If ever there were a golf major for grit and determination, Sarah-Jane Kenyon would surely be one of the main contenders for the title.
This plucky Queenslander has battled on the second tier tour for the past four years to realise her dream of making it on the richest stage, the US LPGA.
Forget about the knee woes of Tiger Woods, Kenyon’s life on tour represents the real struggle for hundreds of young hopefuls, plugging away week after week to keep their golfing dream alive.
Last year, the 22-year-old didn’t even cover her costs touring around the world, but the lack of money has not dampened her aim of making the big time on the US LPGA tour.
At the moment, she sits tantalisingly close to realising her goal, sitting 8th on the money list of the second tier tour, the Duramed Futures.
A top five finish will give her automatic entry into the main game and all that sits between Kenyon and her goal is a money-earning gap of around $3,500.
With just four tournaments to go, a win at either one of them will all but secure Kenyon a coveted LPGA card.
“I think I am close to winning, I am hitting the ball as well as I have ever hit it, but in the last two weeks my putting has just been terrible but I went and saw my coach and I think we worked on a couple of things which I feel really good about,” she said.
“I think it should be good this week at Richmond, the greens are really good which I think will help me.”
This is Kenyon’s fourth year on the Futures Tour and although she started her rookie year with a first up win in Florida, another victory has been hard to come by.
Kenyon pinpoints the lack of a regular coach in the States and also her health.
Celiac’s disease runs in her family, so Kenyon decided to eliminate wheat and other glutens from her diet. It made her feel much better.
So too did her switch to a locally based coach, Florida’s Phil Ritson, who lists Gary Player and KJ Choi as his pupils.
“He’s a really good coach, I started seeing him in July last year and we had some pretty big changes to make and they are all just starting to pay off.”
Without getting too technical, because Kenyon did well at last year’s LPGA qualifying school, this year she gained conditional status on this year’s tour. It meant she was able to compete in around 10 events. The only trick was deciding which ones to compete in, because not only do you need to qualify for the richer ones, you also need to be able to afford the travel to the location.
“It’ a tricky situation at the start of the year where you know you are going to get into 10 LPGA events so do you stick it out there and try and finish in the top 80 or do you try and get a top 5 finish here on Futures, it’s a hard decision to make,” she said.
This year, Kenyon attempted to qualify for the LPGA event at Hawaii on her way back from the Australian golfing season. She didn’t make it.
To add to her woes, Kenyon made a better start on the Futures Tour than she expected and was placed in the top 5 after just a handful of events.
The problem was that she had earlier decided not to gamble paying the $1,000 entry fee for the third series of the Futures Tour, opting instead to try her luck on the LPGA. Sadly the LPGA option did not pay off so she requested a late entry into the Futures Tour events. Her request was denied.
“It would have been nice to have played in those two events because I dropped from 5- 8 on the money list when I missed those two events so that’s probably the bummer of the year so far,” she said.
Sarah-Jane Kenyon’s story is like so many other battling pros on the tour where winning a tournament nets around $14,000. Contrast that to this week’s Canadian Women’s Open where the 2007 champion, Loren Ochoa pocketed $US337, 000. The five players who tied 34th at last year’s Canadian Open, each took away around $13,000.
Kenyon believes she is close to mixing it with those, big girls but first there is one big difference between her game and theirs.
“Mainly the short game, playing with some of the girls in the top 80 on the LPGA they are unbelievable putters and from 100 in on par fives they are always getting up and down for birdies,” she said.
“I think there is always room for improvement and I think that is definitely something that I have got to work on.”
Ever the optimist, Kenyon will not be fazed if she doesn’t make the US LPGA this year. She and her fiancé, Aussie pro golfer Duane Smith have already decided next year they may even try the Ladies European Tour.
But if she does make it, Olympians aside, this is one of the understatements of the year: “I will certainly appreciate it I think.”
