Recap of season 2023

Wow, what a year it’s been! At this time last year, I didn’t have any status on a major golf tour, and now I have finished my rookie year on the LPGA. I have learned so much, and I’m much better prepared for what’s to come. Here I’ll share my insights to the year, the good and the bad, and hope you get a better understanding for me and what it’s been like for me to be a rookie on the LPGA.

During the qualifiers last year, it was my goal to get Epson Tour status. That’s where I felt comfortable to start playing and I thought I could possibly play some good golf there and contend for wins if I played well while also growing and learning as a professional golfer. I have still to this day not played in a single Epson Tour event… As I finished in the top20 at Q-Series and got category 14 status, I wasn’t allowed to play on the Epson Tour, making it impossible for me to play any competitive golf after the qualifiers until my LPGA debut in March at Superstition Mountain in Arizona. Looking back, I wasn’t quite ready for the start and not very comfortable where I was in the beginning of the year. My college coach used to tell us to get out of our comfort zones because that’s where we grow the most… Let me tell you, I’ve been outside my comfort zone this year. My driver broke early on and I spent the first 3 tournaments figuring out what driver to use. On the LPGA, the first few events before the first reshuffle are the most important for the bottom half of the priority list as that decides if we get into more events in the summer and the first majors. I didn’t have the best start to the year so I ended up playing only 12 events this year. I wish I knew what I know now and that I could have gotten more opportunities to play in more events, maybe on the Epson Tour. No matter what, it has been an amazing learning year where I’m finally feeling comfortable and much more confident in myself, my abilities, what I can expect from the events and all people around, and just knowing how a tournament works. I had never been to an LPGA event until I was there playing myself, and there are so many new things to learn. During the first event, I had to ask Linnea Ström and Maja Stark what I had to do that first Monday morning… Was I expected to sign in somewhere or could I just get started practicing and going out for a practice round or how did this work? I was alone in all this, but have grown tremendously because of it.

Another aspect to pro golf is to have a caddie. I’m still working on this part and figuring out how I want it, what kind of person could help me, and what to expect from a caddie. I have seen the value of having a great caddie to take off a big load off my shoulders so I can just focus on playing, but I’ve also seen it hurting my game. I started out working with one caddie for 3 events before starting to have local caddies to learn about myself and what I wanted or not from a caddie. This has been a great way for me to figure it out, and I think I’m getting closer to truly enjoying having a caddie there to help me. I felt like it was a burden in the beginning, to pay someone more money than all my other costs together that didn’t help me, or even worse, created mental blocks for me while playing. As we are required to have caddies on the LPGA, it is super important to learn how you want this relationship, and I finally feel like I’m in a good spot knowing what I want and expect from a caddie.

I have loved spending time with my host families every week. I have so much to thank them all for. I feel like this part is often overlooked by fans and people not knowing how we live, but for me, my host families made this year so much more enjoyable. As I travel on my own, the families took me in as one of their own and treated me so well, with respect and just as another human being. We spend all day on the golf course where we’re the main characters and our scores define us, and it was nice to come home and be just a human being where they saw me as a person before a score and supported me no matter how I played. A huge thank you to all that have supported me this year, starting with the host families that have filled my weeks with so much joy.

Golf wise, I don’t think I’m very far away from the absolute top. Mentally, I’ve worked through quite a bit this year, but the golf is actually not far away. I have continuously scored my lowest round of my life in my off weeks, including a 10 under 62 at Round Hill GCC In Walnut Creek, CA. I give myself opportunities on top of opportunities to score really well also in tournament play but haven’t quite captured it, and that’s okay. I’ve been super frustrated not knowing how to change the mental aspect quicker, especially when the game is there. The tournament that comes to mind the most is Kroger Queen City Championship in Cincinnati, where I’m making the turn well inside the cut line and have 8 putts within 8 feet and I make 1. Putts for birdies and for pars where I constantly give myself chances and the balls simply didn’t want to go in. Where I feel I get tight, doubting the reads, sometimes put a great stroke on the ball and it lips-out (yes 3 of those 8 were complete lip-outs). Then the final putt on 18 for birdie to get inside the cut-line and other 360 lip-out. It has been so tough going through those days where you feel so gutted to miss out by one when you gave yourself so many opportunities. I have missed 5 cuts by one stroke this year. The marginals are so slim, and honestly I have felt very unlucky many times. Like getting a wrong ruling costing me 2 strokes in Arizona to miss by one. Like hitting a microphone a foot off the green that bounced onto a grand stand and then 40 yards backwards to an impossible lie in Arkansas to miss by one. Like hitting my own lost ball from a practice round during tournament play when they were in the same area with the same marking. Lessons, more-so mentally than anything, that some things you won’t be able to control, all you can do is your best efforts at every shot. I believe I have to get better at in-between distances, to shorten the swing or alter the tempo and feeling comfortable hitting all those shots but mainly with the shorter irons as I find myself having those a lot on tour. I also think I can get better from really far distances and lag putting on the very fast greens. It has been an adjustment playing on such amazing and fast greens as we have on the LPGA, it is a treat but also something I have to get better at during tournament weeks.

I have loved getting to know all the people I’ve met this year. From sponsors, to host families, fans, LPGA staff, other players and caddies, physios, pro-am participants, members at clubs, my team and support group at Vasatorp and Monarch Dunes, volunteers etc. It has been so much fun and I’m so happy for the opportunity to play on the LPGA Tour this year. It might not have gone the exact way I wanted, but I’ve grown and had lots of fun on the way. Now I’m prepping for LPGA Q-series and LET Q-school and hoping for dual status next year and more playing opportunities. Thank you all for your support and I hope for another amazing year on the links in 2024.