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 I was born on September 18, 1980 in Eugene, Oregon (Go Ducks!). I grew up loving the game of golf as my father was the Head Golf Professional at Springfield Country Club and my brother was constantly looking for competition on the course.So many of my childhood memories center around the game of golf and summers closing down the golf course. I can’t imagine, nor do I want to imagine what my life would have been like without golf having been such a big part.
I attended Marist High School – home of the Spartans- and found myself playing on the boys team my freshman year. Intimidated? Maybe a little, but I quickly became comfortable playing on Varsity as one of the top five. Playing against the girls in District and State Championships as a freshman as well as the rest of the three years of high school, I had a lot of success including four District Championships and three State Championships.
I went on to play for the University of Idaho (Go Vandals!) on a full athletic scholarship. Sophomore year, my parents decided to move to Portland where my dad would begin working at the Oregon Golf Club in West Linn. As for many of us, home during the summer is wherever your parents are and for me, it was no longer Eugene, but Portland, and the Oregon Golf Club that I called home. I worked at the Oregon Golf Club alongside my dad for four summers. In December 2002, I graduated with a degree in Public Communication - Advertising, I walked out of Idaho with a great education as well as a Big West Conference Championship, two years First Team-All Conference, Big West Player of the Year, 12 Top-10 finishes and 16 Top-25 finishes. After graduation, I moved from the winter drizzle of Portland to the sunny skies of Palm Springs, California to prepare my game for the upcoming Futures Tour. My time spent on Future's fell short as my finances dwindled and it became increasingly clear that my game wasn't quite ready. I spent the next three years in and out of various tournaments including two LPGA Qualifying School's.
My career was becoming increasingly difficult to fund and I knew that to make it I just needed to, as my dad always says, "keep pluggin' it'll all fall into place somehow." I needed a push in the right direction. An opportunity to show everybody that if I was just given a chance, I could find the success that I've always dreamed of. In October of 2005, I received a phone call from the Golf Channel’s Big Break asking if I could be a last minute addition to their cast of the Big Break V: Hawaii. The next morning I flew to Oahu to spend the next two weeks at the North Shore’s Turtle Bay Resort. Since the show, I have been continuing to play and fundraiser as well as participate in appearances that would help fund my summer golf tournaments.
In May, I left Palm Springs for Portland with the intentions of playing a few tournaments and returning to the desert to play on the Cactus Tour. June 20th I was supposed to begin my journey back to the desert, but instead landed myself in the hospital to undergo an emergency appendectomy. After recovering, I spent July and August doing appearances and playing in a few pro-ams preparing to return to the desert for the Cactus Tour and LPGA Qualifying School.
Currently I continue to live in Palm Springs where I have been able to constantly improve my physical strengtha and stamina as well as refine the parts of my game that will allow me to compete at the highest level. The more time I spend practicing and pushing, the more I realize and truly believe that the only way you can be the best is to work harder than anybody else. To do this it takes strength and devotion, but beyond anything else, it takes a love and passion for a game that I've felt my entire life.
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