Hi guys!
My name is Madelene Sagstrom. I will be blogging here on the Epson website throughout the year. I am 23 years old and originally from Sweden. I graduated from Louisiana State University in 2015 with a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies. I also played LPGA Q-school in 2015, in which I earned status on the Epson Tour for 2016. Since this is my first year on tour I have a lot of new things to experience and thought this was the perfect opportunity for y’all to experience it with me through this blog. I will be blogging about life on tour, my thoughts and all the things that I do.
Right now we are in Lake Wales to play the first of three events here in Florida. This is my second event of the year. I played our season opener in California and had a great tournament there. We have had five weeks off and now the season is really starting.
I drove here from Louisiana, which is one of the longer drives I have ever made. It is time to get used to that now! Since we are playing here for a while it is nice to have your own car. So the long drive was definitely worth it. I arrived Tuesday afternoon and went straight to the golf course for registration. I was scheduled for the pro-am Wednesday morning, so I decided not to play Tuesday and see the course the following morning. This week my friends and I are staying in an Airbnb, which is a house you can rent. This is my first experience with that and so far it has been awesome. A lot of the girls are also doing housing, which I will be doing too in a couple of weeks.
Tuesday night we had a pro-am dinner, which also was a first for me. I had a great time! We mingled with the sponsors for the tournament and had dinner with our pro-am groups for the following day. This was nice because I got to know a little bit about the people I would be playing with and it was a great way to be introduced to each other. On Wednesday morning I played in my first pro-am on the Epson Tour. I was a little nervous before teeing off because it was all so new and I did not really know what to do. I had a fun group and we had an enjoyable time on the course. It is a wonderful way to give back to the sponsors and a great way for them to meet us players. I really enjoyed it and look forward to playing in more pro-am’s.
Today (Thursday) I had a rookie orientation where we went over the essential things we need to know about the tour, including what we should and should not do. We also had two players share some of their experiences from the tour. I really appreciate them talking to us, it means a lot to me knowing that there are players out there willing to help us rookies. I got some practice in after this and then decided to get in line for a 9-hole practice round. I was happy to play the course again and get all the last details done before the tournament tomorrow.
I am really excited to begin the tournament and see how my game is at the moment. I am pumped for the break to be over and excited to start playing again. Let’s get this party started!!
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