to create a support group around them (focusing) more on who they are than what they do.”
Angela Stanford, 41, said the first time she really felt alone in the game was this year when she dealt with her first serious injury and came back playing poorly.
At least on a team, said the TCU grad, you’re rehabbing in a facility with other players and sitting in the dugout or the bench during games.
“Here, it’s you,” she said. “So when you’re not playing or you’re not playing good and your phone is really quiet, I think that’s when it’s hard.”
Oftentimes fellow players, even friends, don’t know what to say when someone falls into a slump.
“You don’t want to ask them why,” said Stanford. “It’s a weird dynamic. I’ve had a couple of friends that have struggled. I’m learning all you can say is ‘I’m thinking about you. It hasn’t passed me that you are struggling.’
“That’s been hard because I haven’t had a lot of people say that to me.”
At times, the silence was as painful as the injured rib.
Wired but not connected
As the LPGA skews younger, more and more players are growing into adulthood while traveling the globe chasing a dream. And much of their lives, at least a version of it, is available for the world to see on social media.
“There’s this outer persona that so many are required to keep up, that’s a mismatch back to who they are,” said Marriott.
The Vision54 coaches help players learn how to run the show in this virtual world “and not let it run you.”
“These young golfers are addicted to social media,” said Marriott. “Literally, they can’t get off of it.”
It’s about redirecting daily habits so that the phone isn’t the first thing that comes out of the golf bag and consumes a player’s attention all through lunch. Helping players learn how to connect and squashing the notion that you can’t open up and care for the competition.
Rookie Charlotte Thomas decided in September to quit social media for the rest of the season. She doesn’t have any contractual obligations to be on Twitter or Instagram, and while she feels guilty about not interacting with sponsors and fans, it’s more important that she stops comparing herself to others.
Little by little, it was eating away at her joy.
The LPGA looks so glamorous in perfectly edited photos and carefully chosen words. But the reality behind this hashtag life is that most players travel the world but rarely see it.
Many never make it beyond the hotel and the golf course.
Nilsson and Marriott want players to start thinking about what they can do off the golf course that will give them energy before they turn professional. Choi, 31, for example, learned how to bring people together by cooking South Korean specialties in her hotel room. She also spent time in big-box stores like Target, Walmart and Home Depot talking to workers so she could strengthen her English skills away from the spotlight.
Paula Creamer said the unconditional love of her dogs, first Studley and now Penny, helped her on weeks she traveled alone and reminded her to see the big picture after a tough day.
In Gee Chun lets loose with ice hockey during the offseason and took up drawing last spring. Being active helps the two-time major winner forget how far away she is from home.
Christina Kim during the first round of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club. (Photo: Thomas J. Russo/USA TODAY Sports)
When Christina Kim asks, “Are you OK?” it’s not a flippant question. She wants to know. Truly. As a person who has been open about her battle with depression and thoughts of suicide, she’d do anything to help someone else avoid going down the same road.
“A lot of that was out of loneliness,” said Kim, “but a lot of that was out of my own stubbornness, my own inability to ask for help, my inability to realize that I needed help.”
So many players on tour are the breadwinner for their families, said Kim. They are the CEO of their business, and when problems arise, it’s not always easy to share those concerns.
“You almost feel like you have the future of the world depending on you,” said Kim, 35. “So you have to be strong. You can’t allow your emotions to take over.”
Kim appreciates the blue-chip athletes, like Michael Phelps, who have been open about anxiety and depression.
“The fact that Michael Phelps came out and said that he sees a psychiatrist,” said Kim, “you’re an Adonis! You’re one of the greatest athletes of all time. What could be wrong with you?”
Phelps’ admission provided a lot of perspective for Kim.
“I learned that a lot of what was going on with me went back to the fact that our bodies are working 24 hours a day to keep us from crumbling under the pressure,” said Kim. “When you’re constantly trying to perfect yourself, you’re run ragged. Just like a car runs out of gas.”
Double-edged sword
After someone gushed to Martin, “Oh my god, you have the best job in the world!” her uncle, who was at an LPGA tournament for the first time, looked at her and lovingly said, “Your life sucks.”
Martin laughed and said both statements were true. The opportunities can be extraordinary. But she misses out on a lot, too.
Stanford often tells people she’d like to drive a school bus when golf is over. Sleep in her own bed, same schedule every day, summers and weekends off. She might hate it, but the normalcy of it sure sounds nice.
Missing the weddings of friends and the births of their children, said Martin, becomes part of the job.
“I don’t consider myself to be a selfish person,” she said. “But to play this game at the highest level is very selfish. You have to maintain this certain space. … That is the loneliness part of it.”
Or the beauty of it, depending on whom you ask and where they are in the journey. Gwk
This story originally appeared in the October issue of Golfweek magazine. Click here to subscribe.
Stacy Lewis thought her season was done after she pulled out of the Solheim Cup with a stress fracture in her rib. She didn’t think the CME Group Tour Championship was even a possibility given that, at the time, she was 54th on the field list and would miss the next six events.
Her caddie, Travis Wilson, called her last week after running all the numbers. Said he thought she’d remain in the top 60 and have a place in the field.
“What?” asked Lewis. “How is that possible?
Lewis, 34, has gone into the season-ender No. 1 in the Race to the Globe CME points list and now last at No. 60. But here’s the twist: For the first time, the 60th player in the field can win the largest check in women’s golf history just the same as the first. No more points reset. No limitations. It’s anyone’s game.
So how long has Lewis been practicing to win the $1.5 million?
“Uh, the last five days,” she said with a laugh.
It’s only been in the last two to three and a half weeks that Lewis finally felt pain-free in her day-to-day life.
“I just had to let the bone heal,” said Lewis, “so there’s not really anything you can do.”
The former World No. 1 took in two games of the World Series and flew to the Bahamas to support husband Gerrod Chadwell’s college event. Chadwell coaches the women’s golf team at Houston.
Part of the reason Lewis wants to play next week in Naples, Florida, is to set herself up in better position next year to get into the no-cut events in Thailand and Singapore. It’ll also give her a better idea of what to work on during the offseason.
“I don’t have very high expectations,” said Lewis, “and I don’t know how I will play. … But I’m tired of sitting around.”
