The only time Beth Allen played in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship was in 2015 and she missed the cut. But the 35-year-old Californian comes into Olympia Fields this year with a secret weapon: A caddie who was T-6 in the Women’s PGA a decade ago and has seven other top-10 finishes in majors, including second twice in the Ricoh Women’s British Open.
Not many players have someone on the bag with five LPGA wins – as a player – and 28 victories worldwide along with eight Solheim Cup appearances for Europe. But when Allen asks for a yardage it will be given to her by Sophie Gustafson, who for two decades was one of the most powerful players in women’s golf.
I covered pretty much all of Sophie’s career and was fascinated not just by her significant ability but by her keen intellect, wicked sense of humor and the fact she succeeded in the very public world of pro sports despite a crippling stutter.
Very soon after I met her, Sophie pointed out the she won the Women’s British Open the year before it became a major. With a disarming smile she said: “I was the only defending champion in a major who’d never won a major,” showing her sharp sense of humor.
Early on, we learned we shared a passion for Indian food and have hit curry shops all around the world. I was at Sophie’s wedding in 2006 and several years later shared many dinners – and more than a few beers – with her as she went through a painful divorce.
In 2012, as president of the Golf Writers Association of America, I presented her with the Ben Hogan Award for overcoming an injury or illness to succeed in golf. We stood side-by-side as her self-made video acceptance speech played. There was not a dry eye in the house.
In the spring of 2015, Sophie told me a teenager with a stutter she had been counseling tried to commit suicide because he was being bullied in school for his speech impediment. The boy, Dillon, is a Tiger Woods fan and when Tiger read my story about Sophie and the Kid, he asked me for Dillon’s address and sent him a letter.
I found out about the letter in a text from Sophie that said:"Tiger sent Dillon a letter and told him he also stuttered when he was younger. He's ecstatic. We did good Ron."
She also forwarded to me the email Dillon sent to her:
"Thank you for having your friend share my story. Please thank him for me. I really appreciate all the support and help you are giving me. My mom and I saw all the support on twitter. I know that I have a lot of support thru this challenging time. I just want to fit in. I just want to find true friends who will accept me and not make fun of me when I talk. It gets so frustrating when you have things to say and people just don't give you a chance to get it out."
A few months later, as Sophie was struggling with her game, I got another text from her, this one reading: “I’m thinking of becoming a caddie for Beth Allen. Some friends say that will hurt my legacy. What do you think?”
I told her I felt quite the opposite. I said I thought it would display her love of golf and desire to stay involved with the game and the tour. So at 41, Sophie took up Beth’s bag and they won the first tournament they were together, in July 2015 on the LET – less than two months after Allen missed the cut in the KPMG. In 2016, Allen led the LET money list and in December she earned a card at LPGA Q-school for this year’s season.
“I love the fact that I'm still involved in the competition and that I feel that I’m actually making a difference in Beth's golf game,” Sophie says about her new life. “It's a lot of fun to be able to share my experience, to give back and help Beth become better.”
Sophie says one of her drawbacks as a player has helped her as a caddie.
“I'm very organized and a bit of a perfectionist, which I think works well with [Beth’s] personality,” she says. “She can relax and just float while I make sure all we need on the course is taken care of. That perfectionist streak wasn't as good for me when I was playing cause I was hard on both myself and my caddies. I also think we have a lot of fun on the course. We have similar humor and can laugh at both ourselves and others while we walk the fairways.”
Sophie, who has homes in Florida and Sweden, says she loves her new life and will remain Allen’s caddie, although likely not full time. There are some other challenges she wants to tackle, like helping people such as Dillon victimized by bullying. As she shoulders a bag now for Beth Allen, Sophie looks down the road for ways to help others ease the burden they bear.
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