This season has obviously ended for myself, teammates and every one student-athlete in America.
We were just getting the ball rolling, we had played 3 events and was playing a practice round in Arizona when we got called back to LA saying there was no more golf to be played for the rest of the season. Ranked at number 1 in the country preparing for Nationals in May our whole team was in shock, non of it even felt real to us as we started a 6-hour journey back to LA. Things were changing by the hour and we had no clue what the next few days, weeks or months had to offer. Never would I have thought the next day I would be on a flight back to NZ… but I was. After finishing in the top 5 for the previous tournaments we had played, there was no doubt I was in the best, most consistent form of my life. I had Augusta National Womens Championship coming up in a few weeks and my eye on some very good results, however, a couple of days later I wouldn’t even be able to go and play a round in my backyard. These are the sad and frustrating results of Covid-19 but it has just made me realise that my life is much bigger than golf, in fact, everyones life is part of something much bigger and we should not and can not take anything that we have for granted because that can be taken away from us in a heartbeat. Being home during this time has been such a relief and I have been able to work on many other parts of my game and myself with all the extra time that is now on my plate.
I am approaching my senior year of college and I really think this was needed for me to be able to better plan my transition from college into professional golf. I have decided to do summer school this year (which will be online) and run from June-July which means I will now be graduating a semester earlier in May of next year! Most of you know that know me well enough know that I won’t be too happy that I won’t meet the legal age of 21 on my graduation day but I don’t think many people can say that they have graduated with a 4-year degree by the age of 20!
As of now, I will be in NZ till at least August but everything is all up in the air regarding summer tournaments and my schools’ decision to whether we stay online or go back to normal classes next semester. I am more than excited to get back out on the golf course next week and hope that the form I left America with is still there to do some damage around Kaiapoi!
I hope you are all safe and healthy!
Amelia