Meadow ready for high intensity end to season; Maguire second reserve for US Open
Stephanie Meadow. Picture: Philip Magowan / PressEye
Stephanie Meadow is gunning to continue her hot form in freezing Texas just 12 months after salvaging her card there by the skin of her teeth.
The Jordanstown (28) star joins Leona Maguire at the Volunteers of America Classic in Dallas, still flying high after a third-place finish in last week's Pelican Women's Championship catapulted her into the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship in two weeks.
It's all a massive contrast to the stress of last year, when she drained a 20 footer at the last to tie for sixth and keep her card with nothing to spare.
She believes she learned from that experience and can harness the feeling of surviving "anxiety central" as she seeks her maiden LPGA Tour win.
"It's something you draw on probably for the rest of my career," said Meadow, who is now fifth reserve for next week's $5.5 million US Women's Open in Houston with Maguire now second reserve. "I think I learned a lot about myself. As stressful as it was, call it anxiety central, I was able to pull myself out of it and get it done.
"I think that teaches you a lot, like if you're trying to win a golf tournament, why aren't you doing the same thing if that's how you perform.
"I don't want to say anxiety, but a little more intensity, high-intensity play or mindset kind of gets me going and I think I do better with that. And I might not have ever known that. I've learned a lot, and obviously, it's paying off."
As for next week's US Women's Open, Meadow is now fifth reserve with Maguire up to second reserve as she battles to make the top 60 in the points list who will contest the CME Group Tour Championship in two weeks.
"I'm very keen," added Meadow. "It's a massive purse. It's a US Open. I was 32nd reserve a few weeks ago, but now I am all the way up to fifth, and I am sure I will get an update in the next few days with all the testing.
"So I'd love to play in it. Fingers crossed. I don't want anybody to get sick or hurt, but it would be a great opportunity."
While she may yet get into the US Open, 61st ranked Maguire (26) must assume she needs a strong week in Dallas to make the top 60 points-winners who qualify for the $5 million Tour Championship.
Both players should have no problem adjusting to cold temperatures in Texas with lows of 4C and cold winds a major contrast to last year’s sweltering heat.
“I grew up in it so I kind of somewhat know what I'm doing,” said Meadow, who will have fiancé Kyle Kallan on her bag this week. “But went and bought some more clothes yesterday, so that's a positive. You've got to have the right mindset. It's easy to just give up and think that you can't shoot low scores, but it's still out there and just kind of brave it.
“Sometimes I wonder at like 11, 12 years old why I did it, but I remember some really brutal times. But I mean that's what you grow up in, there's no other option, there isn't an 80 and sunny day. If you're going to play in the winter, it's going to be miserable for the most part.
“Yeah, I just kind of draw on that and know that I can do it, and at the end of the day a nice hot chocolate and some warm tea or something at the end and you'll survive.”
