When Liz Young competed at the 2016 AIG Women’s British Open while seven months pregnant at Woburn, one of her favorite clubs, and called it “paradise golf.”
What happened last week must have felt similarly blissful. Young, 39, won the VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open to secure her first title on the Ladies European Tour. She radiated joy while holding the trophy – a wooden cow.
“I said earlier in the year that I feel like my best golf is yet to come,” said Young. “That sounds strange when I’m about to hit the big 4-0 next month.”
Young, who won in her 200th start on the LET, turned professional in 2009 and has $657,512 in career earnings. Congratulatory messages have poured in since her one-stroke victory over young Swedish hotshot, Linn Grant. Current players, past players who stopped to have children, older players who were thrilled to see a thirtysomething beat up the young guns, all celebrated. This was a popular victory.
Young isn’t the oldest player to win this season: South Africa’s Lee-Anne Pace won the Investec SA Women’s Open in April at 41 years, 1 month and 17 days old. Still, it’s a rarity on any tour. Only 28 players aged 35 and over have competed on the LET this season.
Young’s husband Jonathan and daughter Isabelle were back home in England when she won in Switzerland. Jonathan works as a graphic designer and typically gets out to about three events per year. Because the men’s BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth was going on at the same time, the Swiss Ladies Open wasn’t being shown live in England. Friends took videos of Young during the final round, and Jonathan received them through a text message chain.
“It just shows me now, that after 14 years, I can actually win,” said Young. “I’m hoping there’s more to come.”
Young flew to England Saturday night and spent a few hours at home on Sunday before picking up the car and boarding the ferry to France for this week’s event. Known as an accurate player, Young has worked since the winter on better distance control with her irons.
The toughest time as a mom on tour, she said, came three years ago, when Isabelle would beg her not to leave. While LPGA players have benefitted from the Smucker’s LPGA Child Development Center for nearly 30 years, there’s no daycare provided on the LET.
“It’s hard enough to win when you’re not a mother on any tour,” said former LPGA player, major winner and mom Karen Stupples, “the competition is so deep…
..
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Golfweek…