Life’s biggest moments reveal much about our character. What will we do when faced with a challenge? Or even better, how would we respond when granted the opportunity to realize a lifelong dream? It’s tough to imagine how we’d react in those situations. But when the time comes, it’s always an opportunity to learn what we’re truly made of.
Gemma Dryburgh spent years wondering what it might be like to win on the LPGA Tour. Sunday, she came to know that feeling for the first time when she fired a bogey free, final round 65 to capture the TOTO Japan Classic for her maiden win. Since joining the Tour in 2018 Dryburgh had recorded just three top-10 finishes and wondered if that winning day might never come. If it did, what would that experience be like? She found out on Sunday.
“When I dreamt of this moment, I thought I’d be super, super nervous. I was nervous, I’m not going to lie. But I was incredibly calm to be honest,” Dryburgh said after her victory. “This has been a dream of mine for a long time. A lot of hard work has gone into this, so it means so much.”
A career defining moment like the one Dryburgh enjoyed on Sunday is one that so many athletes live for. A chance to be put in the pressure cooker of competition and learn whether they have the mettle to withstand the heat.
It wasn’t unlike the situation that Nelly Korda found herself in a year ago at the Pelican Women’s Championship, the Tour’s next stop in Belleair, Florida. That is where Korda made a triple bogey on the 71st hole to relinquish the lead. But she bounced back with a final-hole birdie in regulation to get into a playoff, which she won with yet another birdie on the first extra hole. It was a true testament to Korda’s character.
The defending champion returns to Florida for the penultimate event of the season where the top 120 players in the women’s game will square off for a $2 million dollar purse. The return to Pelican Golf Club will once more be a test of Korda’s resolve as she looks to win for the first time this season on the LPGA Tour in what has been a challenging year for the former world No. 1, who was sidelined for months with a blood clot in her arm.
Korda will face one of the strongest fields of the year at Pelican Golf Club, where the world’s best make final preparations ahead of the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship next week in Naples, Fla. Lydia Ko, Lexi Thompson and Sei Young Kim, who lost in the playoff to Korda last season, headline the Pelican field. Three of the year’s major champions in Jennifer Kupcho, Brooke Henderson, and In Gee Chun will compete come Thursday. And Jin Young Ko is also expected to return to competition after withdrawing from her last start at the BMW Ladies Championship due to an ongoing wrist injury.
The Pelican Women’s Championship provides a final opportunity for players to punch their ticket to the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, which is limited to the top 60 in the Race to the CME Globe. Ahead of this week’s event, three major champions sit on the bubble with Anna Nordqvist at No. 59, Stacy Lewis at No. 60 and Ariya Jutanugarn at No. 61. They’ll each need a solid week to ensure their spot in the field at the final event of the year.
With her victory on Sunday in Japan, Dryburgh soared from No. 78 to No. 41 in the Race to the CME Globe Standings, all but ensuring her spot in the field at the CME Group Tour Championship. She learned much about herself with her win on Sunday, but how she handles the next two weeks will reveal even more about Dryburgh’s character along with those she’ll be going up against in the final pressure-packed events of the season. Not only are the coveted spots in the Tour Championship on the line, but also a chance to make history as players jockey for the biggest honors of the year.
True character is revealed in life’s biggest moments. And it doesn’t get much bigger than the next two weeks on the LPGA Tour.
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