Stanford alum Aline Krauter had a “dream” ending to her college career. After the Stanford Cardinals won the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championships, coach Anne Walker announced live on Golf Channel that the exemption into the Dana Open presented by Marathon traditionally awarded to a member of the winning team would go to Krauter, an unexpected surprise for the graduating senior. Krauter chose to turn pro before LPGA Qualifying Tournament Stage I, and after advancing through the first stage in Palm Springs, Calif. is now making her professional debut in Toledo, a start that feels way different to her than the other times she’s teed it up on the LPGA Tour.
“It feels a little bit different now that I have turned pro,” said Krauter. “It feels a little more official to me, because before it was like oh, I'm the amateur. Like I don't really know anyone here. And now I feel like I've met a bunch of people through my major exemptions as well, so it feels official and I'm extra excited.”
Krauter teed it up in the Amundi Evian Championship last month and she made sure to make the most of her time in France, picking the brains of both her fellow Germans and Stanford alumni about pro golf life and what it takes to have success on Tour. Sophia Popov, Albane Valenzuela, Andrea Lee and even Lexi Thompson were among those from whom the 22-year-old sought advice, but she says she relied most heavily on Caroline Masson, the 33-year-old German with one LPGA Tour title on her resume.
“I talk to a lot of the Stanford grads, Andrea (Lee) and Albane (Valenzuela) and I've leaned on Sophia (Popov) I would say and (Caroline Masson) for sure,” Krauter explained. “My first couple majors, I only played with Caro basically. I tagged onto her. The main thing was at Chevron. She gave me a couple of pin positions that had been in the past and she was like, don't hit it here, don't hit it here, and at Q-School, and I hit it where told me not to hit it at Chevron, and it wasn't great, but, yeah.”
As she readies herself for Thursday play, Krauter will definitely be leaning on the lessons learned from her time at Stanford and her chats with her fellow countrywomen to help carry her through the week at the Dana Open. She’ll also rely heavily on her brother and caddie, Tim, who has been on her bag every time she’s teed it up on the LPGA Tour, a comforting presence during what can be a nerve-wracking week making her pro debut.
“He caddied at Q-School, so he's been on the bag quite a lot. Every time I've had a caddie it's been him basically. It gives me a little bit of comfort to have my family here,” Krauter said. “One piece of advice that really helped me is not to change anything really. Never change a working system. I feel like I've done pretty well so far with my system. I don't really want to change much and like look left and right, like, oh, what are these people doing, what are these people doing. I think what I'm doing is probably fine so far, so we'll see.”
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