RANCHO MIRAGE, CALIFORNIA | One of the best parts of the job is seeing them grow. The LPGA Tour has, for years, been about youth and moxie, teenaged winners and the fearlessness of youth. But if you’re out here long enough, you get to see the kids mature and develop. You get to witness the growth of a person, not just a pro. We’ve watched it with Lydia Ko, who we met as a precocious 15-year-old and who set every youngest-ever record on the books. Today, Lydia is an LPGA Tour leader, a board member who is a voice of wisdom at age 24.
We’ve seen it with the Kordas, who also won in their teens and who, now, have matured into seasoned champions, who win with panache and lose with dignity and grace.
And we’ve seen it with our latest major champion, Jennifer Kupcho, who hung on to win the final Chevron Championship played at Mission Hills Country Club. Despite a closing 74, a round that included five birdies and seven bogeys (although the last one, a three-putt bogey on 18, didn’t matter to the outcome), Kupcho not only defeated the field to become the second player in a row to make this major her first career LPGA Tour victory, she beat back her biggest challenger – her own volatility.
The knock on Kupcho has always been the knocks she puts on herself. When she first came out, she would bang her putter against her foot if she missed a 30-footer, a look that didn’t win her many friends among her peers or the fans who saw it. High expectations are one thing: flashes of temper on a semi-regular basis are far more destructive than good.
But whether it’s her newlywed status – Kupcho and her husband Jay Monahan, who caddies for Sarah Schmelzel, tied the knot in February – or a couple of years of maturity, the 24-year-old from Colorado seems to have found the right balance of fire and ice.
“I think I've matured a lot in the last year, and really ever since I've been out here,” she said. “I've been able to calm myself down a lot better. Obviously, I still have my spurts of anger. But I think that's how I get it out quickly and then move on. I think my whole mental game has gotten stronger.”
She seems to have found a level of peace that comes with building a balanced life, as well as tasting the bitter pill of humility.
“I think once I started putting myself in contention and not succeeding, I really worked with my swing coach. He's also really good with the mental game,” Kupcho said. “So just talking to him a lot about what's going through my mind all the time and trying to figure out how to process my way through that.
“Honestly, I think one of the biggest things I've fought over the last year and a half is everyone is out here cheering for Nelly our Lexi or someone else I'm playing with. I don't every hear, ‘Go, Jennifer,’ Kupcho said. “That was really special today, to have that. To have my caddie and his friends and all of my friends out here supporting me, it's really special.”
Everyone can be happy when they win. Finding a balance in yourself when you struggle is the key to long-term success in every profession, but especially one as intense as professional golf.
Kupcho has even been able to embrace the one event she hoped she wouldn’t be asked about again, the one that propelled her onto the world stage – the first Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
“It's surreal to be able to say that I was the last person (to win The Chevron Championship) here (at Mission Hills) and first (woman to win) at Augusta. Hopefully that isn't a continuing pattern. We aren't stopping a lot of places soon. So hopefully I just keep playing. But it's really exciting to be able to say that I was the last.”
She watched the ANWA on Saturday before firing a 64 in the desert on Saturday. And on Sunday, she painted her fingernails green in honor of that win. When asked about embracing the Augusta victory, she was reflective, mature, and honest in her answer.
“I'm not sure I've actually embraced it, but I think I started to become more okay with it when I started getting closer to winning out here,” she said. “I think that's the biggest thing about it all, was I kept getting asked about this Augusta (win) three years later. It's like, ‘have you not seen what I've been doing out here?’
“Not that Augusta is not special, but now I'm a major champion. To add that to the list is something I've been wanting for a few years now.”
They grow up so fast. It’s special to watch and an honor to see.
