Fourth-year professional Briana Vega has shown steady improvement on the Duramed FUTURES Tour, posting her career-best season this year and finishing 21st on the 2008 money list. Perhaps best known as the winner of the Golf Channel’s “Big Break VI: Trump National” show, Vega tied for second this year at the Aurora Health Care Championship in Lake Geneva, Wis., and recorded two top-10 finishes.
In four seasons, the native of Andover, Mass., has trimmed her scoring average from 76.02, to 75.79, to 74.80, to this year’s 72.96, and improved from her 2007 money ranking of 82nd. Vega played collegiately at North Carolina State University, where she recorded five top-10 finishes and earned a degree in sports psychology before qualifying for the Duramed FUTURES Tour in 2004
Vega sat down with the Duramed FUTURES Tour’s Lisa D. Mickey to discuss her 2008 season and her hopes at the Tour’s final tournament this week, the Duramed Invitational at Chateau Elan in Braselton, Ga.
Here is that conversation:
DFT: Talk about this year and why it has been different than past seasons.
Vega: Last December, I played in the first stage of LPGA Q-School and shot a high score. I was really disappointed and frustrated with golf. I had so many expectations, especially after winning the “Big Break.” But I decided this is what I wanted to do -- this was my career choice. It took a long time to truly realize that. I needed to do something, so I worked hard to change my attitude and in January, I started playing a lot of Orlando [mini-tour] events. I entered the tournaments and didn’t expect anything, and I ended up winning three of six that I played. That was great, because I needed it for confidence. I had switched to the long putter in January. It’s kind of funny, but I was working at Edwin Watts [golf store] in Orlando and I was playing with the putter in the store. I made every putt, so I ended up buying the putter and I saw a dramatic improvement in my putting. That helped improve my confidence. And then I got a teacher in Florida. I played a practice round with Stella Lee at the first tournament of the season in Lakeland, Fla. I ended up missing the cut at our first event, but there was a letter waiting for me after the second round from Stella’s coach, George Beardsley, who teaches out of Tampa. I had a good teacher in North Carolina, but I needed a teacher here to help me, so I started working with George. He’s really involved in women’s golf and teaches several players out on our tour. It’s been good.
DFT: Has there been a turning point for you as a professional?
Vega: I think just playing in those mini-tour events and winning. It was an eye opener. Paula Creamer played in one. Of course, the field is not as deep in those events and there aren’t as many players, but a win is a win. I had my own personal goals and I used that tour as a learning ground for things I was going to be doing on the Duramed FUTURES Tour – like using the long putter.
DFT: Where have you made the most progress in your game?
Vega: I’ve always hit the ball well and I hit a lot of greens and fairways, but then if you have something like 36 putts, the good scores just aren’t happening. Once I started putting better, I was having more birdie opportunities.
DFT: In four seasons on the Duramed FUTURES Tour, your improvement has been steady each year. Are you pleased with the improvement or has it been a long haul?
Vega: The past couple of years were so frustrating and disappointing, but I think I was looking at it all wrong. I’d improve, but sometimes the results didn’t show. My putting and short game held me back for so long, but this year, when I finished second at our tournament in Lake Geneva [Wis.], I finally felt like I could win. I don’t think I really, really believed it until I saw my name move up on the money list. I believed in my heart that it was possible for me to be one of the top players, but then I finally saw the results. It was kind of like, you fake it until you make it. [Laughter] In the meantime, I read a lot of great books that changed my outlook on life – books like “The Secret.” It taught me to have a more positive outlook and it opened up my eyes. I guess the thing that I’ve learned is just being at peace in my life and to surround myself with the right people with the right attitudes.
DFT: Did you think you’d make an impact faster or did you know this would take time?
Vega: I’m the kind of person who wants stuff right now. I’m not that patient. I [qualified for] the Duramed FUTURES Tour but I was no star with quick success. Maybe people thought I wasn’t good enough because my numbers weren’t there. I knew I was close, but you just have to keep believing. You kind of have to go through that experience. I was really streaky, with low scores followed by high scores. I had to learn not to get ahead of myself. That has been a big learning thing for me and I’m still learning, but this year taught me patience. If you do the right things and trust in the process, the success will come.
DFT: You mentioned the tie for second this season in Lake Geneva. How did you have your career-best finish on one of the Tour’s most difficult courses?
Vega: I’ve always thought that course is tough, but I thought it would play to my advantage because if you stay around par or a couple under, you have a chance to win. George [her teacher] was there that week and he got me in the right mindset -- to expect to play well and to give myself a chance. That process really worked for me and served as a springboard for the rest of the season. It’s only as tough as you make it mentally.
DFT: How much impact did winning the Golf Channel’s “Big Break VI: Trump National” have on your progress?
Vega: It opened up a lot of doors, both with my confidence and with sponsors, but on the other hand, there were suddenly a lot of expectations. I had to stop reading the discussion boards at golfchannel.com. They were destroying me. Now, I was a name people knew and they came out to watch. I wasn’t just a player on the Duramed FUTURES Tour. I was suddenly in the spotlight. It was like I was trying to prove to people that I deserved to win. But when it wasn’t happening on the tour, I started wondering if it was a fluke? Did I just get lucky? I was trying to prove it, justify it, and I made things more difficult.
DFT: In looking back, what was the real value of that experience?
Vega: I was pretty frustrated with my game when they called me to do the show, but I went to the “Big Break” with absolutely no expectations. I told myself that it was just a game show, but the longer I lasted, the more confidence I got. I look back on some of those shots and remember them for tournament play. I thought about how I could hit a shot under pressure with 30 cameras on me with a lot on the line and then when I came back on tour, it felt like no pressure. I tapped into my potential at the “Big Break” and I was a little shocked.
DFT: Were you afraid you would just be a “Big Break” winner and not an impact player on the Duramed FUTURES Tour?
Vega: Yeah, that’s how I always feel, but I want more – more in my life. The recognition from the “Big Break” is good, but I felt like it was a starting point. I know there’s more in my future than that.
DFT: Winning the “Big Break” brings a new “celebrity” aspect that all winners have to deal with. What did you do well and not so well? Any do-overs?
Vega: I think I did pretty well with it. I still meet a lot of die-hard “Big Break” fans and Golf Channel addicts. I really like the little kids and how the show makes them want to play golf. On the other side, it can get frustrating. I enjoy meeting people, but sometimes they have really random comments during tournament play. One guy walked up to me out in the fairway and said, “You don’t look nearly as fat as you do on TV,” and I was like, “OK … I’m going to go putt now.” Those comments are weird. Another time, I was shopping for potato chips in a grocery store and some man walked up to me and said, “Bri, Is that you? How are you? I watch you all the time on the Big Break.” But no do-overs. I learned a lot from Ashley Prange after she won “Big Break V: Hawaii.” I’m just thankful that my win came during the winter of our off-season. Ashley’s win came during our season and I watched what she went through.
DFT: What did that show do for your visibility as a young professional?
Vega: I still get a lot of people in my gallery each week who come watch me play because of the “Big Break.” Being a face or a name that people recognize is big, but I think it’s great for our tour in general. It’s kind of a win-win for everybody. People know more about our tour and about us as individual players because of the show. Even in pro-ams, people get so excited. It was funny because when I worked at Edwin Watts last winter, some people would walk around the checkout counter about five times, trying to figure out how they knew me. After a while, they’d get it.
DFT: This week’s final event is your last chance to win a Duramed FUTURES Tour tournament during the 2008 season. What are your expectations about this season-ending event?
Vega: I want to go there and win and I feel the same for the final stage of LPGA Q-School. I know that might sound cocky, but I want to go there looking forward, not looking back. I want to play well.
DFT: As you mentioned, you have advanced into the LPGA’s Final Qualifying Tournament. How do you think this year will be different than past attempts?
Vega: It’s my first time making it into the final stage. I look at it as a positive. It’s not a be-all, end-all. I’m going to prepare and be ready and not just hope to squeak into the top 20. People get so wrapped up in where they are and what they have to shoot. You have to ask yourself, “Why are you here?” The purpose is to win. I’m going in there with a good mindset, not because I have to be there at Q-School, trying to keep my card.
DFT: Do you feel like you are ready for the LPGA?
Vega: I do. I still have a lot of work to do. I’m ready for the next level, but if it doesn’t happen and I go back to the Duramed FUTURES Tour next year, I’m not scared of the outcome. I look at [Tour alumna] Kristy McPherson. It took her a while, and now Kristy is very successful on the LPGA Tour. Everybody has to do it their own way.
DFT: What will be the next big step for Briana Vega?
Vega: Right now, just preparing in the off-season. I want to get in better shape and be more mentally tough. I’m looking forward to the final stage of LPGA Q-School. I’m looking forward to this week.
DFT: With the long putter still in the bag?
Vega: Oh, you bet!
By Lisa D. Mickey
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