L.P.G.A. - Women Pioneers

Growing up a golfer in countries where it hasnt been done

- Keely Levins

THERE’S NO PERFECT FORMULA for creating a tour player, no list of requirements to check off in the development of a young golfer that will guarantee arrival to the pro ranks. Still, you would think there are a few necessary things. Easy access to a golf course, for one. Or the ability to hit off of grass. Or even just someone else’s path to use as a guideline. It’s the lack of these resources, and many others, that makes the fact the following four women have their LPGA Tour cards all the more impressive. Maria Torres, Laetitia Beck, Tiffany Chan and Olafia Kristinsdottir are from four very different parts of the world. Torres grew up in Puerto Rico, Beck in Israel, Chan in Hong Kong, and Kristinsdottir in Iceland. Each is the first woman from her respective country/territory to have earned an LPGA Tour card. In 2008, 121 international players from 26 countries were members of the LPGA Tour. This past season, 31 countries were represented, four more than on the PGA Tour. These women’s stories are different, but the same in that each was bold enough to dream of professional golf in a place where playing the game is not seen as a norm. Each is a pioneer, having navigated a unique route to the LPGA Tour.

OLAFIA KRISTINSDOTTIR

COUNTRY Iceland

AGE 25 ROOKIE YEAR 2017

PLAYING GOLF IN ICELAND MUST MEAN PRACTICING INDOORS A LOT. We have a short season, May to September. But it’s light all day in the summers. It was the most normal thing to switch to indoor practice, and all of a sudden we’re hitting into nets and putting on carpets to holes in the floor. Not until I came to the U.S. did I realize that was atypical.