LPGA Drive On Championship

What a week! I just finished my first ever LPGA event and it was so much more fun than I could ever imagine. As I walked down from the parking lot to the range the first day I felt so much pride and honor to be there, to be a player on the LPGA Tour. As so many of you have been asking, I will do a run-down of each day of my first week on tour- there’s so much more to it than just playing golf, which you soon will understand :)

Monday: I started the morning with a workout in the local gym and then had a long stretch session together with people in the community where I lived (right by the course). Once I got to the course, I met Linnea Ström and Maja Stark the first thing I did on the putting green and they told me kind of what to do with registration and how it all works. I got registered, went to my locker where we had gotten amazing rookie gifts from the LPGA as well as golf balls and gloves for the week from Titleist/FJ. I started my practice on the green and had a shorter putting practice with focus on starting the ball on the line and making some short putts. Once I was done there, I went down to the only empty spot on the range, which happened to be next to Paula Creamer. I kept doing my thing and after a few minutes, Paula was done behind me and up came Nelly Korda. In front of me was major winner Jennifer Kupcho. I was in good company to say the least, and pretty surreal first day on the range. I had lunch with Linnea Ström and her family and caddie, before heading out and driving north to Scottsdale where I had a photoshoot and film recording with PXG. They got me ready with hair and makeup and I got to be on film with Rob Riggle. It was superfun and then later on I went down south to meet my family for dinner. Mom and dad had flown into town to see my first tour start and grandpa and his brother Edd had just arrived as well. They were staying together with my aunt Becky and her family. We had a great night together and then I went back home to my host family right by Superstition Mountain GC.

Tuesday: Official Practice round day. I was up and out at the tournament site at 6:30 in the morning to be one of the first ones out there and play quickly. By 8:45 o’clock I was done with the front 9 and then the back nine took forever. As I had already played the course twice in the previous week I didn’t feel the need of playing all holes on the back so my caddie and I walked through the rest of the course to check specific lines off the tee and build up a game plan together. We were back in by the club house around 10, and I went to the media center to get my professional golf pictures/headshots for the LPGA done with Getty Images. After the photoshoot, I talked to my college coach Holly on the phone for a few minutes which was amazing, and then went to my first press conference with the LPGA. It was a rookie interview that I did together with Lucy Li and Alexa Pano. The link for that press conference is here! Then I had lunch before heading out to have a great practice. I focused a lot on high and soft wedges as the greens had been super firm during the week. I worked out after the practice and then went back home to my host family. I had dinner together with them that night which was super nice to sit down and get to know them better.

Wednesday: pro-am day that I didn’t play in meant a practice day and half off-day. It poured down rain so basically no-one wanted to practice but me. I had the entire putting green to myself for about an hour before Lexi Thompson joined me to warm up for the pro-am. After my great putting session, I went to the range where I worked with Patrick Jonsson from the Swedish Performance Team. We went through my wedge technique and then my wedge yardages, playing some fun games on how accurate I could be. After wedges, we did some iron work before moving to the driver. The Callaway rep also came over as I wanted to switch shaft in the driver that didn’t work well for me. I started to stripe the ball with the new shaft even though I won’t put it in the bag right away- we’re still rocking the old M5 driver. Cool for you to know though is that I switched my putter just a few days before the tournament. I use the Bat Attack from PXG now which was so balanced and it feels like it cannot get off line. I absolutely love it! After the very long range session I realized I was almost late for lunch and my next “duties” for the day so I went inside to get something to eat and then left to go up to Scottsdale again to meet up with my family. We watched a spring ball game between the Giants and Texas Rangers, super fun to watch them play in real life. I went back to the course after the baseball game to pick up some things from the locker, went to the gym to have a quick workout session and then home for the night. My host, Susie and Rich made risotto that night, one of my favorite dishes, and we had a great time together before I went to bed.

Thursday: First time to tee it off on the LPGA Tour. I was in the last morning tee time at 9:01 so I got to the course about 2 hours prior to have some breakfast. Before that I had been rolling out and done some stretching back home at my host family. I sat down with Louise Ridderström and her caddie Smokey (probably the two most easy going and talkative people I have met) for breakfast which was perfect for me that day. I began my warmup an hour and 5 minutes prior to my tee time as per usual and went through my routine. Mid-warm up I could hear two very recognizable laughs from my dad and Jackie (my extra family in Florida). I felt such a joy that they all finally got to meet in person and not just over a zoom or FaceTime call. As the hour passed, it was time for me to walk up to the first tee and it was an amazing feeling and experience. I was fairly calm compared to what I thought I would be and started off with a great drive down the right side of the fairway. I pared the first two holes and then came the third hole where I made a tripple… I hit the first shot left and was really close to the desert. I had to stand in the desert on some rocks but the ball was sitting up at a pretty good lie in the rough. I had 157 yards to the pin and I decided to go for it. I had about 80 yards of desert to cover to then be able to run the ball all the way up to the green. As I hit the shot, I slipped and thereby chunked the ball straight into the desert. I decided to take an unplayable as we found the ball in a cactus and I wanted to play the ball from previous lie. As I wanted to confirm the rule to not take a faulty drop, I called over the rules official just as I have been told in the rookie orientations to do. To be fair, it was my first tour start, and I was not about to do something wrong and be disqualified even though I knew the rule for sure. My question was if I got a club length from the previous spot where my ball was or if I had to drop it as close as I could to that point. It made a huge difference as that club length would have gotten my stance to a flat point in the grass instead of the desert and standing on rocks. The referee proceeds to tell me I have to drop it at the same spot. I was very happy I called her over as I was about to take that club length of release and thereby do wrong compared to what she said. I end up in my old divot and an even worse lie and can only chip out. From there I hit a wedge to 10 feet and missed the putt for a tripple bogey. As we have teed off on the next hole (a par 3) and I put it to 5 ft she drives up to me and tells me she was wrong and that it was a misunderstanding. She said that I in fact should have had that club length and that she didn’t realize it until it was too late, then she apologized right before we went up on the green. Filled with so many question marks and frustration, I now had to make a 5ft slider for birdie to take back one stroke. Focus on the task and the birdie was recorded on the score card. In one way it was probably a good thing it happened because after that point, I let go of all the hesitations and things holding me back, and I just let it go. Full power and full focus to do my best. I had an amazing crowd cheering me on and lifting me up as I made par saves and putts dropping for birdies. I finished the round 1 under par after making 5 birdies, one bogey and that tripple. Definitely had the loudest crowd out there and it was so much fun. I had some lunch after the round with my dear friend Carolina and her mom Karin, before heading out to watch the last few holes of Linnea Ström. Then I practiced for a little bit and went back home to get ready for dinner. We had dinner at this amazing country BBQ place in Queen Creek called San Tan Flat. Everybody from my cheering crew that day were there and we had an amazing time together before I went back home.

Friday: Second day and I started off last off of 10 in the afternoon wave at 2:01. It was incredibly slow out there. I had a hard time to get anything going. We had to wait on the tee for 10 minutes at times for the group in front of us to get out of the way and any momentum I created was difficult to maintain. I will definitely have to learn how to manage this a whole lot better because slow play will keep happening and I cannot let it bother me. However, I got to a slow start on the back and was two over on the back. I knew I had to make a run for it on the front and started to play amazing golf. I gave myself so many chances for birdies but very few seemed to find the cup. I had 5 birdie opportunities in a row within 12 feet the first 5 holes whereas only one got in. Then I had a really tough 3putt on 6 that made it kind of impossible for me to make the cut, to then birdie 7 and 9 and just be outside the cut line. We finished the round in the dark and they suspended play on the final hole whereas we decided to finish it with the big lights around the green. Disappointed, yet proud, and so many different feelings and thoughts went through my mind the next few minutes. I was done for the week with tournament play. I went back home and took a shower before going to dinner at my aunt’s place. Family was the only people I wanted to be around at that time and I was so grateful to have them there.

Saturday & Sunday: I spent the Friday night at my aunt’s place and in the morning I did some swimming in their pool before going back to the course for some food, practice, talk with the mental coach, as well as watching other Swedish players who had made the cut. It truly sucked not playing that day, but I guess that’s part of life every once in a while as a tour pro on the LPGA; you win some and you lose more. The best players in the world don’t even win more than they lose. I did learn a lot form this week though, and super eager to get going for the next event. The rest of the weekend I hung out with my parents before they took off to go back to Sweden as well as doing some practice each day and getting ready for the next event.

Even though I missed the cut this week, it is one I will never forget. I had so much fun. Way more fun than I ever thought it would be to play on the LPGA Tour. I am so lucky to be in this position and to be able to live my dream while having people around me supporting me and loving on me. It truly was the most amazing time of my life this far. I look forward to this year and all the memories I will create and all the people I will meet.