ORLANDO — In a way, playing golf in the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions felt a bit like being on the “Today” Plaza for NBC meteorologist Dylan Dreyer. At least when it came to taking selfies and talking to fans on a sun-splashed day.
Dreyer, 41, is one of 56 celebrities competing in the LPGA’s season-opener with husband Brian Fichera, an NBC News producer and cameraman on the bag. Fichera is the one who introduced Dreyer to golf when they started dating in 2010 while working together at WHDH in Boston.
“Now, she’s gotten so great,” said Fichera, “I don’t give her strokes anymore. We’re playing straight up from now on. She’s an athlete.”
Of course, casual golf hits a little different than a round alongside LPGA pros and professional athletes across all sports. Coming out of the cold in New York City, the mother of three boys – Calvin, 6, Oliver, 3, and Rusty 1 – felt overwhelmed from the start at the first LPGA TOC.
“When I’m in the studio, you could throw any curveball at me and I can talk through it, that’s my wheelhouse,” said Dreyer, “that’s what I can do, whether it’s a storm, whatever. This, I can’t pull myself out of it.”
Dylan Dreyer, Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, Craig Melvin and Sheinelle Jones on the set of NBC’s Today on Dec. 7, 2022, in New York. (Photo: Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images)
Annika Sorenstam, the greatest player in the modern era who won 72 times on the LPGA and happens to live on the 16th hole at host course Lake Nona Golf and Country Club, leads the celebrity division with 39 points in the Stableford format.
Brooke Henderson, the winningest Canadian golfer in history, leads the LPGA field of 29 players after a 5-under 67. World No. 2 Nelly Korda trails by one.
Dreyer captained the field hockey and softball teams in high school and got hooked on golf during the couple’s dating years. The instructor that she hired in those early years approached their lessons scientifically, and Dreyer enjoyed learning about the physics behind the swing.
“I grasped that,” she said, “because that’s how my brain works. And I fell in love with it immediately.”
Three kids later, however, it’s often tough to get in more than one round of golf a month, especially with Dreyer working morning shifts on the “Today” and Fichera working evening shifts at NBC News.
“We’re passing ships around 10 a.m.,” said Fichera.
To prepare for this event, Dreyer played…
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