Sophia Schubert Archives - Golf Digest Middle East

LPGA Tour Championship contender Sophia Schubert wants to be top gun on the course and in the skies

Matt Smith — Fri, 18 Nov 2022 06:56:27 +0000

By Shane Ryan
When Brooke Henderson hooked her tee shot on the 18th hole at the Evian Championship this past July, and Sophia Schubert’s putt on the green tracked toward the hole, it seemed very much like the 26-year-old American would win her first major. Instead, her putt stopped an inch short of the cup, Henderson’s tee shot hit a tree and caromed back into the fairway, and it was Henderson who made birdie to win by a stroke.

Nevertheless, it was a massive breakthrough for Schubert, who was playing in just her fifth major and whose previous best finish was T-58. For her, the near win proved that she belonged and propelled her to a rank of 59 on the LPGA Tour, just inside the cut-off for this week’s CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon Golf Club.

In her first round on Thursday, Schubert made her fifth birdie of the day on 18 to post a four-under-par 68, tied for sixth place with six others, including her nemesis Henderson and World No. 1 Nelly Korda. They are three shots off the lead held by Lydia Ko (65), and Schubert is vying for her best finish since the Evian.

After the round, Schubert, 26, let it slip that winning in Naples wasn’t her only near-term goal, and it started with a question about what she might buy if she won the $2 million first-place prize — the largest in the history of women’s golf.

“I’ve started taking flying lessons, so maybe a plane,” she said.

It’s one of those quotes that inspires many more questions.

First off … what?

“Oh, gosh,” she said. “I started that probably five or six months ago. And I’ve not been able to take any lessons the last month or so just because I’ve been on the road, but I’m really trying to get that done possibly in a year. So we’ll see.”

Amazingly, this started when she watched the “Top Gun” sequel with her boyfriend. She had been looking for a hobby outside golf to distract herself, and after watching Tom Cruise light up the skies, she thought: “I might as well try this. It seems fun.” And that is a direct quote.

“I took off the very first time that I got in the plane for my first lesson,” she said. “I haven’t landed. That’s the scary part. So the flying is not that hard, but it’s all the ground school and the book stuff that’s kind of the hard stuff.”

Her dream is to fly herself to a tournament one day like Arnold Palmer. (A reporter pointed out that Peggy Kirk Bell, a pioneer of the women’s game, also took her own plane to events.) She’s not there yet — she’s hesitant to even call into the tower, which she describes as her scariest moment so far — but she’s already a junkie for the adrenaline of taking off and surveying the earth from above. Considering the fact that her best friend’s husband is an instructor, you get the feeling that this is a goal she’ll see to the end.

In the meantime, Schubert finds herself in the mix for the first LPGA win of her career (she won in 2021 on the Symetra Tour), and if this is the week she breaks through, it will be a case of extremely good timing. You can buy a very good small plane for around $100,000, and with $2 million, she could own a whole fleet.

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Sophia Schubert: The Amundi Evian Championship runner-up actually was a big winner, too

Matt Smith — Tue, 26 Jul 2022 06:47:48 +0000

By Ryan Herrington
There’s nothing like the excitement of earning your LPGA Tour card for the first time. Sophia Schubert, a former college All-American at Texas and the 2018 US Women’s Amateur champ knows that first-hand, having felt it last fall when she finished the fourth on the Epson Tour money list, securing LPGA playing privileges for 2022.

There’s also, however, nothing like a corollary feeling: the nervousness of trying to keep your card.

Like all Epson Tour graduates, Schubert’s priority ranking required a solid start to her season. But in her first 11 appearances, she missed five cuts, the 26-year-old was sitting 99th in the CME Race to the Globe standings with the top 100 keeping their cards for 2023.

That changed on Sunday, however, as Schubert continued a magical run at the Amundi Evian Championship. Starting the day four shots back of leader Brooke Henderson, Schubert overcame an early bogey and made four birdies in a 10-hole stretch to grab a share of the lead.

MORE: World’s best set for Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open
Henderson claims major prize at Evian

“I was kind of nervous all day, a little more than yesterday, and Brittany just kept saying, ‘Hey, just take a deep breath. It’s OK. Just keep doing what you’re doing,’” Schubert said. “I think the last few holes coming in actually I just had the sense of like peace, so I just hit every shot and kept going.”

Three pars to close her round got Schubert into the clubhouse with a closing 68 and tied with Brooke Henderson at 16 under par. Schubert’s dream of making her first top-10 finish in an LPGA event a major victory came to an end when Henderson birdied the 18th hole to squeak out a one-stroke victory.

While coming up short of the title, Schubert still jumped to 38th in the CME standings with the runner-up finish, all but guaranteeing her playing privileges in 2023. And cashing in on the $586,262 runner-up payday, Schubert earned seven times as much as she had made all season ($82,796).

There were tears after, but the tears of happiness.

“I’m proud of myself, proud of everyone that’s helped me get to this point,” Schubert said. “It came just short, but I know that I’ll be back, so I’m really happy.”

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Amundi Evian Championship: Brooke Henderson didn’t make it easy on herself, but still wins second major

Golf Digest Middle East — Mon, 25 Jul 2022 05:55:03 +0000

By Keely Levins
A year ago, Jeonguen Lee6 saw a five-shot final-round lead slip away at the Amundi Evian Championship, the South Korean ultimately losing the tournament in a playoff to Minjee Lee. On Sunday, at the Evian Resort Golf Club, it looked like history was repeating itself.

Brooke Henderson opened with rounds of 64-64-68 and had a two-shot edge, but started Day 4 in France with a bogey on the first hole and a double-bogey on the sixth (thanks to a four-putt). Suddenly, the leaderboard surged around her, the 24-year-old Canadian needing to fight from behind on the back nine. But that’s where this year’s drama changed. With birdies on three of her final five holes, including a 12-footer on the par-5 18th, Henderson rallied to win by one shot.

[parone_video_player campaign=”337″ defaultlang=”en” feed=”51-all-videos”/]

“It was definitely an interesting day. Not the start that I wanted, but I stayed pretty patient, as patient as I could under those circumstances,” said Henderson, who ultimately finished with an even-par 71 on Sunday for a 17-under 267 total. “Then going into the back nine, you know, the saying is that majors are won on the back nine on Sunday, so I just tried to keep that frame of mind, and knew I was still in it if I could have a solid back.”

A MAJOR SELFIE.
CONGRATS BROOKE. @LPGA #EvianChamp pic.twitter.com/AWemhD5tnN

— The Amundi Evian Championship (@EvianChamp) July 24, 2022

While experienced players such as major champions Nelly Korda, Lydia Ko and Jin Young Ko all made charges on Sunday, it was the No. 283 player in the world who became Henderson’s greatest challenger. Sophia Schubert, a 26-year-old LPGA rookie from Tennessee, was having an out-of-nowhere performance at the Evian.

In a season where she had missed five cuts in 11 starts, Schubert was cruising around the Evian Resort Golf Club. A closing three-under 68 allowed the former University of Texas All-American to finish at 16-under. She then had to watch to see if it was enough to force a playoff with Henderson, at 16-under herself when teeing off on the reachable-in-two par-5 18th.

Henderson’s tee shot found the left rough, causing her to lay-up back in the fairway with her second. She hit her approach from 107 yards to about 12 feet, the same distance Schubert missed a birdie try from moments earlier.

The putter seemed to be the issue for Henderson on Sunday. Despite hitting 15 greens, the No. 10 ranked player in the world had 34 putts. But Henderson buried her final putt, making all of those she misses obsolete.

Afterward, Henderson looked a little shocked, mouthing what looked like ‘Oh my God,’ to her sister, Brittany, who’s also her caddie. The win, her second in 2022 (to go with the LPGA Classic in June) is Henderson’s 12th on the LPGA Tour, further cementing her as the most accomplished Canadian golfer in history. And it was her second major, to go with a win at the 2016 KPMG Women’s PGA, making her the first Canadian golfer, male or female, to be a multiple major winner.

The financial spoils for the victory were nice, too. The record $1 million winner’s cheque pushes Henderson past the $10 million threshold for her career, making her just the 24th player in LPGA history to break eight figures.

“In 2016, winning the first major changed my life,” Henderson said. “My world ranking shot up, and I just received a ton more attention from fans and media. It also made me feel like I really belonged out here and that I could contend for big, major championships and compete against the best in the world, which is an amazing feeling,” Henderson said. “It has been a long time, and getting off to a fast start early this week, it just felt great to be at the top of the leaderboard at a major. I just tried to take that excitement as far as I could.”

It has been a long time, but Henderson said this one was definitely worth the wait.

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Collegians set to lead the U.S. Curtis Cup team come June as the USGA names the eight-player squad

Golf Digest Middle East — Wed, 18 Apr 2018 05:37:14 +0000

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, FRANCE – SEPTEMBER 17: Sophia Schubert of USA plays a shot during the final round of The Evian Championship at Evian Resort Golf Club on September 17, 2017 in Evian-Les-Bains, France. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)

By Ryan Herrington
U.S. captain Virginia Derby Grimes will have a confident, seasoned group to lead as the Americans aim to win back the Curtis Cup come June at Quaker Ridge Golf Club outside New York City.

The USGA announced on Tuesday the eight players who’ll compete for the U.S. against Great Britain & Ireland in the 40th biennial matches June 8-10. They include:

• Mariel Galdiano, 19, Pearl City, Hawaii
• Kristen Gillman, 20, Austin
• Jennifer Kupcho, 20, Westminster, Colo.
• Andrea Lee, 19, Hermosa Beach, Calif.
• Lucy Li, 15, Redwoods Shores, Calif.
• Sophia Schubert, 22, Oak Ridge, Tenn.
• Lauren Stephenson, 20, Lexington, S.C.
• Lilia Vu, 20, Fountain Valley, Calif.

While Li will be the first 15-year-old playing for the U.S. since Lexi Thompson made the 2010 Curtis Cup team, the remaining players are all collegians with five players age 20 and older, four more than the 2016 U.S. team.

And, as you’d expect, these Americans aren’t just any old college players, but a who’s who of the game. Vu (UCLA), Stephenson (Alabama), Lee (Stanford), Schubert (Texas), Gillman (Alabama) and Kupcho (Wake Forest) are Nos. 1, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 9 in the most recent Golfstat individual player rankings, none of whom have an adjusted scoring average in the 2017-’18 season higher than 70.7.

USGA representatives gave the players a heads up in the last few days about their selections. Vu was just finishing a class when she got her call. “I missed [it] but was calling back super excited,” Vu said.

Vu, a UCLA junior, is No. 1 on the most recent Golfstat college player ranking and in the running for national player-of-the-year honours. (Courtesy of UCLA)

Two golfers—Galdiano and Lee—return from that 2016 squad that fell to the GB&I, 11½-8½, at Dun Laoghaire Golf Club in Ireland two years ago.

American fans hope Derby Grimes’ personal success in the Curtis Cup can rub off on her players. Not only was she a member of three winning teams, but her 4-0-1 foursomes record is second-best all-time for the U.S.

Two years ago, the American went 1-2 in foursomes in the morning session on Friday and Saturday, forcing them to come-from-behind each day.

“I think the big thing is to make sure you pair the players together with personalities that maybe are similar, and they get along,” Derby Grimes said via video during the announcement of the team.

All eight players attended the training session held at Shoal Creek in December.

The Americans have not lost the Curtis Cup on home soil since 1994 at The Honors Course in Tennessee, and they haven’t lost twice in a row since 1986-88.

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Sophia Schubert wins U.S. Women’s Amateur by a smile, 6 & 5, over Albane Valenzuela

Golf Digest Middle East — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 08:05:16 +0000

Sophia Schubert holds the Robert Cox Trophy after winning the U.S. Women’s Amateur at San Diego Country Club on Sunday. (Copyright USGA/Steven Gibbons)

By John Strege

Sophia Schubert was not yet four when her mother took her down to Fairways and Greens Golf Center in Knoxville, Tenn., to learn a game that would allow her to enjoy time with her father.

“I remember her always with a bright little grin on her face that also reached her eyes and lit them up as well,” her instructor Nicole Weller said. “Just a happy golfing girl with that classic curly-hair ponytail, who was always giggling while having a good time at the course or range. Think she started out with the Snoopy clubs and always had great balance and a silky smooth swing.”

Only her equipment has changed. Schubert is still giggling, still grinning, and on Sunday at San Diego Country Club she had as good a time as she likely has ever had on a golf course.

Schubert, 21, a University of Texas senior, won the U.S. Women’s Amateur in a dominant manner, defeating Albane Valenzuela of Switzerland, 6 & 5, in the 36-hole final.

She birdied the first hole, was 4 up through the first 18, never trailed and lost only a single hole to Valenzuela, a Stanford sophomore, who is third in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. Schubert made five birdies, the last of them by holing a 25-foot downhill left-to-right putt from the rough behind the green at the par-3 11th hole, the 29th of the match.

“It was really hard,” she said. “I felt I should chip it, but he [caddie Ryan Murphy, also her coach at Texas] told me to putt it. It went through the grass pretty smoothly. I thought this is it. I figured I would win it then.

“I worked so had for this. To win it is just incredible.”

The only hole that Valenzuela won came when she hit her approach to two feet at No. 1 in the afternoon, following a two-hour break for lunch. Whatever momentum she might have had was extinguished quickly when she missed a 10-footer at No. 2.

“It was one of those days when I couldn’t make the putts,” she said. “I had good reads and good looks, but just couldn’t make them. It wasn’t my day. It happens. It’s golf. I played some great golf, but it didn’t go my way today. It was great to win five matches in my first year in the Amateur.”

Moments after Valenzuela missed a short par putt at 13, Schubert holed her three-foot par putt to win. She thought she would cry, but tears didn’t come. “I’ll probably cry later,” she said. Probably when she makes that first phone call, to her father Bill.

In an ironic twist, Bill, the reason her mother introduced her to the game to spend time with him, was not there to witness this her finest hour. He was still at home in Tennessee, watching on television. A home builder, he stayed behind to tend to business, though he was tempted to board a plane on Saturday night. The family decided against it.

“He didn’t want to mess up my mojo,” Schubert said, giggling the giggle and grinning the grin that Weller, now the head teaching pro at the Landings Club in Savannah, Ga., still remembers all these years later.

“She just seemed to love playing and had no fear,” Weller said. “Never seemed to be a part of the politics of golf around her. She just wanted to play and be challenged.”

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