Lessons From a Major

This past weekend, I had the privilege of volunteering at the Women’s US Open hosted at Lancaster CC about an hour from my house. I volunteered as a standard bearer, so my job was to hold the scoring sign and change the numbers depending on the player’s performance. One of the major perks of this position is that I get to walk inside the ropes with the players as they played their round. It was one of the coolest experiences I have ever had.

On Sunday, I was lucky enough to be in the final pairing with Minjee Lee and Andrea Lee. Watching two players tied for the lead at a major play to try and win was incredible. Neither of them had their best games that day, and neither of them ended up winning, however the way they handled themselves on the course impressed me.

Minjee started out very well with a birdie on the first hole, while Andrea ended up 3 putting the first. Walking to the second tee, both of their expressions looked the same. If you didn’t know what had just happened on the first hole, you would never guess one birdied and the other bogeyed.

I remember a quote from Rory Mcilroy I saw on instagram when he was talking about the mental game. He said that Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods are the best players in the game because their minds were the best out of everyone. In terms of skill level, all of the other top players in the world were at the same level, but Tiger and Nick stood out because they had better mental games compared to the rest of the field.

I think this was the same for both Minjee and Andrea. They were tied for the lead after 3 rounds because that week, their minds were better than everyone else. Lancaster CC is a very tough course, and it can be easy to get ahead of yourself. The players who finished at the top of the leaderboard this past week were the ones who won the battle between the course and the mind. Both Minjee and Andrea won this battle.

Although neither of them played their best golf during the final round, there were moments that they salvaged a par or bogey when they had to. They got out of tough situations minimizing the damage that could have been done. Hole 8 is an uphill par 3 that can play up to 200 yards. The players were either hitting long irons or hybrids into this green, and anywhere on the green was a really good shot.

Andrea pushed her hybrid right, and it ended up getting a right kick ending up near a tree right of the cart path. Her lie was not very good and she ended up putting it in the bunker about 20 yards in front of her. She then had to try and salvage a bogey. She hit a really good bunker shot to about 3 feet and saved her bogey. If her mind was not in the right spot, she could have very easily made double or worse, but she stayed relaxed on the outside and saved a hole that could have easily made a turn for the worst.

The end of the round is where it impressed me the most. Both of them ended up not finishing where they wanted to finish, especially after being tied for the lead before the round started, but they were both smiling and signing autographs for me. They were talking to their friends and family with smiles and laughters. I know internally they were probably disappointed with the way they played, but they didn’t show that.

My biggest takeaway from walking with the final group on Sunday is that one of the hardest things in golf is to let your emotions take the best of you. The best players in the world are not separated by their skill level, they are separated by their mental games. Both Minjee and Andrea made their way to the final pairing on Sunday due to their strong mental game, and that will take you way farther in golf than simply working on your swing.