BRADENTON, Florida − After finishing practice on Wednesday, Paula Creamer, professional golfer, morphed into Paula Creamer, full-time mom, picking up 2-year-old daughter Hilton Rose from area daycare.
Hard enough is it being one or the other, professional golfer or full-time mom, the 37-year-old Creamer is attempting to juggle both, the added difficulty being her attempt to climb back up the LPGA mountain.
“Everybody out here is really good,” Creamer said, “and trying to balance being a mom, all of that, it’s hard. I’ve really had to buckle down and say, ‘Paula, you’re going to have to work two times harder than they are because I’ve got other things that I have to do.’”
At one time, the former IMG Academy student breathed that mountain’s rarified air. In 2008, Creamer made the cut in all 27 events she entered, winning four and finishing second once. In 2009, she twice finished second in 20 events played and tied for third at the Women’s British Open. In 2010, Creamer won her only major, the U.S. Women’s Open. She was ranked as high as No. 2 in the Women’s World Golf Rankings.
But in the ensuing years, Creamer won just once, the HSBC Women’s Champions event in 2014. The number of tournaments entered decreased, as did the number of cuts not made. Wrist and thumb injuries forced her to miss the entire 2020 season. In 2021, Creamer entered seven tournaments, making the cut once.
Maternity leave again forced her to the sideline. Returning in mid-2022, Creamer made two cuts out of five tournaments played. Last year, the golfer ranked 19th on the LPGA career money list in earnings with more than $12 million missed the cut in 11 of the 13 events she entered. She ended 2023 ranked 872nd in the world.
Paula Creamer, of Pleasanton, Calif., waives to the crowd during round 1 of the 2023 Kroger Queen City Championship in at Kenwood Country Club in Madeira, Ohio, on Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023.
But Creamer wasn’t prepared to hang up her spikes and devote herself to being a full-time mother, as evidenced by her appearance at the LPGA Drive On Championship. Her first round, a 1-over 72, tied for 58th, hardly was vintage Paula Creamer, but if it serves as a first step back up that LPGA mountain, the player nicknamed “The Pink Panther’ will take it.
“I love playing golf,” she said. “I love competing. And I want to win. It’s been a very tough 4-5 years for me. Everything in my life has changed, but I’m learning how to figure…
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