When she walked off the green on Sunday at the Amundi Evian Championship, Epson Tour graduate and LPGA Tour rookie Sophia Schubert had tears in her eyes, but that wasn’t because she was upset. The 26-year-old Tennessee native carded a 3-under 68 in the final round at Evian Resort Golf Club to finish one shot behind Brooke Henderson in solo second, her career-best finish in a major as well as on the LPGA Tour. Though she was feeling the nerves as one does when in contention in a major championship, Schubert was able to keep her cool and play like a veteran, an impressive feat considering the pedigree of the players at the top of the leaderboard.
“I have a lot of support back home and they've been telling me over and over again, you can do this. Just be confident,” said Schubert, whose 72-hole total of 268 is 16 shots better than her previous career-best. “I want to cry. I want to cry tears of happiness. I'm proud of myself, proud of everyone that's helped me get to this point. It came just short, but I know that I'll be back so I'm really happy.”
Despite opening her week in France with a double bogey on her first hole on Thursday, Schubert strung together four rounds in the 60s, making 22 birdies, two bogeys and a pair of doubles en route to her runner-up showing. She got the lies and lofts of her clubs adjusted ahead of the year’s fourth major and Schubert says that made a world of difference when it came to her ball-striking this week. But it was her ability to ignore the leaderboard and stay calm under pressure that really helped the rookie coming down the stretch, and now that the day is done and the totals are tallied, Schubert is beyond proud of herself after what was a dream-come-true week in Evian-les-Bains.
“I was kind of nervous all day, a little more than yesterday, and Britney (Hamilton, her caddie) just kept saying, ‘Hey, just take a deep breath. It's okay. Just keep doing what you're doing.’ I think the last few holes coming in actually I had this sense of peace, so I just hit every shot and kept going,” said the 2017 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion. “This was something that I always wanted. I knew I could get there. There was a little bit of doubt, but I couldn't be with better company.”
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