Karen Stupples - Part 2 (The 2004 Women's British Open)

Intro Music 0:07

Straight down the middle. It went straight down the middle.

Mike Gonzalez 0:13

Then it started to Do you recall the moment specifically when you thought to yourself, I want to do this and get paid to do it.

Karen Stupples 0:25

I think for me, obviously I loved playing golf, but there was a desire to make money and to make more out of what I was doing. Obviously, we know that academically I'm not particularly gifted. Um passing exams was very hard for me. It's not to say I'm not clever or I don't think of myself as being intelligent. Just passing exams and applying myself in that area doesn't really work for me. I mean, I'll give you an example. I even used to try and copy people's homework and I would still get an F and they would get the A. And yeah, I'm like, how can I how can I copy you and still get it wrong? So it I just academics were just not not my my thing. So that you run through your head of all the things that you're good at. You know, what can I do? And I I think if, you know, I thought I'm gonna throw everything I can at golf and try and have a career in golf. Now, whether that would be, like I said, as a teaching pro or as a club pro or playing, I I wasn't sure what what direction that was gonna take. I wasn't sure how my game was gonna progress, if I'd even be good enough, or if I'd been able to save up enough money to try at Q school. I just didn't know. But I knew that it was better to try than to face the alternative of getting a job that was probably not something I was gonna enjoy. I mean, I I didn't know what I was gonna do really. It was probably would have been join the police force, I think was my was my beep was my plan B. So so I ended up throwing everything I could at golf. Uh when I when I left Florida State, I left early. I I got my AA degree, but I wasn't ever gonna properly fully graduate. It was gonna take me maybe 20 years, and I didn't have that long. So I went back to England and started working. I worked at a golf course, uh, wait at waitressing on tables, I did bar work at a bar, I I cleaned tables, I I cleaned up at the port of Dover, I did absolutely everything and anything to to make money to try and save for for my life as a to try and try for my tour card. By this time the the Ladies European tour was much in a better state, and I could see that the there was potential there if things didn't work out for the LPG, but the LPGA was always my dream.

Mike Gonzalez 2:48

So you had a customer that sort of offered to help you out a little bit then, huh?

Karen Stupples 2:55

I did. So when I was working at Etching Hill Golf Club, which is just outside of Folkestone, probably Folkestone is a 30-minute drive away from Deal. And I would always do so, you know, evening shifts because that way I could practice my golf during the day and then go to work in the evening. So always had a regular table would come in, and they had been playing tennis, but would come to the golf course to eat dinner in the evening, and I would always get their table because the other waitresses they were very particular, you know. The the the clients, you know, this group was very particular with how they liked the food and how they did it, and so the other waitresses were like, Karen, you go, you can have their table. I'm like, perfect. And so we'd talk about golf and we'd you know, we'd talk about anything and everything, and which is, you know, what with me talking about being exposed to people when I joined Royal Sinkports was really good for me. It was for moments like this, where you I'm talking to these people about anything, and it would have been very easy to become intimidated. Now, when I say these people, it was his name was Keith Rawlings and his wife Sue and a group of their friends. Now, Keith was a very successful in insurance, and uh they're very philanthropic in in how they live their life. And one day he said to me, Karen, he said, I keep seeing you in the newspaper, the local newspaper, you're winning tournaments, you're playing really well. Why haven't you turned professional? You know, you're obviously good enough. Why why haven't you given it a go? I said, Well, I'm I'm working, I'm saving up the money to give it a go. So I clean the table and I bring the desserts out. And he said to me, he said, I've been very successful in my life. He said, I really feel like you deserve a chance at this. He said, Write me out a budget, come to my office, and we'll discuss it and we'll see about getting this for you. I was like, I was completely taken aback. His wife, Sue, pulled my arm and said, We're serious, we we really mean this. So that night I was up till three in the morning trying to figure out everything that I needed. Uh for this. Exactly. And so I went to his office the next morning and I said, you know, this is what I've this is what I've figured out. And of course, obviously I'm trying to do it on the cheap so it doesn't look too overwhelming. But everything all in, I think it turned out to be about£10,000 with flights and entry fees and accommodations and car rentals and the whole thing. And he said, Well, this looks great. He said, Uh, there's only one thing. He said, I'm like, Oh, here we go. Here's the butt he said, I don't expect you to do this at your first try. I will give you this for three years. He said that way he took all the pressure off me. And I was completely flawed that somebody would would do that for me. I mean, I could get emotional talking about it now because without his help, who knows where I would be. I'm not sure that I could have ever found that money or have be or been doing what I'm doing now. I mean, he really gave me my start and believed in me when other people didn't necessarily want to or could help, but he did. And it just came from being in the right place at the right time and uh being a good waitress.

Bruce Devlin 6:11

Yeah. Great story.

Mike Gonzalez 6:13

That's pretty special. That's pretty special. So off you go, off you go to Q school. You're gonna be a professional. That's not easy.

Karen Stupples 6:21

Yep. No, but I'm not sure I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure I didn't know what I was letting myself in for. I think I was so raw. I I came over, I played the Curtis Cup, and then I played the US Women's Amateur, and then I went down to Florida and played my first professional round in the Q in the Q school. Didn't play very well at Florida, missed out progressing that first time. So the next shot was in Palm Springs. So off I go to Mission Hills in Palm Springs. And I mean, so much of my career has been some good fortune, some lucky breaks, being in the right place at the right time, having good things happen just when they need to happen. And this was one of those things I got, and Bruce, you know, I sometimes you just get a feeling, and and for me it was a feeling over my putts. And it was a feeling, and I and I put my putter in a position, and I knew that if I put my putter in just a certain position, I was gonna make that putt. And so I started making everything. And I won that, I won that Q school by eight shots. And so I went from there to final qualifying, and the confidence that I had grown from winning by eight allowed me to get through final qualifying. I didn't get a full card, I got a conditional card, which meant that I wasn't gonna get into all the events early on. I was gonna have to Monday qualify and try and put myself in a position to be patient, uh, which was very hard for me. But by playing in Monday qualifiers, taught me how to go low. It taught me that you've got to make an absolute ton of birdies in order to have a chance of getting in. So it made me aggressive and uh and ultimately it stood me in really good stead. All of my journey, my path. I mean, everything happens for a reason, and here I am.

Mike Gonzalez 8:15

We're glad to have you. So you started uh you started uh instead of starting on the LET tour, which you could have done, I suppose, uh you took a whack at the LPGA tour starting in 1999, and uh I did. You know, that first that first win took a little while, as it does for a lot of people. I mean, you talk to a Betsy King who's a World Golf Hall of Famer, and I think she had to go eight years before she finally figured out how to win. But you played your first pro event, I believe, in 1999 in Hawaii.

Karen Stupples 8:46

I did. That's very true. I did. Um I talked about the Monday qualifying. So I had tried to Monday qualify in LA the week before, didn't get in. But I was always optimistic, like so I had booked my ticket as if I had got in and as if I had made the cut. So my flight wasn't until Sunday night leaving LA to get into Hawaii, and of course, I get in at two o'clock in the morning, and I have to be on the T at 7am the next day. So so I have like barely any any sleep. I go out there, I shoot 69, and luckily there weren't many people in the Monday qualifier, and I 69 was good enough that week. And I remember uh sitting at California Pizza Kitchen with Janice Moody, who was my friend and who was on tour already, and she said to me, Karen, it's great that you got in on Monday. Great, she said. Now it starts. Now you have to now you've got to play. Now the tournament begins, now you've got to play. Of course I missed the cut. I played with Sherry Turner, who was, you know, major champion. On the first, I'm like, oh my god, you're throwing me in with Sherry Sherry Turner, what's going on? But uh I played a practice round with Betsy King, and uh I think she she was still using her bullseye putter, and yeah, it it it was an experience for sure. But the fact that I had finally got into an event, you know, sitting down, eating lunch with Laura Davies and things, it was pretty surreal and I think a little overwhelming.

Bruce Devlin 10:19

How many tournaments did you get to play in '99? Do you remember?

Karen Stupples 10:25

Um I can't I can't remember. Uh, but I do know that I made my first cut it uh in Austin, Texas, because that was a big week for me. Um I can't remember when it was, specifically on the calendar, but I remember I was about to run out of money.

Bruce Devlin 10:45

And good time to make the cut.

Karen Stupples 10:50

Exactly. And and I had been to Sacramento earlier and I had met up with some friends of my mother's, and he was the marketing manager for Blue Diamond Almonds. And I remember being in Austin and had lovely housing there in Austin at uh Onion Creek Country Club, it was. And I remember getting an email saying, Oh, I played in the played in the Monday Pro Am. I'd got there, I'd played a Monday Pro Am. And so I'd made some money from the Pro Am. So I'm like, thank goodness, I've I've got money to get to the next tournament. I think I made a thousand dollars on a in a Monday Pro Am. And then I got an email from um Blue Diamond Almond marketing guy, and he said, Would like to sponsor you. So I got a sponsor, so hat and bag with blue diamond almonds on it, and then uh and then I made the cut. So everything all happened all in one week. So that's that was my first cut made, onion creek. That's how I remember it.

Bruce Devlin 11:47

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 11:48

And then uh uh tell us a little bit about just life on the road uh by yourself, foreign country, although you had spent some time in American college, but uh you know, you're learning new golf courses, you're learning uh who you're playing against, you're learning new cities, you've got to get from place to place, make all your own arrangements, I'm sure. You didn't have a team around you like they do now. Uh what was that like?

Karen Stupples 12:11

No. Um, I mean, I didn't have any I mean I had uh obviously complicated personal life. There was a guy that I was traveling around with at the time, and he helped me with a lot of that stuff. Um, but it was you know, just to be thrown into that different environment. I mean, things like that you don't have experience now that you were having to experience then. I mean, computers weren't really a big deal. They like not many people had a computer back in '99. I certainly didn't. And uh GPS was not a thing. Um, so we all had maps, so you're driving around trying to find these places up with a map, and then eventually map quest came out, and that was like, Yes, I can find where I'm going. I've got map quest. Um but but printing it out and reading the the things, but but there was no, you know, no cell phones, there was no, I mean it was very, it felt very backward in comparison to what we have now. Like just getting from point A to point B was hard. Uh figuring out places to stay, making sure that you were budgeting well, not spending too much money. I mean, we s I stayed in some pretty dumpy places. Um, tried to take advantage of uh housing sometimes, but again, there were a couple that that weren't very great, and and there's always a trade-off to be made. Like it's some housing is great and they're lovely, but there are others that that the trade-off is too much, yeah. So, but for the most part, you know, I I like to stay in hotels because I'm I'm quite a an insular kind of person and and being openly outgoing with people in their homes always seemed to take a lot out of me. So finding places to stay, crisscrossing the country, but it was a different time then too, where driving was very easy. You know, you could get back and forth and it's not not be too hard, whereas now it's you've got to fly everywhere because you're on the east coast, you're on the west coast, you're you're over in Asia. You know, there was none of that when I first came on tour. But uh my f the first time we we're getting now into the into sort of late summer, and I hadn't made a huge amount of cuts, and I hadn't made a huge amount of money, and Q school is looming again because I'm thinking I'm gonna have to go back to Q school, and it's this very scary thought, the thought of having to go back to that gauntlet that you might lose all chance of making money. Um it could just disappear in a heartbeat, and uh so but I kind of put my mind to the fact that I was gonna have to go back to Q school, and so every tournament that I played in I used as preparation for Q school, like, okay, let's ratchet up the pressure, let's let's make this feel like this was Q school, like everything about what I was doing was trying to prepare myself. So I get to Springfield, Illinois, and it's a golf course called the Rail, and as every and as anybody has anything to do with the LPGA knows, there's no jail at the rail. I mean, it's wide open, which really suited my game, having grown up on a Lynx golf course. So off I was playing this golf course. I went out and shot a 64 the first round, and I'm leading. Leading after the first round, and in those days they used to repair for TV. So we'd repair for TV, and I was the final group, and so TV's on me as I'm playing. First time I first t-shot, the second round, I topped, I was so nervous. The second shot I topped, I was so nervous. I'm like, good grief, what am I even doing here? But I somehow managed to finish, I think I was finished in eighth place at the end of the week, and I made$22,000. I thought I had hit the jackpot. I was like, I am living it up, I'm going to New Orleans, I'm having a good time, and I'm buying a car. So I bought a Ford Focus, I went to New Orleans and I felt I had made it. But by doing that, uh gave me non-exempt status for the tour. And so eventually I did go back to Q school because I wanted to be exempt. I wanted to make my schedule, I wanted to do all of that. I ended up getting exempt at the following Q school as well, and the rest is history. Never had to go back to that that situation.

Mike Gonzalez 16:24

Bruce, I wish we had a nickel for every time we heard there's no jail at the rail on the show. Because everybody loved playing there. You could go low, couldn't you, Karen?

Karen Stupples 16:34

Yep. I I I had a feeling as those words were coming out my mouth that it had been said before.

Mike Gonzalez 16:39

Well, that that that that golf course happens to be about 30 miles from where I grew up in Jacksonville, Illinois. And so I I I'd always you know had an interest uh when I was younger, really following that tournament back in the day, just because of its proximity. I'm not sure I ever attended the tournament, but as you talk to some of these ladies over the years, they all have fond memories of the rail. Yeah.

Karen Stupples 17:02

Yeah. Well, and it's one of those places that we used to go back to that was that was uh you know very stable in in our you know, where we went to play. Like it was consistent. Same with Corning. That was uh consistent too. I mean, obviously we don't go there anymore either, but you know, those those are the kind of places that that sit very true to your heart because they're a small town that fans and galleries used to come out and support big time.

Mike Gonzalez 17:26

Yeah, yeah. Usually around Labor Day. It was associated with Jerry Lewis Telethon for a while, for a few years back in the day, I remember. Yeah. So you win the you Very cool. You take home this big money. Uh you probably, as you said, probably spent a lot of it fairly quickly, but uh did that just kind of let take your confidence to another level then in terms of future play?

Karen Stupples 17:50

It did. And um I mean it just took the pressure off, in all fairness. Like it meant that I could just you know, just go and play, not have to worry. It gave me a little bit of belief that maybe I do belong out here. But ultimately I still knew that my game the way it was wasn't built for consistency. Like it I needed to do something with my swing, I needed to make some improvements. There had to be some changes. I think I went through uh uh 2000 and then 2001, I think it really kind of dawned on me that I really needed to start to improve my golf game if I wanted to win, and I think by that point it was getting to what am I doing? I can make cuts, but I want to win. I want to hold a trophy, I don't just want to be an also ran, I don't want to be a journeywoman, I want to be more.

Mike Gonzalez 18:46

Yeah. So if there was anything specific that you knew you needed to improve, and if so, what what were those things?

Karen Stupples 18:56

I I am a a golf nerd, so I I watch people's swings and I knew that I had a left miss, and it was a a quick snipey left miss, and I didn't like it. Um I would take the club inside and then pick it up and get across the line, reroute it, and then try and get everything synced up. When everything's syncing up fine, no big deal. I'm hitting the ball great, but I was losing distance because of it, I was losing consistency, I just needed to figure out what my swing was doing. So again I turned to Janice, who was my friend, and she recommended I go and see a guy called Chip Kelke, who was at the Faldo Golf Institute in Orlando. So off I go to Chip. I see him for this lesson. The first thing he says is, Well, your clubs, your clubs aren't right for you. I said, What do you mean? He said, We're way too upright. I'm like, Really? I had no idea. So he got me fitted with some other clubs that were, you know, properly flat. I'm I'm three degrees flat, which is a which is a lot. I'm not a particularly tall person, but uh so anybody who plays golf, Bruce, you know if you're playing with clubs that are too upright, you're gonna hook it because the heel's gonna dig and the toe turns. So that was the first thing. And then then he started working on my plane. So then we started to work on you know making sure that my swing started to get on plane. That was a long process. Like getting the backswing right was not that hard, but but the downswing was always gonna be difficult, like because that's your power move, right? You you you're putting everything into it, so it's very easy to fall back into some bad habits. But eventually I I got pretty close to where I wanted it to be, and uh the results really sp spoke for themselves.

Bruce Devlin 20:41

So that was in 2002 when when you felt like you'd sort of got it where you needed it to be.

Karen Stupples 20:49

Something about that time, yeah. About 2002, 2003. 2002, I also started working with a trainer, and it was a guy called Kai Fusser, who was Annika's trainer at the time, because Annika was doing fabulous things and she was hitting the ball miles, and I thought, Craiggy, I could do with a bit of that distance too. So I went to see her trainer, and I would say that within eight weeks of working with him, I'd gained 20 yards off the T. Which was just and then and then but it took yeah, but then it took me a while to grow into it. Like I couldn't get to grips with the fact of you know, now my my 7 iron instead of going 150 yards, it's going 155, or that my driver is gonna run out of room at 260. You know, I've got to really think about these things. So it took me a while to acclimatise to that. And then another big big thing happened with uh I was friendly with Wendy Doolan and I I went to play with Wendy and Andy Bean, you know, uh down in Lakeland. Andy was lovely, Wendy was lovely. So we go went down there and Wendy said to me, What's your plan for today? Like, what do you mean? What's my plan for today? She said, Well, you must have a plan when you play golf. I said, kind of just wing it. She said, How what? She said, You've got to have a plan every time. I'm like, Really? She said, I know somebody who can help you out. So she put me in touch with a sports psychologist. Her name is Martha Kobo. And we worked with her. So her, Chip, and Kai, they became my team. And between the three of them, they created what I became on the golf course. And uh I would not have won the tournaments I won without their help.

Mike Gonzalez 22:36

Interesting. Uh, you know, you you talk about uh just getting into proper equipment. Bruce can appreciate this because, you know, as a casual golf fan, we're thinking, well, wait a minute, she's a professional. She's got to have the best, and she's properly fitted, and there's no way she'd be three degrees too upgraded, this and that. Bruce, I remember I think we were talking to Pat Bradley, and she said that uh back when Colgate, Paul Mollive, and David Foster were big supporters of women's golf, they decided to get into the equipment business, and and David uh got an equipment company and made some clubs for some of these ladies that they were sponsoring, and they were absolute rubbish.

Bruce Devlin 23:14

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 23:15

And Pat remembers the day when when uh I think David Foster they finally bought Ram golf, and she was fitted for some proper golf clubs. She just starts striping these things and saying, Oh, that's the way they're supposed to go.

Karen Stupples 23:30

Uh-huh. Yep.

Bruce Devlin 23:33

Well, it's an interesting story you had there, Karen, because you you you started in uh 99, and I I've got the I've got your money-winning record here. You made thirty-four thousand eight hundred and twenty-five dollars in ninety-nine. Then you went to fifty-nine thousand, one thirteen. And then two thousand one, ninety-one thousand. See, we're going good. Two thousand two, two thousand two hundred and fourteen thousand seven hundred dollars, and then two thousand three. You remember how much you made then? Three hundred and twenty-five thousand. I don't and then you come to your great year, which we'll get to in a little bit, but uh it was it was a real building block, really, when when you look at it, wasn't it? Yep. Little bit, a little bit here, a little bit there. It really was. Help from this guy, help from that gal.

Karen Stupples 24:35

Yep. And and that's I I think it's I've always like I said, right from the very beginning, how can I get better? How can the journey of self-improvement? It was never, as I said, about the money. I mean, obviously when you're a professional, it is about the money. But I never I never thought about it that way. It was always about how can I get better, how can I improve my shots, how can I feel good about what I'm doing when the ball's coming off the club face. And so I've always been very very honest, probably too brutally honest with with myself as as where I am and how I stand within the big scheme of things, with my game and with everybody else around. And I'm very observant, and I see what other people do, and I see how they stripe it or how they hit it and how they get around. And I always thought, well, there's more for me than what I'm doing, and how how do I find it? How do I find the people? And again, I was very lucky that it found me for the most part. Again, I think that people saw something in me that that made them want to help. And I don't know, I I I guess I'm lucky in so many ways. Keith Rawlings saw something in me. Well, even going back to Joan Piper, she saw something in me that she wanted to help. Keith Rawlings saw something in me that he wanted to help. Janice Moody saw something in me. Wendy Doolan, they all saw something in me that made them want to help. And fortunately, I was open to it, and I just went with it. And then I've realized that I I'm one of those people that you can wind up, set me going in a certain direction, and I'm just gonna keep on getting it. You know, just like a clockwork doll. Just give me the instructions and I'm gone.

Mike Gonzalez 26:23

So you've probably tried to do this in your golf commentator role, but for our listeners, try to give the average golfer an appreciation for how tough it is to win at that level.

Karen Stupples 26:42

Oh everything has to be right. Not necessarily with your ball striking or with your putting, but everything has to be right within your head. There has to be you have to be so process-oriented, you have to be oblivious to everything else that's going on around you and going on on the golf course. You've got to be totally invested in your game and what you're doing. Um, you've got to have something that you can always hang your hat on that that you can reward yourself with no matter what happens. And ultimately you can get beat. You know, there is you're playing up against 144 other players that are all trying to do the same thing as you, that all have talent, that are all gifted because they're there on tour in the first place. Anybody who's on tour has the potential to win, but somehow you've got to separate yourself from them any given week to go ahead and win. And it's it's just not that easy because it's not like you're playing one person, you're playing all 144 plus, you're playing against yourself ultimately. Yeah, that's right. It's it's uh the ultimate the ultimate competition.

Mike Gonzalez 27:51

I want to ask both of you this question. And and I want you to be honest with our listeners. As you look back on your career, what percentage of the tournaments would you say that you found yourself in the right mental place to be able forget ball striking, putting, how you were playing, but what percentage of the time were you even in the right mental place where you could have had a chance to win that week?

Karen Stupples 28:24

Um for me, uh not very much. I mean, l low single digits probably. I mean you you were always striving for it. I mean you were always striving to get there, and every single shot that you were over, you were looking to be uh as involved in your process as you possibly could. But it's really hard to find that spot. I mean you you're looking for the zone.

Mike Gonzalez 28:55

How about you, Bruce?

Bruce Devlin 28:57

Oh I have to agree with what Karen said. I I think if you got there ten percent of the time, you were doing a pretty good job. It's it's it's hard to it's hard to be there. So too many too many outside influences and things that happen that you know, you know, we mike, you can recall I've asked the question a thousand times to our our guests, you know, when they've gone along, they've won real good there for two years in a row, and then two next two years they don't do anything. Well, they're living life, you know. There's other things that affect the golf game that uh I'm sure Karen agrees with that.

Karen Stupples 29:41

Mm-hmm. No question about it. And it's you know, as I as I have got further along, you know, in my career now, talking about golf and TV, and you know, I I look back and I think about my game and when it what it was like when I was absolutely playing my best and mentally where I was and and what caused me to find the zone because I mean that's the the secret source, right? That everybody's looking for. They're looking for that zone. And for me, the secret source was being totally invested in how I was striking the ball at any given moment. Like it had nothing to do with score, nothing to do with what I was doing or anybody else was doing. I just I couldn't wait to get to the next shot. I was so excited about the potential for the next shot. What have I got here? How can I hit it? Let let me let let me feel the pureness of the strike coming out the center of this club and the freeness with which my swing was. Like if I had this flowing free move through the ball, I knew it was gonna be good. And I just couldn't wait to feel that. And I and everything else kind of blurred, and it just there was not there was nothing else but that feeling. And I th that's that that was my zone.

Mike Gonzalez 30:54

Yeah.

Karen Stupples 30:54

Now I know, I wish I'd known then.

Mike Gonzalez 30:57

Well, to to illustrate the the difficulty in winning, to get back to your point, uh let's just assume for both of you it was 10% or less. Well, then you overlay those 10% times with how were you how was your ball striking in your putting that week at the time when you were in that good mental state, and was it peaking or was it sort of average, right? Uh and then you throw in, well, but you had two or three people that just shot lights out, there was nothing I could do that week.

Bruce Devlin 31:24

Yep.

Mike Gonzalez 31:24

And or, you know, I just didn't get any breaks. Everything seemed to go sideways. You you you lay all those things on top of one another, and it just it's proves how difficult it is to win. It's hard, isn't it?

Bruce Devlin 31:37

Yeah.

Karen Stupples 31:38

Absolutely.

Mike Gonzalez 31:39

Yeah.

Karen Stupples 31:40

I'm I'm glad I didn't know that or think about that when I was trying.

Mike Gonzalez 31:42

Well, you wouldn't want to listen to me while you were trying to play golf, that's for sure. But but so let's get to the let's get to the the uh you crack into the winner's circle. Now we're in 2004, we're at the Welch's Fries Championship at Randolph Golf Course. This is the York course in Arizona, and uh, you know, not only do you win, Bruce, she wins big.

Bruce Devlin 32:04

Boy, 63, 66, 66, 63. The lowest uh Raw score in the history of the LPGA at that time, 22-1 de par. And one by five shot. And uh Yon Lee.

Karen Stupples 32:24

Yep. So interesting story about that too. Um in 2003, towards the end of 2003, I really felt like my game was starting to click in a big way. Like I felt like I had all the ingredients cooking for a victory. Like I was felt really close. And I had a really good winter practice, and I went to Australia and at the start of the year to kind of warm up for the season on some ladies' European tour event because I wanted to become a member of the Ladies' European Tour because I wanted to try and play on the Solheim Cup. So I go over to Europe, and the first event is the Australian Masters on the Gold Coast. Annika's in the field, she's obviously the number one player in the world, and she's playing pretty good. So I go out there and I'm playing pretty good too. Like I've really got, you know, I'm I'm firing on all cylinders, I'm playing great. I'm like, I have a really big chance to win this. I could beat Annika, I could win this event. This could be my first win. So I go out there with Annika in the final round, we're going head to head. She gets off to an absolute flyer of a start. So I start to push thinking I've got to try and keep up. So I try and make it happen. I try too hard, like I force things, and of course I fall away a little bit. As it turns out, she doesn't beat me by very much at the end of the day, and I end up kicking myself thinking if I had just been patient, if I had just stuck to my game plan, just played my game, I might have had a better chance than I did because she beat me on those first two holes. What and what I learned from that, I took into Tucson because I learned that I can't I have no influence over what anybody else does. I can only play my game, and that was the difference. That's is what pushed me over the edge to finally getting that victory. Um but I was playing well, like my confidence was high. I just I just knew there was that freeness to my swing and confidence that it was gonna happen.

Mike Gonzalez 34:30

So let's take you to that final round. You open the round with a bogey. You never want to do that. Where where was your head coming off that first green?

Karen Stupples 34:41

I chunked my chip. I'd hit a great drive, and I only had like a like a gap wedge into the green and I fatted it. Um my caddy, um who who actually ended up being my husband, he said, uh, I've seen many great rounds start with a bogey. This ain't no big deal. I'm like, oh, alright. The next T-shot I stuffed it, made a birdie, and we were off and running. It was, you know, good words at the right time by him.

Mike Gonzalez 35:11

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean you you you go bogey and then go birdie birdie. You eagle 13, and uh and I guess you're kind of off to the races from there, huh?

Karen Stupples 35:21

Yeah, that eagle at 13 was pretty big. Um, pretty close. You know, Laura Davis was in the group, you know, Grace Park was hanging around and um and uh Sarah, Sarah, I know it's Sarah Lee. Um, but she uh she was right there too. And um once that eagle went in, I'm like, oh I've got a little cushion here. And then I remember getting to 16, it was a little par four. I only had a gap wedge in my hand again into the green. Like my driver was spectacular that week. Little gap wedge into the green, but there's water right, the flags right. Bobby, my caddy, he's like, oh, just a little bit left. I'm thinking, I'm looking at this, I'm like, I ain't going left, I'm going right out. This bad boy stuffed it in there, made a birdie, and then uh and somehow ended up with a five-shot lead coming down the last and managed to get out of trouble and make a par at the last, and the rest is history, of bawling my eyes out over the puck. Couldn't couldn't keep the tears from flowing. Yeah, I just I just remember thinking about all the sacrifices that everybody had made for me to put me in that spot. And it was, I'm like, I can't believe I've finally done it. This is it, I'm a I'm a winner. And you still and I literally I'm standing over the puck, waiting, just I'm waiting to play it, and I'm just streaming because I just and Bobby said to me, It's like, I what I'm like, how in the world did you ever see the ball? I said, I don't know, but it went in.

Mike Gonzalez 36:50

Well, that had to open some doors for you. I mean, uh life certainly changed uh because it opened up an opportunity to come to Europe and play and eventually uh qualify for the Solheim Cup and so forth, but it it gave you some financial cushion too, didn't it?

Karen Stupples 37:05

Of course. I mean, you you always want to have um that kind of money coming in. I mean, I'd never seen a check as big in my life. So, you know, from where you think about where I'd come from, you know, working for three pounds an hour at the pub, you know, this was this was a big deal for me. And uh just well, and not only that, but it secures your future. Like the the thought of having to go back to Q school, that's gone. You know, you that you know that you're you're secure for a bit, and but I wasn't content. Like I didn't for one minute think that that's all I wanted. I I I enjoyed the feeling of winning, and I enjoyed the feeling of playing my best golf. You know, that's that's what it all came down to.

Mike Gonzalez 37:49

Well, Bruce, I suppose if you're gonna validate, you might as well validate it in a big way. Oh boy, what a what a way to validate it.

Bruce Devlin 37:58

The Widabicks Women's British Open at Sunningdale, the old golf course, right? Leader after 18 and 36, and then one behind uh after 54 holes. Tell us about that uh quick start you made the last round.

Karen Stupples 38:20

Well, I knew I was one shot back, and at Sunningdale the the golf course starts with two part fives. Now I've always been a a good driver of the golf ball. I hit the ball quite far, so I could get to those two holes in two quite easily. Um, but I also knew that the course was running fast, and a number of other players would be able to do the same thing as well. So I thought to myself, most likely everybody's gonna start birdie birdie. So I need to do better. If I want to make up the ground, I have to do better than a birdie birdie start. I remember feeling really calm uh on that final day. Um I was on the driving range, and I believe I spoke to a couple of commentators, Judy Rankin was one of them, and Maureen Medille was another. And I love talking to. If Judy showed up on the range, it kind of made my day. I get a chance to speak to her, it meant that I was doing well, and I just enjoyed talking to her. And Maureen's always been a good friend, so I enjoyed talking to her too. But I was very calm. I didn't feel nervous at all. Um very calm. I go to the T. Absolutely palm of a drive. To me, it felt like it might have been a bit off the bottom, but it obviously wasn't because it was it was 20 yards past anywhere that I'd hit all week. It was way down there. So I only had a five-arn into the green. I hit the five on to about 12, 15 feet, made the pup for Eagles. So I thought, great, there's my there's my one up. Now, now I've got to go birdie the next. Get onto the second T, hit an okay drive, kind of fanned it a little bit to the down the right side, but it was still in play, no big deal. Get down there, it's another five on. I've got about 122, 20, 23 yards to go, something like in those region. Pull out the five on, and it all kind of it's a blind shot. You go up and over a hill and it goes downhill towards the hole. So you're gonna land it short of the green and it's gonna bounce on. So I've hit this shot and I'm like, that's that's kind of the line, that's really a good line. That's kind of the place you really want to hit it. And it goes, and the crowd starts clapping, and the clapping gets louder and louder, and then they just erupt in nuts. And I have to look over to Maureen Badil, who's walking with the group, and say to her, What happened? She said you hold it. So then I do the jump. And um, so I start Eagle Albatross, Eagle D. Five under par through two holes.

Mike Gonzalez 40:40

How about that?

Karen Stupples 40:41

That was my quick start.

Mike Gonzalez 40:42

Yeah. So just for our listeners, that's two par fives, and she goes three, two. Unbelievable start.

Karen Stupples 40:52

Everybody that I've spoken to since has said that they thought there had been a mistake on the leaderboard. They're like, there's no way somebody's started that quick. Everybody thought it was wrong. But it was right.

Mike Gonzalez 41:06

It was right. And uh only the second albatross, I think, ever in an LPGA major. Your total for the week, 269-1900, tied Dottie Pepper's record for the low score to major. That was in the 1999 Dinoshore. Um, but uh, you know, this is a little different than one in uh at the Welch's, isn't it? Yeah.

Karen Stupples 41:28

It sure is. I mean, the the Women's Open was one that I had grown up watching, and the one that I had always, you know, you you always dream about winning, to be honest, as a player coming from the UK. It was at a course that was closest to my home course. I had a lot of people that were there watching me. My parents, my family, all of my family was there, and they hadn't had a chance to see my victory in Tucson. Uh, didn't have much of a chance to watch me play anymore because all of my life was in America. So for them to be there to witness that was was really special. Um, given everything that they had done for me growing up and what they sacrificed for me to even play golf. Um, I I really feel like um it was a very cool thing to do at Sunningdale in particular.

Mike Gonzalez 42:16

Yeah, what I mean, what a fantastic golf course, what a wonderful golf club. Uh uh, you know, some might say the new is as good or better than the old course, but uh what what two wonderful tracks and what a what a wonderful place to to win. This was this was by five over Rachel Tesky, uh, as we said at 1900. Uh so you join a couple of your countrywomen uh as the third English woman to have won a major, the other being Laura Davies, of course, and uh and Alison Nicholas.

Karen Stupples 42:45

No, no, that was uh you know, people that you idolize growing up. I mean, you look at them and you you see what they've done, and you're like, how could you how could you compete with that? I mean, they're superstar stuff. And there I was with my own major. It was uh opened up lots of doors, um, got to go to the Buckingham Palace a couple of times, met the Queen and did all of that. So that's kind of fun. I mean, every I mean, all in all, it was I mean, just a whirlwind of of just golf excellence from for me. Like I really like I look back on it and think, I mean, I try and remember it as it happened, but it's really difficult. Like I remember what I've seen on TV because I think I was so in the zone that it kind of was so much in the moment.

Mike Gonzalez 43:36

Yeah. Uh Bruce, Bruce and I were talking to, and I can't remember Bruce if it was Mike Weir or Bernhard Longer recently, but we asked one of them, uh, winning that first major, how your life changed, and and their response was, Well, I'm here talking to you guys.

Karen Stupples 43:53

Yeah, there's that for sure. I I think, you know, for me it's just you can never take that away. You know, that's You know, when your name's on a major championship, that's uh that's something that's very special. And and honestly, you know, when I started playing golf I didn't for one minute think that was in my future. But it here it is, and I also think it kind of sets me up for what I'm doing now. I think like I said earlier, everything kinda happens for a reason. I think without that victory, would I be in the TV business now? Who knows?

Mike Gonzalez 44:31

Thank you for listening to another episode of For the Good of the Game. And please, wherever you listen to your podcast on Apple and Spotify, if you like what you hear, please subscribe, spread the word, and tell your friends until we tee it up again for the good of the game. So long, everybody.

Intro Music 44:52

Whack down the fairway. It went smack down the fairway. Then it started to slice just smidge off line. It headed for two, but it bounced off nine. My caddy says long as you're still in the state, you're okay. Yes, it went straight down the middle, quite away.