Olivia Mehaffey to turn professional on May 28
Olivia Mehaffey of Northern Ireland plays her stroke from the No. 2 tee during the final round of the Augusta National Women's Amateur, Saturday, April 3, 2021.
Arizona State and Ireland star Olivia Mehaffey has announced her intention to turn professional and make her debut on the Symetra Tour’s Mission Inn Resort and Club Championship in Orlando from May 28-30.
Currently ranked 19th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, the 23-year old from Banbridge aims to win a second NCAA title with her Arizona State teammates before taking the plunge into the paid ranks.
“I am so grateful for all the amazing experiences I have been fortunate to have in my amateur career,” Mehaffey said in a statement. “Without the support from Golf Ireland, ASU and my family none of it would’ve been possible so I am forever grateful. My amateur career has made me proud in many ways and I am happy to have accomplished many things.”
Mehaffey has enjoyed an illustrious amateur career, reaching a career-high of third in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
She earned multiple representative honours for Ireland as well as two Curtis Cup and Palmer Cup appearances and selection for the Great Britain and Ireland Vagliano Trophy team.
She is no stranger to major appearances having been in contention at the most recent Augusta National Women’s Amateur, where she finished two shots behind Japan’s Tsubasa Kajitani.
She has also competed in three British Opens, two US Opens and one ANA Inspiration.
Speaking ahead of her professional debut, Mehaffey said: “I now feel ready to take the next step in my career and I have been looking forward to this day since I was a young girl!”
She intends to play tournaments in both the US and in Europe through sponsor invitations this summer before heading to the LPGA Q-School in August with the aim of gaining full status on the LPGA Tour.
Mehaffey took up the game at the age of six, learning from her father Philip and brother Luke at Tandragee Golf Club.
“My dad and my brother played and I have always been quite sporty," she explained. "I was really competitive and when dad brought me to play and Luke was there, I always wanted to beat him.
"There was a while when I was around 12 that we were both off the same handicap, and it was so competitive to see who could get lower. That really helped when I was growing up and they had a really good junior programme at Tandragee as well.”
She burst onto the international scene in spectacular fashion in 2015 when she won the Irish Girls’ Open Strokeplay and the Scottish and Welsh Women’s Amateur titles.
Then in 2016, she won the Welsh Ladies, Irish Ladies and Irish Women’s Close titles before going to win the Curtis Cup at Dun Laoghaire alongside international team mates Leona Maguire and Maria Dunne.
A few months later she made history as she teamed up with Leona Maguire and Annabel Wilson to win Ireland’s first bronze medal in the World Amateur Team Championships in Mexico.
She went on to sign for ASU and helped the Sun Devils win the 2016-17 NCAA Division One title for the first time since 1998.
She would go on to win four times individually at ASU where she returned this year for a fifth season of eligibility after the cancellation of the COVID-affected 2019-20 season and the LPGA Tour’s Q-Series scuppered her plans to turn professional.
Earlier this season she played on a sponsor’s invitation in the Symetra Tour’s Carlisle Arizona Women's Golf Classic and finished sixth.
Now she’s looking to join Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow on the LPGA Tour.
"When we were growing up there wasn't anybody you could look up to on the LPGA Tour, we were always looking at the men, so it's nice to have the two girls there now,” she said earlier this year.
“Hopefully, I'll be next, with others coming behind me. The High Performance Programme in Ireland is doing such a fantastic job.
"I'm very close to Leona, and she's very good at giving me advice in terms of management companies and tour life. It's great to learn from other people's experiences.”
