It’s approaching 11 a.m. in Decatur, Illinois and Chirapat Jao-Javanil is all the way on the right side of a fairly empty driving range working on her wedge game. Her husband, Nat Bhanthumachinda, is watching – on his computer at work during his lunch break in Houston.
“When we started dating, he was already working for Shell in New Orleans so he had his own thing going full-time and I was in college in Oklahoma so we are used to the FaceTime and texting and living the virtual aspect of the relationship and letting that suffice for the lack of physical time together,” said 24-year-old Jao-Javanil. “Now, we still fall asleep to FaceTime with each other so we’re not sleeping in the same bed, but we are in a way.”
They even eat together from time-to-time over FaceTime.
Thank goodness for technology.
This is life for one married professional golfer caravanning the country. The vast majority of Epson Tour professionals are not married, but there are certainly a handful that chase the LPGA dream with a significant other hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles away for weeks on end.
Life moved very fast for Jao-Javanil when she was in college. She won the NCAA national title while at Oklahoma in 2012 during her sophomore year. The following year, she met Nat in New Orleans. They dated for about a year and then were engaged and married on December 19, 2015. Her rookie season as a pro was cut short due to injury so she had to return to Qualifying School in 2016 and is now playing in what she refers to as her first full season on Tour.
“I think it’s really good emotionally for me,” explained Jao-Javanil about having a husband she can count on. “I know I have something to look forward to when I’m out here when it’s stressful. I know I have someone at home waiting to go back to. Now that I’m married, I feel like that my life has other aspects (outside of golf) to enjoy if golf isn’t going well. He is also the person that can talk sense into me when I am being dramatic.”
Nat works in the corporate world for Shell as a Materials Management Manager. He comes to caddy for Jao-Javanil when he can. This year, he came to Greenwood, South Carolina and spent the week as her caddy. He is a former golfer at Nicholls State so he can relate to his wife on the golf course.
“It’s fun for us when he can come caddy,” said Jao-Javanil. “It’s easy for him to understand how much time, commitment and effort it takes to be out here.”
Nat also understands the mentality and physical demands of an athlete through his former work as a sports performance trainer with Duke Academy. He even spent time training current Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant and served as a player consultant. He was even at Bryant’s draft party in 2010.
When they got engaged, Bryant actually sent them a Twitter message saying congrats.
“At first I didn’t believe that he trained someone like Dez Bryant, but he showed me the YouTube video of him with Dez. He always loved being part of the athletic world and even helped coach Nicholls State golf, but he wanted to go make some real money in the corporate world.”
The natural next step for Chirapat and Nat is to increase the size of their family, but for now they are content to wait to allow Chirapat to pursue her golf career and Nat to continue his blossoming career at Shell. It also allows them to travel and enjoy time together before kids.
“We’re on the same page with kids,” said Jao Javanil. “We want to enjoy each other and I’m glad we’re at the same place mentally. We want to travel and see the world and do us first before we have kids. We want to make sure we are ready so we can be good parents."
While apart, they live their separate lives, but keep the line of communication open.
Every morning, Nat sends a text to Chirapat saying “love you, have a great day”. They also let each other know when they are safely at work and at the course respectively.
“I’m blessed and grateful for this life. He’s been a great support system because sometimes there can be doubts because there is not much money on the Epson Tour until you make it to the LPGA. He has the stability going so I can have the freedom to do what I want.”
Once the offseason hits, the couple will make their annual trip to Thailand. It’s their time to be together. For their honeymoon, they visited Budapest, Prague, Vienna and Hallstat (Austria).
From February through October, it’s a life of love, sacrifice and hours spent FaceTiming, but they wouldn’t trade it for the world.
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