Speaker 1: I miss a green, for example, I'm already upset.
Speaker 2: When I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset.
Speaker 2: And when I find my ball.
Speaker 1: In a bride egg Friday Egg, the dreaded Frida Egg,
Speaker 1: Frida Egg, Frida egg Egg Frida Egg, bride egg Lie,
Speaker 1: I'm about ready to run off of the hump. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the Friday Egg Golf Podcast. I'm Garrett Morrison and
Speaker 1: the Augusta National Women's Amateur is back. There will be
Speaker 1: a stacked field at Champions Retreat and Augusta National next week,
Speaker 1: and we're here to tell you about a few players
Speaker 1: to watch out for. We'll also talk with one of
Speaker 1: the biggest stars in the field, Stanford University's Mega Ghane.
Speaker 1: Mega is one of the top players in college and
Speaker 1: you may recall her from the time she contended for
Speaker 1: a US Women's Open at Olympic Club in twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1: She was actually in that final, pairing with Lexi Thompson
Speaker 1: and the eventual champion, Yucusaso. We're very excited to speak
Speaker 1: with Mega. We've wanted to have her on the pod
Speaker 1: for a while, but before getting into anwa we thought
Speaker 1: we'd check in with the LPGA Tour and just see
Speaker 1: what's been going on there. So all of that is
Speaker 1: coming up, but first let's talk about golf in Ireland. Now,
Speaker 1: if you've been following our explorations content, which I hope
Speaker 1: you have because it's been really great in my opinion,
Speaker 1: you know that the Island of Ireland is a golfer's paradise.
Speaker 1: It has over four hundred courses, one third of the
Speaker 1: world's true links courses, and exceptional championship layouts surrounded by
Speaker 1: epic landscapes. Those championship courses include Royal Port Rush and
Speaker 1: Royal County Down, both in Northern Ireland, and Royal County
Speaker 1: Down is going to be hosting the Amjin Irish Open
Speaker 1: this September, that is this year, so that's going to
Speaker 1: be really fun to watch, and then the Open Championship
Speaker 1: is going back to Royal Port Rush in twenty twenty five,
Speaker 1: so some big tournaments coming up. There, lots of reasons
Speaker 1: to get out to Northern Ireland specifically. Now in addition
Speaker 1: to golf, one of the remarkable things about the Island
Speaker 1: of Ireland is the hospitality that accompanies any golf experience
Speaker 1: out there. The nineteenth hole is just the joyful ending
Speaker 1: point of any day of golf out there, and where
Speaker 1: better to do that than the confines of a great
Speaker 1: pub where you can relax after a great eighteen holes
Speaker 1: at one of Ireland's many world class golf courses. So
Speaker 1: if you're interested in an Irish golf experience, go to
Speaker 1: Ireland dot com slash golf and book your trip today.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get into some LPGA tour golf before
Speaker 1: talking about and wha here to discuss everything with me
Speaker 1: today is fridayg Golf's project manager, Merch Czar and Women's
Speaker 1: golf correspondent. It's a quite a list of titles there,
Speaker 1: Meg Atkins, Meg, how are you doing today?
Speaker 3: I'm doing good. Garrett, good to be here. And yes,
Speaker 3: we all wear mini hats at Frida Egg. I'm not
Speaker 3: the only multi multi hyphen it here. So excited to
Speaker 3: talk some golf with you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're we're going to do some travel next week.
Speaker 1: We're getting out of the house and going to Augusta.
Speaker 1: We're both going to be covering and as we did
Speaker 1: last year, so we thought we'd get together and you know,
Speaker 1: do a little bit of preview of that tournament. But
Speaker 1: while we're doing that, we thought we would talk about
Speaker 1: what's been going on in the LPGA Tour season so far,
Speaker 1: because it's really been pretty interesting. So we're going to
Speaker 1: do a couple of storylines here, two storylines, major storylines
Speaker 1: from this season of LPGA Golf. So I'm going to
Speaker 1: turn it over to you, Meg. What's your first storyline
Speaker 1: that people should be paying attention to on the LPGA
Speaker 1: Tour so far this year.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's it's the big names showing up.
Speaker 3: You know. The start of the season is it's a
Speaker 3: little bit disjointed just with the nature of the schedule,
Speaker 3: you know, time off after the initial tournaments to go
Speaker 3: to Asia and then time off after Asia for travel
Speaker 3: and whatnot. But the players have managed to make this
Speaker 3: you know, kind of choppy start to this season really interesting.
Speaker 3: It's been We've had a couple of playoff wins for
Speaker 3: Nellie Korda, Lydia Co's won and is now on the
Speaker 3: cusp of a Hall of Fame. Berth Patty t has
Speaker 3: also gotten back into the winner circle after a long
Speaker 3: long break there, and then you have Hannah Green Souh
Speaker 3: all major winners, the exception being Bailey Tarti who won
Speaker 3: in China, so the big names.
Speaker 1: Are well toward the top, and the US win is
Speaker 1: open or something fairly recently, right, I remember her name
Speaker 1: popping up, I forget where.
Speaker 4: Yeah, she played.
Speaker 3: She played great at pebble and that was kind of
Speaker 3: my first introductioner. But you know, Georgia's standout player and
Speaker 3: for her win, I think she went seven under through
Speaker 3: her last eleven holes to kind of just take that title.
Speaker 3: So what I've been hoping for and wanting for the
Speaker 3: past few seasons is kind of to catch a break
Speaker 3: with injuries and with everyone's kind of games not really
Speaker 3: aligning the big names, and we've got that now. It's
Speaker 3: awesome to see Nelly knock off too early wins. I think,
Speaker 3: you know, the the longer the storyline goes for Lydia,
Speaker 3: with this Hall of Fame birth on the line every
Speaker 3: every tournament she enters, that's intriguing storyline too. So, you know,
Speaker 3: really a great start for the LPGA season when they
Speaker 3: don't really set it up to be to start off
Speaker 3: with the momentum with how the schedule is, but you know,
Speaker 3: really really fun finishes when that continued over on Sunday
Speaker 3: with Nellie's win over Rhinotoole in just crazy conditions and
Speaker 3: win at Palace Verdes. So you know, now that we
Speaker 3: kind of wrapped up the first part and are looking
Speaker 3: at the majors on on the on the horizon, I
Speaker 3: think for Nelly, you know, the expectations just get ramped
Speaker 3: up even more on Okay, when are we going to
Speaker 3: get that second major? So you know, in about three
Speaker 3: weeks she'll she'll have the chance at the Chevron in
Speaker 3: Houston and then we'll roll right into the rest of
Speaker 3: the major schedule and the real meat of this season.
Speaker 3: But really, I mean, I can't stress it enough how
Speaker 3: entertaining some of these finishes have been, even if you've
Speaker 3: had to stay up late to watch or you know,
Speaker 3: not the easiest to find some of these some of
Speaker 3: these tournaments on the broadcasts. But yeah, it's it's been
Speaker 3: a fun start, I think, I mean, honestly, outside of
Speaker 3: the players, I think the finishes on the LPGA side
Speaker 3: have been much more exciting and with more intriguing storylines
Speaker 3: than on the PGA side of things. And that's with
Speaker 3: you know, not so not so exciting courses, a lot
Speaker 3: of travel, and not exactly a smooth start to the season.
Speaker 1: Schedule wise, Yeah, kind of a herky jerky start, but
Speaker 1: this has been something that we've been talking about for
Speaker 1: a couple of years now. That's just the way this
Speaker 1: start of the LPGA Tour season is in January, February, March.
Speaker 1: It really does seem to settle in in the month
Speaker 1: of March and then we're kind of onto major season.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure I love the cadence as it is,
Speaker 1: but there have been good tournaments and that has really
Speaker 1: kind of carried the day so far. Nellie Corda definitely,
Speaker 1: you know, starting to live up to the hype I
Speaker 1: want to say, although it's not just hype around here.
Speaker 1: It's always been legitimate. You know, she is a genuinely
Speaker 1: amazing ball striker, but she maybe hasn't one at the
Speaker 1: rate that we've expected, and part of that is because
Speaker 1: of some health issues, some injury issues that she's been
Speaker 1: grappling with for the past couple of years. But she
Speaker 1: really does seem to be in dominant form right now.
Speaker 1: Her win at Palace Verades it was very impressive for
Speaker 1: a number of reasons. One was that the conditions on
Speaker 1: the last day, as you mentioned, were very, very tough
Speaker 1: and one of The one of the fun little side
Speaker 1: stories for me on that day was that were the
Speaker 1: things that the players were wearing. There was like lots
Speaker 1: of little creative ways to to shield themselves from the
Speaker 1: from the elements that you don't typically see male players.
Speaker 3: Deer medsen Spring our rare site, but always always a
Speaker 3: welcome site.
Speaker 1: It was fantastic. But in any case, she she was,
Speaker 1: you know, well ahead midway through the final round, then
Speaker 1: kind of lost it on the last couple of holes
Speaker 1: bogey bogie. But then you know, put her stamp very
Speaker 1: very assertively on that playoff. So you know, how how
Speaker 1: would you assess where Nellie's at right now?
Speaker 3: Yeah, And listen to her press conference afterwards, and she
Speaker 3: was actually asked, you know, how how do you stack
Speaker 3: up how you're playing right now to your peak, which
Speaker 3: I think everybody would consider that twenty twenty one season
Speaker 3: when Olympic gold, her major four titles and just top
Speaker 3: ten and I think, you know, almost every start it
Speaker 3: seemed like And for her she kind of joked, you know, well,
Speaker 3: it's been so long since that peak that I can't
Speaker 3: really compare the two. But I was impressed with her.
Speaker 3: Meant how she talked about mentally quickly venting about that finish,
Speaker 3: which you know was definitely put the momentum if you
Speaker 3: were if you were betting on that playoff, even with
Speaker 3: Nellie's accolades, definitely put the momentum in Ryan O'Toole's camp.
Speaker 3: She drained a long par put on eighteen to get
Speaker 3: herself two nine under then to meet Nellie. But you know,
Speaker 3: Nelly talked about, Yeah, I vented, kind of got it out.
Speaker 3: My coach said, all right, are you ready to go
Speaker 3: play now? And and she refocused herself, got on the
Speaker 3: tee and got it done and on the first hole there.
Speaker 3: So let's also not forget that this comes off of
Speaker 3: a seven week break. She didn't play in the Asian
Speaker 3: Swing at all, took some time off to do some
Speaker 3: traveling to Prague. Her sister Jess Corta had a baby,
Speaker 3: so playing the ant roll a little bit and it
Speaker 3: wasn't just the travel, but you know, she took she
Speaker 3: didn't touch a club for almost half of that seven weeks.
Speaker 3: So you know, I think one that bodes well to
Speaker 3: just not have you know, a whole lot of rest
Speaker 3: after that break. And then two, with with the the
Speaker 3: LPGA schedule, you know, maybe we're getting a fresher Nelly
Speaker 3: into this this bulk of this season, into the meat
Speaker 3: of the schedule where you know, the majors are going
Speaker 3: to come into fast Clip and then we're going to
Speaker 3: roll straight into Olympics and Solheim Cup. So if that,
Speaker 3: if we are seeing kind of Nelly start to peak,
Speaker 3: you know, maybe that break when we're talking at the
Speaker 3: end of the summer, if she's still playing, well, we're
Speaker 3: talking more about how how great that break was for
Speaker 3: her to stay fresh through the grind of the season.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get a second storyline.
Speaker 3: I kind of wrote about this a little bit in
Speaker 3: the newsletter last Friday. I think it's really interesting, and
Speaker 3: I'll offer up a caveat that. You know, the sport
Speaker 3: to sport comparison is never apples to apples, But if
Speaker 3: you've been paying attention to the overall, you know, sports landscape,
Speaker 3: you know that women's sports is having a moment here
Speaker 3: right now with just the popularity of basketball with Caitlyn
Speaker 3: Clark phenomenon, and then last week the new NWSL season started,
Speaker 3: and I wanted to kind of talk about women's sports
Speaker 3: in general because there really has not been a better
Speaker 3: time to be leading a women's sports league, and the
Speaker 3: time is quickly becoming now for Marcusman to capitalize on
Speaker 3: this momentum.
Speaker 4: And I want, you know, I think.
Speaker 3: It's it's helpful to look at other sports and how
Speaker 3: they have taken advantage and of you know, really kicked
Speaker 3: down the door in many ways, whether it be with
Speaker 3: expanding their leagues, with media deals, with viewership numbers, and
Speaker 3: how can golf kind of take a piece of that
Speaker 3: pie that, you know, and take advantage of what's going
Speaker 3: on with women's sports. So if you look at you know,
Speaker 3: Molly Marcusmone's tenure and what she came into when she
Speaker 3: was hired on as commissioner, you know, Mike Wan had
Speaker 3: built the league back up, but she came from Princeton,
Speaker 3: She came from academia, and she went on you know,
Speaker 3: a year long learning tour as she described it, to
Speaker 3: just kind of figure out this new this new, this
Speaker 3: new landscape and and how to tackle it.
Speaker 4: And and if you.
Speaker 3: Look at at soccer and the NWSL, Jessica Burman comes
Speaker 3: on shortly after Molly marc Us Simon, so very similar
Speaker 3: similar tenures here, and she comes into the NWSL that
Speaker 3: is mired in scandal, a mess of a league, zero
Speaker 3: player trust, and she doesn't have the luxury of a
Speaker 3: listening tour. She's got to get in and turn things
Speaker 3: around immediately. And Jessica Berman comes from a background in
Speaker 3: the NHL where she, you know, many many years going
Speaker 3: up the ladder in that league, was responsible for, you know,
Speaker 3: negotiating the lockout deal years ago, and she just comes out,
Speaker 3: you know, guns blazon. I think the most important thing
Speaker 3: that she did was demand the team ownership's step up,
Speaker 3: and I think that has very you know, obviously golf
Speaker 3: does have teams, but we have these sponsors of tournaments,
Speaker 3: and what was happening in soccer was you had these
Speaker 3: passive team owners.
Speaker 4: Alexis Ahanian uh co found founder of.
Speaker 3: Reddit, is a i think the majority stakeholder in Angel City,
Speaker 3: the LA Husband Williams, Yes, husband of Serena Williams and
Speaker 3: also part owner or I don't know the exact title
Speaker 3: of the TGL team La GC.
Speaker 4: So he I actually spoke.
Speaker 3: About this, you know, when he kind of came on
Speaker 3: and was meeting other owners. He's talking to one owner
Speaker 3: and it was like, you know, yeah, I have a
Speaker 3: daughter and this is kind of like a you know,
Speaker 3: charity thing to kind of show her something that I'm
Speaker 3: supporting women's sports. And what you've seen is that kind
Speaker 3: of totally flip on its head where those owners are
Speaker 3: now out and you have owners who don't see this
Speaker 3: as a charity but see as an investment in something
Speaker 3: they're gonna make money on. And you've seen the valuation
Speaker 3: of the teams go up. You've seen new owners come
Speaker 3: in with big time dollars, celebrities, uh, other other athletes.
Speaker 3: Eli Manning has a stake in a team. Patrick Mahomes
Speaker 3: and Britain Mahomes are co owners and stakeholders in the
Speaker 3: Kansas City team here. And you've seen major, major investment.
Speaker 3: And what that's brought is, you know, these severely undervalued
Speaker 3: teams are now selling at you know, twenty times what
Speaker 3: they were selling for in the past. The league has expanded,
Speaker 3: They signed a mega media rights deal with with multiple
Speaker 3: you know, streaming options, Amazon, CBS, multiple venues.
Speaker 4: For their product.
Speaker 3: And if you're if you're the LPGA, if you're Mollie
Speaker 3: mark Us Simone right now, if you're not sitting down
Speaker 3: with what there surely are passive tournament sponsors on on
Speaker 3: the on the LPGA side of things that you know
Speaker 3: have been doing this for certain amount of years. Throw
Speaker 3: an extra one hundred k to the purse each year,
Speaker 3: and you know, call it good if you're not sitting
Speaker 3: down with some of those sponsors and having the conversation
Speaker 3: that you know, the things have changed and it's time
Speaker 3: to step up in a bigger way. You know, you
Speaker 3: can have that conversation with the confidence now with where
Speaker 3: woman's sports is at that you'll have another sponsor up
Speaker 3: to the plate if they're not willing to do that.
Speaker 3: And I think that's where, Yes, soccer and golf are
Speaker 3: not the same, but you can take a page out
Speaker 3: of that playbook from soccer and what Jess Berman has
Speaker 3: done and start really putting sponsors to the fire of
Speaker 3: investigation of truly investing in golf, whether that's you know,
Speaker 3: new tournaments, whether that's new venues, whether that's bigger purses.
Speaker 3: We've kind of been baby stepping the way into things
Speaker 3: with golf right now, and it's time to kind of
Speaker 3: take that that big next step and get onto the
Speaker 3: same level as kind of soccer, bsketball and others have
Speaker 3: gotten to.
Speaker 1: And broadcast partners probably need a kick in the butt
Speaker 1: as well.
Speaker 3: Yep, yep, But I think I think that comes. I
Speaker 3: think I don't think that's going to be They're not
Speaker 3: going to be the leader there. I think they're going
Speaker 3: to see investment from other sponsors and and you know,
Speaker 3: other money coming in through new tournaments or purses or
Speaker 3: sponsors for players, and they're going to follow suit. I
Speaker 3: don't think we can expect them to be the leader
Speaker 3: on that forefront.
Speaker 4: Unfortunately.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the media rights deal is not really exclusively or
Speaker 1: their own right. The LPGA sort of has has piggybacked
Speaker 1: on the PGA Tours media rights deal, but clearly there
Speaker 1: are some improvements that could be made in that arena
Speaker 1: as well. All right, cool, So with that, let's get
Speaker 1: into the next generation of potential LPGA Tour stars or
Speaker 1: in a few cases, star amateurs. On the women's side,
Speaker 1: Let's do some players to watch at the Augusta nash
Speaker 1: Women's Amateur So Meg, before we bring Mega on, let's
Speaker 1: try to do these in a kind of lightning round style.
Speaker 1: Who is your first player to watch for at Augusta
Speaker 1: National next week?
Speaker 3: I'm going with Taylor Gouch's favorite player, Asterisk Tally. She's
Speaker 3: the youngest player in the field. She just turned fifteen
Speaker 3: a couple months ago. About it in February, I believe,
Speaker 3: And she is coming in with some momentum. She just
Speaker 3: won the Junior Invitational, which is an elite junior tournament,
Speaker 3: by six, so she's got some familiarity with Augusta too
Speaker 3: as a drive, chip and putt participant. Maybe she peaked
Speaker 3: too early, but I think she's got some confidence coming
Speaker 3: in to an lad to hopefully make a run there.
Speaker 1: Okay, my first player to watch is also a very
Speaker 1: young player, seventeen years old, Yanna Wilson, absolute stud on
Speaker 1: the junior scene. The twenty twenty three AJAGA Girls Player
Speaker 1: of the Year. She's number one in the AJGA rankings.
Speaker 1: She's a University of Oregon commit, and you know this
Speaker 1: is her third and wha, right, So she's pretty young,
Speaker 1: but she's been here a few times. She won on
Speaker 1: the Cactus Tour fairly recently quarterfinals at the US Women's Amateur.
Speaker 1: This is a serious, serious player and somebody to watch
Speaker 1: out for many years to come. So Yanna Wilson, all right,
Speaker 1: who's your next player?
Speaker 3: All Right, we're keeping it with the teenagers. I'm going
Speaker 3: to go with Aila Galitski. She's a seventeen year old
Speaker 3: from Thailand. She's committed to South Carolina. She also played
Speaker 3: in the Junior Invitational. She finished third at a even par,
Speaker 3: but that's nine back of asterisk.
Speaker 4: But I was really impressed.
Speaker 3: She played in the LPGA's Thailand event earlier this year,
Speaker 3: made the cut, finish T forty one, So very good
Speaker 3: playing with the best of the best over there in Thailand.
Speaker 4: And we'll see what she can do to Augusta.
Speaker 1: All right, and my last player is Hailey Cooper. So
Speaker 1: we've talked about teenagers so far. Hailey Cooper is twenty
Speaker 1: four years old, so absolutely ancient, right this is She's
Speaker 1: still young, of course, but Hailey Cooper played her final
Speaker 1: collegiate tournament for Texas A and M last year. She
Speaker 1: helped the team get to match play at the NCAA Championships.
Speaker 1: Hailey's got a great backstory. She was an elite junior.
Speaker 1: She actually won the US Women's Amateur four ball when
Speaker 1: she was still in high school and was a first
Speaker 1: team All America at the University of Texas in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 1: But then her game just sort of hit a rough patch.
Speaker 1: I'm not totally sure what happened. She did get invited
Speaker 1: to ANNWA in twenty twenty one, but had to withdraw
Speaker 1: because she tested positive for COVID nineteen. So this year
Speaker 1: is actually her ANNWA debut. In any case, she's gotten
Speaker 1: her game back rest. She got her undergraduate degree from
Speaker 1: Texas in twenty twenty one, I think, and she got
Speaker 1: it in three years, so she's obviously got a pretty
Speaker 1: good head on her shoulders. Then she went to Texas
Speaker 1: A and M for her master's degree and she just
Speaker 1: rediscovered her game, had a really great twenty twenty three season.
Speaker 1: So I think that's a feel good story to watch
Speaker 1: out for. So there are a bunch of other names
Speaker 1: that I think people will recognize if they've seen past
Speaker 1: AUGUSTA National Women's Amateurs. These names would include Amelia Emiliaco,
Speaker 1: who is playing her fifth I don't think there's anybody
Speaker 1: else in the field who has played literally every one
Speaker 1: of these tournaments. Yeah, and she's planning to be a
Speaker 1: career amateur. She's been on the podcast before, absolutely delightful
Speaker 1: person ingrad Lynn Blad is a potential favorite here. This
Speaker 1: is her fourth an whah, you know, I don't know
Speaker 1: if there's anybody else you would really choose to be
Speaker 1: the sole favorite here. But there's a good, good argument
Speaker 1: for Lynn blad Amari Aver playing her fourth and last
Speaker 1: an wha. Rachel Keene in her fourth, Carolina Lopez Chakara, right,
Speaker 1: you'll recognize that last name is also playing her fourth.
Speaker 1: An wha. We've got Rachel Heck who just announced recently
Speaker 1: through an essay and no laying up that she has
Speaker 1: chosen to remain an amateur and not turn professional in golf,
Speaker 1: but she's she's coming back to play in her third
Speaker 1: an wha. Anna Davis is the returning champion. Gianna Clemente
Speaker 1: still sixteen years old, but this is her second and
Speaker 1: I believe she is still the youngest or one of
Speaker 1: the two youngest players in the field, so obviously a
Speaker 1: very very talented player. So lots of people to watch
Speaker 1: out for here. I'm not sure if I missed anybody.
Speaker 4: Now that covers the big names.
Speaker 3: You know, it's it feels a little bit different without
Speaker 3: Rose this year. That was obviously the main storyline last
Speaker 3: year leading in but an what depth never disappoints. If
Speaker 3: you know, all these names kind of show up, We'll
Speaker 3: have a very very exciting Saturday.
Speaker 1: Of course, one name that we haven't mentioned yet is
Speaker 1: Mega Gane, and Mega has an incredible resume that she's
Speaker 1: bringing into this ANWA and we're bringing her on the
Speaker 1: podcast right now. But before we get to her, let's
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Speaker 1: So Blackjack Jerky check it out. All right, So we
Speaker 1: are here with Mega Ghane. First of all, Mega, how
Speaker 1: did finals go?
Speaker 2: It went past all my classes. I took kind of
Speaker 2: a heavy quarter and I took computer science for the
Speaker 2: first time this quarter, which was it was going well
Speaker 2: until it wasn't. But I'm glad I took the challenge.
Speaker 2: I took it with my teammate Paula and good, good
Speaker 2: bonding experience. But very glad those ten weeks are over.
Speaker 1: I've heard that computer science is a big deal at Stanford.
Speaker 1: That's the word on the street.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like it was like a must take class.
Speaker 2: So it's done.
Speaker 3: You guys, you figured out a pretty good way to
Speaker 3: wrap up finals week. You guys played some golf, didn't
Speaker 3: you over the weekend? You want to tell everyone where
Speaker 3: you played and how that went.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we played. We played Cypress point right after we
Speaker 2: were done with finals, which was the best prize you
Speaker 2: could have asked for. It was so good. Like, if
Speaker 2: there's anything better than playing Cypress, it's playing it right
Speaker 2: after you finished finals. So it was perfect weather, so good.
Speaker 2: We went out there. It was unreal and that was
Speaker 2: like one of my last few courses on my like
Speaker 2: my top tier bucket list. So I definitely did some
Speaker 2: pro shop damage. And yeah, she's just like us.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so you hadn't You hadn't played there before, this
Speaker 1: was your first time?
Speaker 2: No, I didn't play there first time.
Speaker 1: Wow. Any any surprises or observations from seeing the course
Speaker 1: for the first time.
Speaker 2: It's like the whole. I loved the separation of like
Speaker 2: each of the six holes, like the ones, like how
Speaker 2: different they were from each other. Didn't I didn't know
Speaker 2: much about like the history of the course. That was
Speaker 2: cool to learn about. And then the last few were
Speaker 2: just insane. Like I've played I've played pebble multiple times,
Speaker 2: I've played Spanish bass, like the area, like, I'm familiar
Speaker 2: with what it looks like. But those holes are just gorgeous,
Speaker 2: like they're not You're just not prepared for them. So
Speaker 2: it was it was super super cool. And I bought
Speaker 2: a huge painting that's going to go up in my bedroom.
Speaker 1: Oh no way, what's the painting of.
Speaker 2: It's of It's of sixteen.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, of course it's a pretty good one.
Speaker 2: To have next to my Augusta painting that I have.
Speaker 1: Oh no, I'm not bragging at all with So you
Speaker 1: aren't familiar with the Pebble Beach area. You took down
Speaker 1: the Carmel Cup last fall. I believe what did you
Speaker 1: shoot in the final round there?
Speaker 2: I think sixty seven okay, which is pretty good.
Speaker 1: So what's what to use the key to doing that
Speaker 1: kind of damage of Pebble Beach.
Speaker 2: Oh, well, good conditions. I didn't have to deal with
Speaker 2: anything crazy, which was a big help. But also just
Speaker 2: I think that week, I just I just had a
Speaker 2: game plan on every single hole. And I had a
Speaker 2: great caddie as well, who was a local there in
Speaker 2: the practice round and they can't give you advice during
Speaker 2: the real thing, but he loaded up in the practice round.
Speaker 2: So I just felt I had a great strategy on
Speaker 2: every hole. Felt like it was just two putt move
Speaker 2: on like type of golf. So it just that that
Speaker 2: course definitely, uh suits my eye well because my first
Speaker 2: freshman year, I that was the first on one I
Speaker 2: played my freshman year, played well there, and then this
Speaker 2: year I just yeah, it was just felt good. Every
Speaker 2: shot just kind of feels right, so nice.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So the college season is about to pick up here.
Speaker 1: How would you assess the state of the Stanford team
Speaker 1: right now?
Speaker 2: It's great from the outside and inside, I feel like
Speaker 2: we feel great and our team chemistry is kind of
Speaker 2: ridiculous right now, which I've felt. I mean, it was
Speaker 2: really good last year, but this year there's like I
Speaker 2: just feel like we move around each other so well,
Speaker 2: which is so important. And you know, having eight women
Speaker 2: that get along that well is pretty impressive in my opinion,
Speaker 2: and I think that's what really drives us every day,
Speaker 2: and like we just love being at the golf course
Speaker 2: every day, which makes a huge difference when you're you know,
Speaker 2: working to a larger goal and just enjoying the process
Speaker 2: and doing that with each other. I think that's really
Speaker 2: what leads to our success in a tournament golf.
Speaker 1: You have a new member of your team this year.
Speaker 1: You mentioned Paula. Her full name is Paula Martine san
Speaker 1: Pedro san Pedro. Okay, good, so there's the pronunciation. She
Speaker 1: was in your computer science class with you. This is
Speaker 1: this is a pretty sensational freshman player. Could you give
Speaker 1: me a basic scouting report on Paula.
Speaker 2: Paula, She's just consistent. She just does everything that people
Speaker 2: have told me. They come up to me on the
Speaker 2: putting green after the rounds at tournaments and they're like, yeah,
Speaker 2: your freshman doesn't miss, Like she just doesn't. She doesn't miss.
Speaker 2: And I'm like, yeah, I haven't seen it yet either,
Speaker 2: but she's she's super cool. She's great off the golf course.
Speaker 2: We've gotten really close actually because of this computer science class,
Speaker 2: which is nice, but she's such a hard worker and
Speaker 2: she's so intelligent in the classroom. She's taking insane class load,
Speaker 2: which is the golf is impressive, but doing that with
Speaker 2: what I'm seeing behind the scenes is even more impressive.
Speaker 2: So definitely pushing me to beget better as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so she's from Spain and she is going to
Speaker 1: be in Annoa as well, so that's a little preview
Speaker 1: of what people might see there. But her results so
Speaker 1: far this college season have been pretty pretty eye popping,
Speaker 1: like top top ten and everything as far as I
Speaker 1: can see. So yeah, that kind of consistency is impressive.
Speaker 1: Of which, speaking of consistency, Roseng obviously turned pro last year,
Speaker 1: but she's hanging around. When I heard that she was
Speaker 1: going to do this, like be on the LPGA tour
Speaker 1: and also finish out her degree at Stanford, I was like,
Speaker 1: how how is that even possible? Have you seen Rose
Speaker 1: around campus? Has have there been any any sightings? Is
Speaker 1: she kind of still hanging hanging around there?
Speaker 2: Yeah, she's hanging around. When she was here, I would
Speaker 2: see her almost every day. But I think it's I
Speaker 2: think it's great. I think if I had to leave
Speaker 2: college right now, like my sophomore year. I would definitely
Speaker 2: love to come back from a quarter and feel like
Speaker 2: a student that's just living a regular life, even though
Speaker 2: that's not what she's doing. But uh, I think that's great.
Speaker 2: I think it's a really cool balance that she's able
Speaker 2: to strike. And yeah, I feel like I would do
Speaker 2: the same. I love her situation of tour to Stanford
Speaker 2: and then coming back and forth. It's amazing.
Speaker 1: Wait, are are you giving us a little preview of
Speaker 1: of Well, I'm.
Speaker 2: I'm saying for four years, but I'm saying I think
Speaker 2: she's I think she's doing the right thing.
Speaker 1: Okay, Okay, sounds good. Yeah, all right, Meg, you want
Speaker 1: to you want to get into her mega's experiences at
Speaker 1: Augusta National a little bit here, Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4: I do.
Speaker 3: I mean, Garrett you mentioned it, but the drive chip
Speaker 3: and putt, what's what's the experience, Like, I mean, being
Speaker 3: so young and you've talked about, you know, being more
Speaker 3: nervous at their their you know, having just those couple
Speaker 3: shots to hit under under all that pressure and all
Speaker 3: all the crowds there obviously probably the biggest crowds you've
Speaker 3: ever played golf at that point. Just talk through what
Speaker 3: that experience is like being so young.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love the Drive Ship and Putt. It's like
Speaker 2: it's an initiative like no other, and like it really
Speaker 2: is the most pressure you've ever felt. And uh, they
Speaker 2: run it so well and make you feel like you
Speaker 2: are like just like you just feel like you're getting
Speaker 2: top notch treatment from start to and and it's so cool.
Speaker 2: I mean, like what other tournament in junior golf is
Speaker 2: like that? And when do you get to experience something
Speaker 2: that feels so high level other than something like the
Speaker 2: Drive Chip and Putt. And you know, everyone tunes in
Speaker 2: for those that uh those few hours where it's on TV,
Speaker 2: and uh, it's super cool. It's like a taste of
Speaker 2: the big leagues when you're just nine years old. And
Speaker 2: and I loved it. I think it prepared me for
Speaker 2: a lot of golf for the rest of my my
Speaker 2: amateur career. And yeah, I'm just super grateful. And I
Speaker 2: and I going to the ANUA now, I feel like
Speaker 2: I feel it feels like way more like home when
Speaker 2: I'm there because I've I've just been there since I
Speaker 2: was a kid. So yeah, I'm very grateful for the
Speaker 2: Drive Ship Putt. I think it was a pretty big
Speaker 2: part of my story.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so rolling from that into an whah, this is
Speaker 3: your fourth ANIMA appearance. Uh, miscut miscut t nine last year.
Speaker 3: So through kind of you know, those first couple of
Speaker 3: years out there, not qualifying for the Saturday on the
Speaker 3: big course on Augusta National, and then the success last year,
Speaker 3: you know, top tens, an incredible job out there, and
Speaker 3: then what do you think this year hasn't an on
Speaker 3: hold for you?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I think that first course we play on Champions Retreat,
Speaker 2: it was not my place for a good while, but
Speaker 2: it just it had like a setup that I didn't
Speaker 2: feel like really suited me, and like I didn't have
Speaker 2: the ball striking to really score there. And on top
Speaker 2: of that, it's a thirty person cut of the top
Speaker 2: seventy in the world, so if you're not on it,
Speaker 2: you're not going to make that cut. So I came
Speaker 2: close both years, but just didn't quite have the shots
Speaker 2: in the bank that I needed. And I really reflected
Speaker 2: on that before last year's event, made a couple of
Speaker 2: swing changes, equipment change, hit the ball higher, and yeah,
Speaker 2: I just came together and I just I just had
Speaker 2: a greater bank of shots that I could hit, which
Speaker 2: helped me on that golf course, and then played well
Speaker 2: at Augusta, which was completely different from the first course.
Speaker 2: So it was grateful. And this year you're just trying
Speaker 2: to do more of the same and it's nice. And
Speaker 2: another big thing too, is when I the first few years,
Speaker 2: I was still in high school, so I'm coming out
Speaker 2: of a New Jersey winter, so I had no outdoor
Speaker 2: practice going into it, So that definitely has something to
Speaker 2: do with it being here now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean you've pointed out one of the crazy
Speaker 1: things about and WAT and it's the differences between the
Speaker 1: two courses. So how is it that Augusta National is
Speaker 1: so different from Champions Retreat. How do you see those
Speaker 1: as kind of different tests of your golf game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like for I don't know, maybe everyone will have
Speaker 2: a different take, but I feel like the general consensus
Speaker 2: is that Champions Retreat is more demanding. I think the
Speaker 2: conditions we play the courses in make it harder because
Speaker 2: for whatever reason, the greens have just been way harder
Speaker 2: to hold. That Champions retreats windier there than it has
Speaker 2: been at Augusta. It's just just set up wise, it
Speaker 2: feels like it's less scorable and you just make one
Speaker 2: bogie and then you're fighting for the cut line. So
Speaker 2: it's just the intensity is so high on those first
Speaker 2: few days it doesn't even feel like the same tournament
Speaker 2: almost as the final day. Uh. And then yeah, Augusta's
Speaker 2: Augusta is just different. You need to play well at both.
Speaker 2: But champions are treats a ball strikers golf course, I think.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: And so this year what I kind of found was
Speaker 3: pretty wild number you have four of your teammates also
Speaker 3: competing at ANNA, as well as four future cardinal coming
Speaker 3: on too.
Speaker 1: So an Walker, I mean, maybe the best the.
Speaker 2: World, right of any sport.
Speaker 1: No kidding.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So you have a big support system there, which
Speaker 3: will be I'm sure very very nice to have your
Speaker 3: teammates there with you kind of continuing on with with
Speaker 3: and whah, you know, first edition was twenty nineteen. And
Speaker 3: then I wanted to talk a little bit about how
Speaker 3: you know, Nil and that coming into the picture is
Speaker 3: kind of kind of changed kind of the look and
Speaker 3: feel a little bit of and wha we were Garrett
Speaker 3: and I were both there last year and you kind
Speaker 3: of see some you know, like Azalea themed bags and
Speaker 3: headcovers and whatnot. Can you talk, you know, since this
Speaker 3: is your fourth can you talk how NIL has kind
Speaker 3: of changed and in the anticipation in the build up
Speaker 3: from its sponsors for and whah. I think it's just
Speaker 3: interesting with the timing and not being there at the
Speaker 3: beginning and now it seems to be especially with the
Speaker 3: bigger names and the favorites. You know, they've they've got
Speaker 3: kind of special edition gear all over the place.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think Augusta is marketing wise, and you know, publicity,
Speaker 2: it's like a dream because you have the coolest women
Speaker 2: playing the sport at the best place and great TV
Speaker 2: coverage and it feels like everyone's tuning in and it's Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think I think NIL is great and it helps
Speaker 2: grow the game on a lot of levels, and it's
Speaker 2: definitely getting bigger and bigger, and you know, equipment wise,
Speaker 2: or brands or clothing or even financial groups like people
Speaker 2: definitely see the value in investing in the highest level
Speaker 2: of women's golf because I think it just has, you know,
Speaker 2: the ability to grow the game and touch a lot
Speaker 2: of hearts because the competitors that I know, like they're
Speaker 2: just really special people and it's it's cool that people
Speaker 2: outside of the golf community or are able to tap
Speaker 2: into that and take women's golf to the next level.
Speaker 2: And uh, yeah, it's I have It's all good things
Speaker 2: to say. And I've been lucky enough to have some
Speaker 2: experience with nil and good partnerships in the last few years,
Speaker 2: so it's it's been a very new experience. But you know,
Speaker 2: my support system, my family, my coaches, my agent, I'll
Speaker 2: take care of that for me. So I just think
Speaker 2: about playing the golf.
Speaker 1: For you, does it reduce the pressure a little bit
Speaker 1: to turn professional? We have seen some people, some great
Speaker 1: women's college golfers, choose to remain amateurs recently, and this
Speaker 1: has always happened to a degree. But do you think
Speaker 1: it allows you to feel good about staying in college
Speaker 1: and staying in amateur for a little bit longer or
Speaker 1: does it not make a difference in that regard.
Speaker 2: I think I would have loved staying an amateur regardless,
Speaker 2: and I know that I want to turn pro at
Speaker 2: some point, so it doesn't have a huge impact on
Speaker 2: my thought process here, but maybe it does for others.
Speaker 1: Cool, all right, So Mega, you know you first came
Speaker 1: to my attention in twenty twenty one, the US Women's
Speaker 1: Open performance was incredibly impressive. Of now, looking back on
Speaker 1: that three years afterwards, what jumps to mind from that
Speaker 1: experience of contending at a major championship.
Speaker 2: Good question, I didn't know. It doesn't feel like three
Speaker 2: years ago, feels more recent, but it's I think what
Speaker 2: jumps to mind is I feel so similar to when
Speaker 2: I was playing that final round right now and the
Speaker 2: person I am today, and at the same time, so
Speaker 2: many things are different. So I feel like I've now
Speaker 2: I can say, I feel like I've retained the best
Speaker 2: parts of me that I had when I was seventeen
Speaker 2: that allowed me to stay in the moment, enjoy that week,
Speaker 2: compete at the highest level, have that amount of confidence
Speaker 2: going into it, but then also evolved my game in
Speaker 2: a way that's maybe going to one day help me
Speaker 2: close it out on that Sunday. So I think over
Speaker 2: the past few years, I've been working towards that, and
Speaker 2: there was a lot of steps I needed to take
Speaker 2: to you know, grow as a player, and I've taken
Speaker 2: those while kind of still still keeping those those really
Speaker 2: good parts of me that you know, I feel like
Speaker 2: I inherently had and striking that balance is something that
Speaker 2: comes to mind.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is the This is the eternal tension between
Speaker 1: innocence and experience. You know, you're you're more experienced, and
Speaker 1: so you're better, but maybe there are mental things, other
Speaker 1: things that kind of get a bit more in the
Speaker 1: way as you get older and wiser. Has that been
Speaker 1: has that been what you've experienced?
Speaker 2: I think the other way around, to be honest with you,
Speaker 2: I think and less and less mental things get in
Speaker 2: my way. And I was I was only seventeen, and
Speaker 2: I realize I'm only twenty now. But I don't love
Speaker 2: when people say, like, oh my god, you had no
Speaker 2: idea what was going on? You're just a kid. Like no,
Speaker 2: I like had a fully formulated break.
Speaker 1: You were a person at this point. You were You
Speaker 1: weren't like a pre person, you were a person.
Speaker 2: I was a full foreign person. So I was there.
Speaker 2: I knew it was happening. I felt every bit of
Speaker 2: the pressure. And I experienced that level of pressure at
Speaker 2: other tournaments. And I think just because the stage is bigger,
Speaker 2: you assume a lot changes, but it really doesn't. Uh.
Speaker 2: And I think I've I've continued to have that spark
Speaker 2: on the golf course and any moment I feel I'm
Speaker 2: losing that, I just feel like that's the most important
Speaker 2: thing because that's why I play golf, and I work
Speaker 2: on fixing that first before I fix anything and related
Speaker 2: to my golf game. So yeah, not not an increase
Speaker 2: of any mental troubles, but it's just it's just different,
Speaker 2: and I just think I've grown. I've become more mature
Speaker 2: of a golfer, which you need to do.
Speaker 1: What does it mean to become a more mature golfer?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I think I think some decision making, being able
Speaker 2: to recognize my flaws better. I don't think when I
Speaker 2: was younger, I'd be like, oh, I need to work
Speaker 2: on that as much as I am now, just being
Speaker 2: open to doing that. Having better routine means in my practice,
Speaker 2: in my warm up, in what do I do after
Speaker 2: the round, a little more discipline, which are all good things,
Speaker 2: but I still have as much fun. So, like I said,
Speaker 2: striking that.
Speaker 1: Balance, you were in that final group, Yeah, at the
Speaker 1: tournament Yucasaso and Lexi Thompson. Do I have that right?
Speaker 1: Because I was. I remember watching this and you know
Speaker 1: what an exciting and kind of crazy final group and
Speaker 1: final round that was from your perspective playing in it,
Speaker 1: were you just were you kind of hyper focused on
Speaker 1: your own game or did you take moments here and
Speaker 1: there to look outside of you and see what was
Speaker 1: going on with the other players and with the gallery
Speaker 1: and with the tournament. What do you remember from that?
Speaker 2: I think for most of the round I couldn't even
Speaker 2: tell you because I just don't remember, like it's all
Speaker 2: a blur, Like it feels like I just wasn't there.
Speaker 2: Like the first three rounds, I was fully present with
Speaker 2: that third round, just I don't even really have good
Speaker 2: recollection of it until like the sixteenth hole because it
Speaker 2: was just so intense, so I wasn't really I don't
Speaker 2: know if I was taking it in or focusing on
Speaker 2: them or myself my game, but something happened and I
Speaker 2: just don't I don't remember it very well. But once
Speaker 2: I hit the sixteenth hole, I think I really took
Speaker 2: it in, And yeah, I took in the crowd, you know,
Speaker 2: being there with my family, having them watching Mike, who
Speaker 2: was caddying for me. We had just formed such a
Speaker 2: great friendship through that, and then playing with Yuka and
Speaker 2: Lexi and watching watching Yuka close it out. That was
Speaker 2: one of my core memories as well, and kind of
Speaker 2: just reflecting on that round, realizing like I think I
Speaker 2: had the game to get me there, but like to
Speaker 2: really finish it out on Sunday. There's so many component
Speaker 2: it's that you need to to get the job done,
Speaker 2: and just reminding myself like you're going to get there
Speaker 2: one day and how do you do that? And you
Speaker 2: have the best experience possible to know how to do
Speaker 2: that when it's your time. So, yeah, it was, it was.
Speaker 2: It was a fun day.
Speaker 1: So, you know, looking forward to the next couple of
Speaker 1: weeks here, you know, what's your plan, what are you
Speaker 1: working on in your game? How do you prepare for
Speaker 1: this tournament specifically?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I think the part of the prep
Speaker 2: is knowing that the prep is done and just getting
Speaker 2: my body in good shape and like resting, sleeping, practicing
Speaker 2: an amount that's you know, what's what's just going to
Speaker 2: get my headspace right, playing putting games that just get
Speaker 2: the confidence up, stuff like that, and then specifically just
Speaker 2: working on you know, getting my yardages dialed, like my
Speaker 2: wedge numbers, like small stuff like that. But most of
Speaker 2: the work is done, so it's just about feeling good
Speaker 2: going into it, and we're leaving for a tournament tomorrow,
Speaker 2: so there's not gonna be a lot of you know,
Speaker 2: time to do a lot of practice before the and
Speaker 2: walk because we'll go straight there.
Speaker 1: We're recording this on Monday, March twenty fifth. What is
Speaker 1: the tournament that you're heading.
Speaker 2: Towards, the ASU Invitational?
Speaker 1: Gotcha, So you're going to be in Arizona? Are you
Speaker 1: going straight from there to god Start? You're going to
Speaker 1: spend a little bit of time there? Yeah? Okayel do
Speaker 1: you feel like you have Augusta wired at this point?
Speaker 1: You kind of know your way around town? Nowhere to stay,
Speaker 1: nowhere to eat, all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, And if I don't, my parents definitely do
Speaker 2: because that's been our spring break for the past eight years.
Speaker 1: Wild yeah yeah, wild. All right, Well, Mega, thank you
Speaker 1: so much for spending this time with us. Good luck
Speaker 1: at and well course we'll be watching you with interest.
Speaker 2: Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 4: This is super fun, of course, Chars, thank you.
Speaker 1: This episode of the Frida egg Golf podcast was produced
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