We caught up with Karen Chung between the Qualifying and Final Qualifying stages of LPGA Q-Series to ask her some questions about her career, her time on the Epson and LPGA Tours, and where she sees herself down the road. The New Jersey native has collected 22 top-10 finishes on the Epson Tour, with a career-best T2 finish coming in 2018 at the Donald Ross Classic at French Lick Resort. Now, she heads into Final Qualifying with a chance to regain her LPGA Tour card for the 2025 season.

Q: What has your time on the Epson Tour been like? Can you describe your 2024 season?

A: This season has been a whirlwind of emotions. I started off the season pretty well and then took a pretty hard spill the rest of the way. Out of all the years I’ve been out here playing on the Epson Tour, it’s honestly been pretty rare for me to be thinking about where the cut line may be. But it seemed like that’s where my head went to every week toward the latter half of the season. That’s when I knew I might need to step away for a couple of weeks if I wanted a chance to maybe play well at the Qualifying stage of Q-Series. I took a leap of faith and ended up skipping Tour Champ, a decision I’ve never made before in all my years of playing. However, now that we’re done with Qualifying, I am happy that I decided to come back home and reset.

Q: How was your experience during your time on the LPGA? What did you take away during your time and how will you apply it if you return?

A: Every experience I had on the LPGA was so different. The first time, I was a child and made it through purely on my survival instincts. The lifestyle, traveling, and hiring caddies were all such a culture shock to me since I was doing it all by myself. The second go around I had, I matured and grew a bit but had less tournaments to play on the schedule, so I kept it very simple and had a very “Full Send, YOLO” mentality. The last time, it had been a couple of years since I’d been back on Tour, so I tried way too hard that it backfired on me. It’s been a crazy journey but if I were given another chance to be on the LPGA, I would pour everything into the moment I have, but I would know when to draw the line of caring way too much versus almost letting go. Also, in previous years, I would get so angry at myself for failing to capitalize on the opportunities I had that I hated myself. I’ve realized throughout the years that I was the one that got myself to even have a chance to play on the LPGA, so the self-loathing might also be toned down a notch.

Q: What is one of your biggest motivators to keep pursuing your dream of playing on the LPGA Tour?

A: I guess the biggest reason I can’t throw it all away is that glimmer of hope that the fourth time will be the charm. I feel like I’ve learned a lot about myself through all the years of failing, and I’ve also grown in the way I approach and look at things. If another opportunity to play on the LPGA presented itself, I know whatever the results may be afterward, I can either keep playing this game happily, or I can walk away from it with no regrets.

Q: How do you approach Final Qualifying? Is it any different than a normal event?

A: Q-Series is obviously a huge event, but I don’t think I’ll necessarily be approaching it any differently than I do with my normal events. I’m going to keep my practices the same. Keep my everyday routine the same. I will definitely be getting a new pitching wedge, though, since I have a small hole in the middle of the face currently from using it way past the expiration date. I definitely feel my anxiety spiking, and I am nervous for the week of Final Qualifying to get here, but I enjoy that feeling, and it confirms that I still care about golf.

Q: How much does it mean to have someone on your bag that you can trust and are comfortable with?

A: It means a lot to me out there. In my first couple of years on the Epson Tour, I used to be known as “Solo Dolo” because I never had a caddy. I always just carried on my own. Starting 2 years ago, I realized I’m not Super Woman, and something needed to change, so I decided to ask Mike to come on board with me for a couple of events to see what it would feel like. It may be the best decision I’ve ever made in my career. I never realized how secure and comfortable I would feel to have a support system essentially living every moment on the golf course with me no matter what the results end up being. Also, golf bags have become heavier from what I remember, or I was just young and delusional back then, but needless to say, I am content now.

Q: What does your future in golf look like? What is your overall goal?

A: Nonexistent in a couple of years. Haha, just kidding. Honestly, I have no idea. The one thing I am sure about is that I definitely am not getting any younger. I won’t keep at this forever, but I do feel like I still have unfinished business with this sport. I used to have such clear-cut goals and definitely achieved some but not all. I think the disappointment I felt in those moments restructured me into a different way of thinking. It won’t be a permanent stance I take in life or in golf, but as of right now, I have no set-in-stone goals. All I know is that I am going to give it my all at Final Qualifying, hopefully get another shot to play on the LPGA, and the sadness I felt in 2024 will have all been worth it.

Catching Up with Karen Chung: A Q&A

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