WEBVTT - Fried Egg Stories: Meghan MacLaren 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:04.160 Welcome back to another edition of the Fried Egg Podcast. 0:00:05.000 --> 0:00:09.360 I am joined here by Garrett Morrison, editor managing editor 0:00:09.520 --> 0:00:10.319 of The Frida Egg. 0:00:11.200 --> 0:00:15.160 Not just an editor managing I'm a manager of editors. 0:00:15.400 --> 0:00:20.960 Yeah, you manage my ass, you know. So we got 0:00:20.079 --> 0:00:26.200 a new podcast format here. Pretty exciting, you do. 0:00:26.760 --> 0:00:29.720 Yeah. So this episode is going to take the form 0:00:30.040 --> 0:00:35.800 of a documentary podcast. We're basically telling the story of 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:42.559 Megan McLaren, Ladies European Tour player at Q School and 0:00:42.640 --> 0:00:44.879 then getting some of her thoughts about the state of 0:00:44.880 --> 0:00:47.760 the women's game and some other things. But instead of 0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:52.239 presenting it just as the traditional interview, we are telling 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:56.959 it as a story with voiceovers for me, excerpts from 0:00:56.960 --> 0:01:00.280 my interview with her, a little bit of music to 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:03.120 go along with the story. It's you know, it's a 0:01:03.200 --> 0:01:06.640 it's a documentary format that we're trying out here just 0:01:06.640 --> 0:01:07.600 to see how it works. 0:01:07.880 --> 0:01:10.559 Yeah, we're gonna call them Frida Egg Stories for now, 0:01:12.080 --> 0:01:13.679 unless we come up with a better name. 0:01:13.760 --> 0:01:16.520 If you've got a better name, let us open to suggestions. 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:19.360 Yeah, absolutely, I'll hate you with some swag if we 0:01:19.480 --> 0:01:19.800 use it. 0:01:21.480 --> 0:01:22.399 That's what we can offer. 0:01:22.920 --> 0:01:27.400 And then you got another one next week. So it 0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:28.200 should be exciting. 0:01:28.240 --> 0:01:30.800 Yeah, if I can put it together, there'll be something 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:38.280 that is President's Cup themed, something about Australia, and that 0:01:38.319 --> 0:01:41.200 should be pretty interesting. But I've got a massive tape 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:45.000 to work through first, and we'll see what I can assemble. 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:47.680 Yeah, So let us know what you think of the 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:50.760 new format and if you like it, let us know. 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:55.200 If you hate it, let us know and we'll get better. 0:01:57.000 --> 0:01:57.720 That's the idea. 0:01:57.920 --> 0:02:01.080 I think this is pretty good though, So without further ado, 0:02:01.760 --> 0:02:03.080 here's Megan McLaren. 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:07.360 Frid Egg requires a different technique. What you need to 0:02:07.400 --> 0:02:10.680 do is actually square the face so it'll dig down 0:02:10.760 --> 0:02:12.160 underneath that bad. 0:02:12.000 --> 0:02:14.800 Lie and propel that ball right out onto the green. 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:16.320 Here's the thing. 0:02:16.400 --> 0:02:18.880 Playing out of a buried lion of bunker is completely 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:21.400 different than playing out of a nice clean lion a 0:02:21.440 --> 0:02:22.360 greenside bunker. 0:02:23.280 --> 0:02:25.520 You need to be aggressive on any shop, whether it's 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:29.440 sitting cleanly. For it's Friday Egg, well we've all faiked it. 0:02:29.560 --> 0:02:32.560 The dreaded Frida Egg not to be feared though. 0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:34.240 It's actually a pretty easy shot to hit. 0:02:36.200 --> 0:02:39.720 Megan McLaren was a standout golfer in college. She turned 0:02:39.720 --> 0:02:41.880 pro after graduating and now she's one of the top 0:02:41.880 --> 0:02:45.120 players on the Ladies European Tour. But before all that, 0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:47.280 Meg was a Harry Potter geek. 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:55.320 I remember I must have been I don't know how old. 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:58.640 I was pretty young, like seven or eight or nine 0:02:58.720 --> 0:03:01.959 or something like that, and like this Harry Potter grace 0:03:02.120 --> 0:03:05.440 was taken over the whole of England. And this was 0:03:05.480 --> 0:03:09.160 somebody who absolutely loved reading. And for whatever reason, I 0:03:09.200 --> 0:03:12.760 had this like, I'm not gonna like Harry Potter. Harry 0:03:12.760 --> 0:03:14.920 Potter's not for me. Harry Potter's for like, you know, 0:03:15.520 --> 0:03:18.760 weird people who were into things that can never ever 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:21.240 happen in real life, you know. So I was like 0:03:22.360 --> 0:03:26.760 completely refused, point blank to even try it. And I 0:03:26.800 --> 0:03:29.880 remember one night, I think my mum had put like 0:03:29.919 --> 0:03:32.560 some clean washing on my bed or something, and on 0:03:32.680 --> 0:03:35.480 top was the Harry Potter book, like the first one. 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:39.360 So I was like, okay, fine, you know I'm gonna 0:03:39.400 --> 0:03:42.920 hate this, but whatever, I'll try it. And I could 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:47.640 not put it down. I was like, you're stereotypical, like 0:03:48.480 --> 0:03:52.320 falling over myself reading a book. I took it to school, 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:54.400 I read it in the cars. Even if I like 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:57.520 felt sick, I just you know, and that was it. 0:03:57.560 --> 0:04:02.840 I was hooked, and the magical adventure may have extended 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:04.080 a bit beyond childhood. 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:09.080 And I would even I remember like, I'm probably going 0:04:09.160 --> 0:04:11.720 to get myself into I'm going to get abuse for 0:04:11.760 --> 0:04:15.000 this now. But I remember coming back from college and 0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:17.440 I saw, I really want to read something, but I've 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:20.279 got nothing to read. And I remember reading all of 0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:22.920 the Harry Potter books from start to finish that summer, 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:26.720 like it just it's one of those things that once, 0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:28.600 once you're in it, you're in it. 0:04:29.520 --> 0:04:32.719 Obviously, Meg had a passion for reading, and over time, 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:35.840 as it often does, that turned into a passion for writing. 0:04:36.800 --> 0:04:39.640 Four years ago, the age of twenty, she started a 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:42.880 blog at megmaclaren dot com. She's kept it up to 0:04:42.920 --> 0:04:46.360 this day, and it's it's great. It's this lovely account 0:04:46.400 --> 0:04:49.400 of a young golfer coming of age. She's not afraid 0:04:49.480 --> 0:04:51.560 to take on big issues like the gender gap in 0:04:51.600 --> 0:04:56.159 professional sports, but mostly she writes about a very personal subject, 0:04:56.400 --> 0:04:59.200 the inner life of an athlete who's fighting to get better, 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:03.960 and she does that really vividly and movingly. More and 0:05:04.000 --> 0:05:06.480 more people have been discovering Meg's blog, and she's happy 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:10.039 about that, But the basic motivation of her writing is 0:05:10.080 --> 0:05:11.400 the same as it always has been. 0:05:12.240 --> 0:05:14.720 It's just me trying to make sense of things, and 0:05:14.800 --> 0:05:18.080 in its simplest form, that's exactly what it is. 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:34.640 Part two Q School. On David Verity's TV show, Phil 0:05:34.720 --> 0:05:38.320 Nicholson said that in golf, to be successful, you have 0:05:38.360 --> 0:05:41.880 to be either really smart or really dumb. I don't 0:05:41.920 --> 0:05:43.960 know if that's true, but it should be clear at 0:05:43.960 --> 0:05:47.000 this point that Meg McLaren is in the really smart camp. 0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:49.479 That's part of why I wanted to talk to her. 0:05:50.200 --> 0:05:53.839 I was curious about how such an introspective person went 0:05:53.839 --> 0:05:57.480 about the job of a professional golfer. I mean, it's 0:05:57.520 --> 0:06:00.920 got to be exhausting, right in golf often helps not 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:04.120 to think, not to be too in your head. At 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:07.320 the same time, golf is a complex game. If you 0:06:07.320 --> 0:06:10.800 want to understand it, it helps to be bright. A 0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:14.320 few weeks ago, Meg put her mental skills to the test. 0:06:15.240 --> 0:06:18.159 She spent most of October in the United States for 0:06:18.360 --> 0:06:22.640 LPGA Qualifying School. Right now, Meg makes her living on 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:26.679 the Ladies European Tour or LT and she's doing well, 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:28.480 but she's looking for more. 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:30.719 You know, at the end of the day, I want 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:33.240 to test myself against the best players in the world, 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:35.719 so that would mean playing on the LPGA. 0:06:36.480 --> 0:06:39.920 In women's golf, the LPGA Tour is where big time 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:43.479 careers are made. The lt just can't offer the same 0:06:43.520 --> 0:06:46.920 degree of security. So Q School was a major moment 0:06:47.000 --> 0:06:51.440 in Meg's career, potentially a turning point. What made it 0:06:51.480 --> 0:06:54.120 even more exciting was that she was on a role 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:57.159 coming into Q School. She had just gotten a solo 0:06:57.240 --> 0:07:00.400 third at the Hero Women's Indian Open and her game 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:01.040 felt strong. 0:07:01.880 --> 0:07:05.360 You go from thinking I've got to try and figure 0:07:05.360 --> 0:07:06.920 out what the number is going to be and just 0:07:07.440 --> 0:07:10.280 you know, get by on that to thinking, actually, you 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:13.480 know what, this is just like another tournament that I 0:07:13.520 --> 0:07:15.920 can try and win or try and see what the 0:07:15.920 --> 0:07:18.360 lowest score I can I can have each day. 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:22.040 Is that confidence got Meg through Stage two of Q 0:07:22.200 --> 0:07:25.800 School in Florida and into the final Q Series tournament. 0:07:27.000 --> 0:07:30.280 The Q Series format is a recent innovation, actually just 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:34.480 introduced last year. Basically, instead of a regular seventy two 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:40.520 whole event LPGAQ School now finishes with Q Series two weeks, 0:07:40.760 --> 0:07:44.559 eight rounds, one hundred and forty four holes. Top forty 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:49.640 five and ties receive LPGA cards, So yeah, it's a grind. 0:07:50.360 --> 0:07:53.640 It's incredibly hard, Like there's nothing I've ever played like 0:07:53.680 --> 0:07:57.840 that before, you know, like can golf. Obviously every shot counts, 0:07:57.880 --> 0:08:01.440 but this just feels like every counts to an even 0:08:01.480 --> 0:08:05.400 greater extent because it's just there's so many players around 0:08:05.440 --> 0:08:09.720 you and everybody's just out for themselves. Like it's the 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:13.640 atmosphere is quite hard to describe because you know that 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:16.920 your entire year is dependent on it, So it's not 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:18.840 you know, it's not a case of Okay, we can 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:21.600 pick ourselves up and we can go again next week 0:08:21.680 --> 0:08:23.560 or the week after or the week after that. It's 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:26.840 just like the here and the now is so important. 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:31.920 It's incredible during that two week stretch, how many girls 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:35.400 I saw crying at different points. And that's not just 0:08:35.440 --> 0:08:38.280 when it's all over, like that was, you know, in 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:41.200 the car park after four rounds, or after five rounds, 0:08:41.280 --> 0:08:45.480 or after six rounds. It's just it's just so mentally 0:08:45.559 --> 0:08:49.360 exhausting that you know, people just can't always cope with it. 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:52.880 This year's edition of Q Series was held at Pinehurst 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:57.839 Resort between October twenty third and November two. As soon 0:08:57.880 --> 0:09:00.800 as it got underway. Meg knew that she didn't have 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:04.040 her best game, but she hung in there, right on 0:09:04.120 --> 0:09:06.600 the bubble, hovering just above even par. 0:09:07.559 --> 0:09:09.920 There's a lot of different ways to shoot level par 0:09:10.480 --> 0:09:13.080 or one over par, and sometimes it can be a 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:16.200 fantastic one over par, and sometimes it can be you know, 0:09:16.280 --> 0:09:20.360 that could be the absolute highest score you could have shot. 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:23.760 Almost every round, I sort of went to two or 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:26.960 three over par and somehow found a way to shoot. 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:30.880 I think I shot one over for the second, third, 0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:35.280 and fourth rounds. That that that in itself was exhausting, 0:09:35.360 --> 0:09:37.959 because every day I was trying to course something back. 0:09:38.720 --> 0:09:41.760 Still, Meg kept telling herself that she didn't have to 0:09:41.760 --> 0:09:44.480 shoot lights out. The goal was just to advance. 0:09:45.160 --> 0:09:48.000 I think the whole Q score process is a bit 0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:51.800 more about avoiding mistakes that are going to be really costly. 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:54.880 You know, if you can keep doubles and worse off 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:57.920 your card, then you're never going to be taking yourself 0:09:57.920 --> 0:10:00.960 too far away from from what the number is going 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:01.240 to be. 0:10:01.920 --> 0:10:04.840 At the beginning of the second week of play, Meg 0:10:04.920 --> 0:10:08.520 found something. The tournament had moved from the number six 0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:11.280 to the number nine course, and she had a new 0:10:11.280 --> 0:10:12.679 feeling out there, and I. 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:15.440 Think I shot a couple under the first day, and 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:17.560 the second day, I was playing the best that I'd 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:20.360 played the whole time I'd been out in the States, 0:10:21.240 --> 0:10:24.120 you know, and just having that freedom felt so relaxing 0:10:24.240 --> 0:10:25.880 in comparison to the week before. 0:10:26.800 --> 0:10:29.520 During that second round of the week, her sixth round 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:31.640 of the Q series, she got to three under par 0:10:31.800 --> 0:10:34.720 on the day, plus one for the tournament. Suddenly she 0:10:34.800 --> 0:10:37.119 was very much in the hunt for an LPGA membership. 0:10:38.160 --> 0:10:40.920 But then in her last four holes of the day 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:45.120 she missed a couple of short cuts. On her seventeenth hole, 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:48.679 she made her first double bogie of the entire tournament. 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:51.640 And then you turn around, you have a late finish 0:10:51.840 --> 0:10:53.680 and an early start the next day, and all of 0:10:53.720 --> 0:10:57.800 a sudden, yeah, energy is just completely gone, and you're 0:10:57.840 --> 0:11:02.120 trying to process around that you thought was going to 0:11:02.679 --> 0:11:04.559 kind of set you up for the rest of the week, 0:11:05.000 --> 0:11:07.480 and in reality, you've got to go back to grinding again. 0:11:08.280 --> 0:11:11.439 Q school was about avoiding mistakes, and Meg was starting 0:11:11.480 --> 0:11:14.520 to make a few with mental fatigue setting in. She 0:11:14.600 --> 0:11:17.679 shot seventy five in her seventh and second last round, 0:11:18.480 --> 0:11:21.280 but the thing was she was still in it. She 0:11:21.400 --> 0:11:23.400 was seven over and it was looking like the number 0:11:23.520 --> 0:11:25.079 was going to be four or five. 0:11:25.760 --> 0:11:28.080 And to be honest, because of everything that had happened 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:31.080 the previous two weeks, the one thing I knew was 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:33.360 that I could find a way to get myself back 0:11:33.400 --> 0:11:34.760 in it, however I felt. 0:11:35.440 --> 0:11:38.800 But the next day, the last day, it didn't start 0:11:38.840 --> 0:11:39.440 how she wanted. 0:11:40.000 --> 0:11:42.120 I played the par fives really well the whole time 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:44.400 I was out there, because I was knocking my wedges 0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:47.199 in quite close. And I started on a par five 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:51.040 in the last round, so knocked it to about six foot. 0:11:51.559 --> 0:11:55.440 I missed that plat for Birdie. I boged the next 0:11:55.480 --> 0:11:58.000 after hitting a bad drive, and then the next I 0:11:58.160 --> 0:11:59.720 was a part three and I hit it into about 0:11:59.720 --> 0:12:04.120 fifty foot, fancied the put for Birdie, knocked it a 0:12:04.120 --> 0:12:07.280 couple of feet past, and missed the put coming back. 0:12:08.080 --> 0:12:11.160 So to start like that in the final round, where 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:13.599 you know you need to shoot underpa and all of 0:12:13.640 --> 0:12:17.000 a sudden you're two over having hit one bad drive, 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:22.080 that was you know, it was tough to kind of 0:12:22.120 --> 0:12:23.400 care my way back from that. 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:28.320 She tried, though, as she had done all week, Meg 0:12:28.400 --> 0:12:30.640 kept herself afloat, hacked my. 0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:33.160 Way up one hole, hold a fifteen foot of the pass, 0:12:33.240 --> 0:12:35.960 I was like, you know, got three holes left. If 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:38.240 I can find two birdies, I might have a chance. 0:12:39.520 --> 0:12:41.839 And on my sixteenth hole, I think it was I 0:12:41.920 --> 0:12:45.040 hit my drive into trouble, had to chip out and 0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:48.839 ended up making double. And that was finally the moment 0:12:48.880 --> 0:12:52.760 where I knew I couldn't do it. You know, so 0:12:52.840 --> 0:12:56.880 you're you're there for however many holes, one hundred and 0:12:56.920 --> 0:13:01.199 something holes, and there's finally a moment with only kind 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:03.480 of half an hour left, where you know it's gone. 0:13:04.080 --> 0:13:06.360 So whenever that hits you, it's kind of like a 0:13:07.360 --> 0:13:11.160 that's a pretty tough one to describe. It hits you 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:14.840 all at once, that all of that energy that you've 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:19.640 spent trying desperately to keep yourself in it, you know, 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:23.200 it's just gone, and it's like you can feel all 0:13:23.280 --> 0:13:26.840 of that rushing out of your body kind of you know, 0:13:26.880 --> 0:13:30.480 it's the most flattening experience. And yet I think I 0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:33.719 think I birdied the next and it's just like it's 0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:35.560 one of those moments where you walk off the green 0:13:35.600 --> 0:13:38.400 and it's like, what, you know, what even is this 0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:42.280 game that we play? Sometimes I remember my Caddy turned 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:46.120 to me after so I made double on sixteen, birdied 0:13:46.160 --> 0:13:49.520 seventeen and I probably had barely said a word in 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:51.880 that space of time, and he turned to me and 0:13:51.920 --> 0:13:54.240 he just looked at me, and he was like, please 0:13:54.360 --> 0:13:58.320 just say something, like say anything so I know where 0:13:58.360 --> 0:14:02.040 you are. You know you've got you got so much 0:14:02.760 --> 0:14:06.400 running around your mind, but the reality is you're just exhausted. 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:10.600 It's just like you completely spent because you've given so 0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:13.880 much and you know that it's there hasn't been enough. 0:14:14.000 --> 0:14:17.520 In that moment, Meg ended up with her second straight 0:14:17.559 --> 0:14:21.400 seventy five. She finished ten over five shots away from 0:14:21.400 --> 0:14:25.280 getting her LPGA card. Now that a couple of weeks 0:14:25.320 --> 0:14:28.200 have passed, Meg has had some time first not to 0:14:28.240 --> 0:14:30.760 think about it and then to reflect on what went 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:34.040 right and what went wrong. Ultimately, it came down to 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:36.680 something pretty simple, missing short cuts. 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:40.880 And it's not something that I would kind of do 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:43.480 in my game in general, but it's just something that 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:47.120 crept in. Whether it was like a mental thing or 0:14:48.400 --> 0:14:51.080 the kind of toll of the whole year finally kind 0:14:51.080 --> 0:14:53.520 of caught up with me, and that's where it showed itself. 0:14:54.240 --> 0:14:56.880 Maybe it would have helped to be really dumb as 0:14:56.920 --> 0:14:59.280 Phil says, or at least to be able to just 0:14:59.520 --> 0:15:04.000 empty the thoughts from her head. Maybe. But if Meg's 0:15:04.000 --> 0:15:05.960 active mind got her into a bit of a hole 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:08.640 at Pinehurst, it could help her get out too. 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:13.680 Those two, well three weeks, including second stage, probably taught 0:15:13.720 --> 0:15:16.720 me more about the game that I have right now 0:15:16.880 --> 0:15:21.040 and where that can get me than any other stretch 0:15:21.040 --> 0:15:24.840 of tournaments I've ever played, because sort of, in the 0:15:24.880 --> 0:15:28.480 reality of it, those courses out in America don't suit 0:15:28.520 --> 0:15:32.120 me because they're long and it's it was soft, and 0:15:32.160 --> 0:15:34.440 it was wet and it was cold, and that's not 0:15:34.480 --> 0:15:37.760 really the game that I play. But I kind of 0:15:37.840 --> 0:15:40.760 I coped with that far better than I thought I could. 0:15:41.600 --> 0:15:44.240 And the thing that let me down, that really the 0:15:44.320 --> 0:15:47.760 only thing that stopped me from performing how I could have, 0:15:48.520 --> 0:15:50.520 was an area of my game that's usually a strength. 0:16:05.160 --> 0:16:09.960 Part three. What's next? Despite the disappointment, there are a 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:13.080 lot of positives for Meg right now. Just by advancing 0:16:13.080 --> 0:16:15.520 into Q Series, she earned status on the Symetra Tour, 0:16:15.760 --> 0:16:19.080 the feeder tour for the LPGA, so she has options 0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:21.840 Next year. She's likely to play a few tournaments in 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:25.680 the States while staying busy on the lt AS I 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:29.440 mentioned before, Meg has found success on the Ladies European Tour. 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:32.800 This past season, she was fifth on the Order of Merit. 0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:35.920 She also won the Women's New South Wales Open in 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:39.400 Australia for the second year in a row. For Meg, 0:16:39.880 --> 0:16:42.040 the lat is starting to feel. 0:16:41.840 --> 0:16:45.840 Like home once you find your feet in Europe. You know, 0:16:45.880 --> 0:16:49.760 it's such a place of belonging and of kind of 0:16:49.800 --> 0:16:53.360 growing together with other players. You can kind of push 0:16:53.400 --> 0:16:57.040 each other and compete with each other and not feel 0:16:57.080 --> 0:17:00.280 like you're all enemies at the same time. I think 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:03.240 because a lot of girls are in similar positions. So 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:06.639 you've got a base in Europe somewhere. You know, a 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:09.000 lot of girls probably still living at home or with 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:12.240 their partners. You're looking for ways to keep the costs 0:17:12.280 --> 0:17:14.959 down because you're not playing for that much money, so 0:17:15.000 --> 0:17:17.919 you spend a lot of time on the same flights 0:17:18.080 --> 0:17:22.520 or getting airbnbs together, and cooking together and traveling together 0:17:23.160 --> 0:17:25.560 and going out to the you know, like the welcome 0:17:25.600 --> 0:17:29.840 receptions for tournaments together. So you just get used to 0:17:29.880 --> 0:17:32.960 spending time together. So it does, you know a bit 0:17:33.000 --> 0:17:35.840 of a cliche to say it's like a family, but 0:17:35.880 --> 0:17:38.399 that's who you spend most of your time with so 0:17:39.160 --> 0:17:41.000 you better get on with each other or it's not 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:42.040 going to be that much fun. 0:17:42.680 --> 0:17:45.080 One reason the LAT feels like a family is that 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:47.760 the players fight for each other, and one reason they 0:17:47.760 --> 0:17:50.679 fight for each other is that they have to. In 0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:54.199 recent years, playing opportunities on the LAT have dwindled, the 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:57.399 schedule has gotten shorter, and since there's not much TV 0:17:57.520 --> 0:18:00.680 coverage of the events, sponsorships for the players have been 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:01.960 few and far between. 0:18:02.920 --> 0:18:06.600 I'd say the biggest difference in what I've seen anyway 0:18:06.640 --> 0:18:10.679 in America versus Europe, or in the men's game versus 0:18:10.680 --> 0:18:13.800 the women's game, it's the level of swanship there is. 0:18:14.560 --> 0:18:16.880 You know, it depends who you are and who you meet, 0:18:17.359 --> 0:18:20.760 but it's a lot more based on that in the 0:18:20.800 --> 0:18:23.960 women's game than it is with the big companies or 0:18:24.320 --> 0:18:29.320 equipment manufacturers kind of just paying you to play their equipment. 0:18:29.440 --> 0:18:33.320 That doesn't happen in the women's game in Europe. There 0:18:33.359 --> 0:18:36.680 will be a fraction of girls in Europe that get 0:18:36.720 --> 0:18:37.840 paid to play equipment. 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:42.119 In addition to that, there are big disparities between men's 0:18:42.119 --> 0:18:45.520 and women's prize funds. On the men's European Tour, the 0:18:45.600 --> 0:18:49.280 average tournament perse is around three million euro, and that 0:18:49.400 --> 0:18:54.520 excludes majors and wgc's. On the Ladies' European Tour, the 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:58.360 average non major purse is about eleven percent that size, 0:18:58.880 --> 0:19:02.359 a bit above three hundred thousand euro. To put this 0:19:02.400 --> 0:19:05.680 in more personal terms, for winning the Women's New South 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:09.040 Wales Open, Meg MacLaren earned about the same amount of 0:19:09.080 --> 0:19:12.040 money as burn Rithammer did when he tied for twenty 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:16.359 seventh place at the Portugal Masters in October. What all 0:19:16.359 --> 0:19:18.560 of this means is that it can be tough for 0:19:18.600 --> 0:19:20.320 players on the LT to break. 0:19:20.119 --> 0:19:23.840 Even, but you're probably looking at you know, maybe about 0:19:23.960 --> 0:19:30.080 fifteen fifteen thousand for the year, just in in traveling costs. 0:19:30.720 --> 0:19:33.440 If you want to earn that back, you're probably looking 0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:37.960 at coming top twenty in good events or top ten 0:19:38.000 --> 0:19:42.080 in the smaller events. So I mean, it's like anything. 0:19:42.080 --> 0:19:44.080 At the end of the day, if you play well enough, 0:19:44.440 --> 0:19:46.600 you'll be fine and you can make a good living 0:19:46.640 --> 0:19:49.400 in Europe, just as you can make an amazing living 0:19:49.440 --> 0:19:53.640 in America. But as soon as things take a downward turn, 0:19:53.760 --> 0:19:55.640 or you miss a couple of cuts in a row, 0:19:56.119 --> 0:19:59.280 all of a sudden you're watching your back and you're thinking, 0:20:00.160 --> 0:20:02.680 can I afford to go here for a week of practice, 0:20:02.840 --> 0:20:05.280 or can I afford to bring my coach out, or 0:20:05.800 --> 0:20:08.880 can I afford to go and see the physio. That's 0:20:08.960 --> 0:20:10.200 whenever things get tough. 0:20:10.880 --> 0:20:13.720 To be clear, Meg counts herself lucky that she gets 0:20:13.760 --> 0:20:16.200 to play golf for a living, but she also thinks 0:20:16.240 --> 0:20:18.840 it's important to call out the inequalities between the men's 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:22.960 and women's games. When she does, her Twitter mentions take 0:20:23.000 --> 0:20:24.159 a turn for the unpleasant. 0:20:24.560 --> 0:20:27.520 And I've said that before, and I've been I've been 0:20:27.600 --> 0:20:30.359 quoted as saying something along those lines before. And the 0:20:30.440 --> 0:20:33.800 amount of abuse I've had on social media and stuff 0:20:34.280 --> 0:20:38.159 for just saying something like that that it blows me away. 0:20:38.960 --> 0:20:42.199 You know, people will say it's it's just economics, and 0:20:42.240 --> 0:20:45.800 it's about people paying for what they you know, like marketing, 0:20:46.119 --> 0:20:49.240 exposure and all the rest of it, which which I understand. 0:20:49.359 --> 0:20:52.680 You know, if we're not being shown on TV week in, 0:20:52.800 --> 0:20:57.040 week out, then then why would manufacturers pay us to 0:20:57.080 --> 0:20:59.639 play their equipment if nobody's going to see it? But 0:20:59.680 --> 0:21:02.159 I think it is. I think it runs a lot 0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:02.840 deeper than that. 0:21:03.840 --> 0:21:07.560 Basically, Meg doesn't think it's good enough just to say, well, 0:21:07.800 --> 0:21:10.240 the market has assigned of value to women's golf, and 0:21:10.320 --> 0:21:14.040 that's just how it is. She believes we can change things, 0:21:14.960 --> 0:21:18.760 but she doesn't put the onus solely on manufacturers, or 0:21:18.800 --> 0:21:22.560 is solely onto her leadership, or solely on the media. 0:21:22.680 --> 0:21:25.119 She argues that it needs to be a collective effort 0:21:25.880 --> 0:21:27.920 that we all need to do a little better. 0:21:28.400 --> 0:21:30.879 There's so many different angles that you can look at 0:21:30.920 --> 0:21:34.200 it from that it becomes a hard issue to kind 0:21:34.200 --> 0:21:38.240 of pinpoint a solution. But then at the same time, 0:21:38.280 --> 0:21:41.320 if everybody just did things slightly better. So I'm talking 0:21:41.359 --> 0:21:45.320 about the media, the players themselves. You know, we can 0:21:45.520 --> 0:21:49.040 market ourselves better or push for what we think we 0:21:49.119 --> 0:21:53.080 deserve a bit stronger. You know, if the people who 0:21:53.160 --> 0:21:57.080 run the organizations, if they pushed a bit harder, or 0:21:57.119 --> 0:22:01.879 if equipment manufacturers wanted to put in a little bit money, 0:22:02.000 --> 0:22:05.280 or use some female athletes in some of their marketing campaigns. 0:22:05.800 --> 0:22:09.880 All these things from so many different kind of investors 0:22:09.920 --> 0:22:12.880 in golf, you know, they could all make a difference. 0:22:12.920 --> 0:22:15.040 If everybody did a little bit, it could end up 0:22:15.119 --> 0:22:17.920 having a significant impact. But I think it's got to 0:22:17.960 --> 0:22:20.840 be a sort of combined effort and not just one 0:22:20.920 --> 0:22:25.240 or two different branches trying to push for change at 0:22:25.240 --> 0:22:25.679 the moment. 0:22:25.920 --> 0:22:30.720 Fortunately, there's reason for hope. Just before Thanksgiving, the LT 0:22:30.800 --> 0:22:33.240