Everyone who comes to visit me says: WOW!

Normally, as a professional golfer, you jet around the world. In the past few months months, this was not possible during the compulsory Corona break. Did you enjoy enjoyed not having to live out of a suitcase for once, or did you immediately miss the normal did you immediately miss the normal tour routine?

I enjoy being on the road and playing tournaments all over the world. For sure, it was unusual to be at home for more than a week before I'm on the road again for four to five weeks. Nevertheless, I felt the time I now spent at home together with my boyfriend and my family was very nice. From a sporting point of view, the forced break was not entirely inconvenient for me. The start of the season didn't go as I'd hoped, so the break was good for me to come down. Our off-season is always quite short anyway. I set up tee nets and putting mats at home in the garden and worked intensively on my technique. Before the golf courses reopened to everyone on May 1, we professionals were allowed on the golf course to practice from mid-April. In June, I played tournaments in Austria and achieved consistently good results. Now I'm looking forward to the ASI Ladies Scottish Open and the start of the LET season.

Athletes live from and for competition. How do you keep training motivation high when you don't know when the next tournament will be?

The situation was really funny. For a long time, no one knew when and how it would continue. Several times it was said that it would be at a certain point in time. So I started to prepare myself. But in the end all the tournaments were cancelled. So it was really difficult to keep refocusing. After all, you want to reach the peak of your performance on the day of the tournament.

We are sitting on the terrace of the Innsbruck-Igls Lans Golf Club, having played 9 beautiful holes. What defines home for you?

You just have to look all around: The mountains are my place of strength. Whenever I take a break from golf, I'm on a mountain near my home town of Igls. At the summit, not only is the view overwhelming, but you simply feel free. I can really enjoy hiking on mountains. Together with my boyfriend and a couple of friends, we recently went on a four-day tour through the Karwendel Mountains. We only had cell phone reception on the summits. A wonderful experience.

Your golf career also began here almost 20 years ago. When did it become you wanted to make a living as a professional golfer?

It was already in the back of my mind early on. When I went to the US at the age of 18, I was able to compete better with others. When I qualified for the US Open as an amateur, I was 100 percent sure that this was what I really wanted to do.

How did your time at US College shape you?

For me, it was a completely different world. Over there, everything is set up so professionally, the whole system is based on decades of experience. We athletes had our own fitness center at the university, a fitness trainer just for us golfers, and our own physiotherapists. Everything was perfectly tailored to the sport. We lived right on campus, and if there was a problem, we always had someone to take care of it. Even when we wanted to squeeze in extra fitness training on days off, our trainer had time to work specifically with each individual. In a way, my time in college opened my eyes and I understood: Aha, this is how you do it. I didn't know all that before.

How does a young Austrian golf talent actually get a golf scholarship to a US college? Did you apply yourself or were you noticed by scouts?

When I was playing a junior tournament in Scotland, a representative from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga approached me directly and invited me to come see everything the next November, as they were eager to invite me to join the golf team. That's how it all started.

The professionalism you learned in college still resonates today. You have six coaches on your team: golf coach, fitness coach, Pilates, physical therapist, osteopath and mental coach. Who is the most important?

It's hard to say whether one is the most important. Rather, they have to work together and together they are extremely important for me. I certainly have the most contact with my golf coach Steve Waltman, because I also coordinate the fitness program with him. I meet the fitness coaches when I'm at home almost every day. I meet Steve at the Kitzbüheler Alpen Westendorf Golf Club once a week when I'm in Tyrol.

Professional sports are about hard work and talent, but also about the right mindset. Which is more decisive?

Certainly, it takes talent in the beginning, because nothing works without talent. But right after that, above all, you have to work hard for success. Nothing is given to you as a gift. In professional sports, at the latest, you also have to have the necessary mindset. Suddenly it's not just about winning, but also about money and unpaid bills that have to be settled. When you play at the front for the first time, it's a real mental challenge. But it's also about proving that you can win even as a professional. You have to get used to this particular pressure. But I've been a pro for eight years now and know the routine and the people on the tour. That helps.

In what situations do you talk to your mental coach?

We do not meet regularly. Instead, we talk about specific situations. For example, we talk about how to deal with the fact that we're playing for the title after three days. How do I manage not to think too far ahead, but to stay in the moment? But we also talk about moments when things didn't go so well. Then we want to find out: Was it the head, or was my game bad? Every golfer knows that there is an eternal uphill and downhill in our sport. It never gets easier to accept that things can't always go well. But you learn to deal with it better.

In 2016, you represented Austria at the Olympic Games in Rio. Do you think we will see Olympic Games in 2021?

Tomorrow I would actually have flown to Japan. The 2021 staging certainly still has to overcome some problems. For example, the Olympic Village has already been sold, and permanent residents are already moving into the apartments after the original date of the 2020 Olympics. Ultimately, it's hard to say and depends on the global Corona situation. However, as long as the Games are not canceled, I will prepare for them.

Then in 2019, your first win on the LET at the Hero Women's Indian Open. What was the deciding factor back then?

I was immensely focused and in the flow after giving up the win after four days on the last hole on the same course the previous year. When I flew away from India in 2018, I was already looking forward to returning in 2019. Before the last day of play, I arrived at the golf course early and sat for ten minutes on the terrace of the clubhouse, from which you have a good view of the 18 holes. I did some soul-searching and really looked forward to the upcoming fourth round. Then for 18 holes I was extremely focused and hardly nervous, but calm inside and in the flow. I was able to pull off my game and win.

What's interesting is your attitude: You could also rue last year's missed victory. Instead, you returned to India with joy and a positive attitude and triumphed.

The feedback from many other players last year certainly contributed to this. They came up to me right after I blew the 18th hole and encouraged me. They confirmed that I had dominated almost four complete days. Only one hole was decisive. Of course, I had to struggle with that, too. But overall, the positives outweighed the negatives. And I returned to India in 2019 fully prepared. After the victory, many people were honestly happy with me.

The prize money for the victory in India was just under 60,000 euros. Men earn considerably more in the league in which you also play. What do you say to that?

We earn about ten percent of what the gentlemen on the tour earn. The difference is simply enormous. But we ladies have the same expenses, do the same work and have to pay for the same costs. Flights, hotels, trainers and therapists cost a lot of money over the course of the year.

What would have to change in concrete terms to close the pay gap?

We need more TV time and presence in the media. After the tournaments in the Corona period, which were well covered by the media, I got totally good feedback. The Golf4Corona charity in particular put Sarah [Schober, note] and me in the media spotlight. That is unusual. It was nice to see that people approached us and said much more often than once, "Wow, you play just as well as the men, and we're happy to watch you on TV.

Who can help?

Television broadcasts cost a lot of money, and sponsors are often lacking. In the past, we already played events together with the men of the European Tour. That way, we ladies were also on TV and could promote our sport. It would be great if the men's tour could help us and there would be more events like this for ladies and men. Another possibility would be to hold the women's tournaments at the venue of the men's tournaments from Monday to Wednesday. This has already been tested once in Turkey and was totally well received - also because otherwise no live golf is broadcast on TV on these days. For us ladies, it wouldn't matter if we played at the beginning or end of the week. But everyone would benefit from seven days of live golf on TV. Why the test was not continued, we players unfortunately do not know.

Most recently, you contested the Austrian Championship in Zell am See. What makes golfing in Salzburg and Tyrol so exceptional?

In Tyrol the mountains, in Salzburg the beautiful lakes. There as there, the panorama is simply awesome. Everyone who comes to visit me, no matter from where in the world, says: Wow! Everyone is impressed by the landscape that our homeland offers. Also, in terms of maintenance, condition and all-around, we can keep up with the world. It's no coincidence that the men's European Tour started the new season with two tournaments in Austria. Specifically, I remember Austrian match play championships at the Innsbruck-Igls Rinn golf course, where the course was in unique condition and received international praise. The domestic greenkeepers do a great job.

You are on the road on the most beautiful golf courses in the world. Hand on heart: Which is your favorite course - worldwide and in the Golf Alpine region?

Internationally, I particularly like the Emirates Golf Club in Dubai and the DLF Golf & Country Club in Gurgaon, India. But also the Renaissance Club in Aberdeen, Scotland, where we start the season on August 13. A links course, very different, but beautiful.

There are so many impressive golf courses in Tyrol, such as the Golfclub Kitzbüheler Alpen Westendorf, the Golfclub Mieming or the two 9-hole courses Kaps and of course my home course Olympia Golf Igls with a view of the Nordkette. Among my absolute favorite courses at home are certainly the Leading Golf Courses Golfclub Achensee in Pertisau and the golf course Zillertal-Uderns.

Thank you very much for the pleasant conversation & the round of golf together at the scenic Innsbruck-Igls Lans golf course!

Photos: Tristan Jones, Martin Angerer, GC Innsbruck Igls-Lans, Text: Martin Angerer