RANCHO MIRAGE, CA – Confidence is fragile. Just ask Jackie Stoelting.
The four-time winner on the Epson Tour has twice earned her way on to the LPGA Tour, most recently this season. The back and forth of playing both Tours over the last three years eroded Stoelting’s confidence. In 2015, she missed cut after cut and earned less than $8,000 in two starts over the course of her entire season on the LPGA Tour.
She considered giving up golf completely.
“Two years ago when I was so close and got my card, then I felt like a failure in a way,” Stoelting said. “I really didn’t want to end my career like that. I wanted to give myself one more opportunity out here.”
And she did.
In 2016, Stoelting finished third on the Epson Tour’s money list to once again earn her card to the LPGA Tour. It was the second chance she was seeking, but then missed the cut in her first three starts of 2017.
Then, everything changed.
During a dinner with her husband and caddie, Travis, as well as former Major League Baseball pitcher Russ Ortiz, whose apparel company 2nd Girl Golf/2nd Guy Golf sponsors Jackie, she realized something powerful.
She had lost her swagger.
“Last year and a half I have seen a confidence, a swagger in Jackie. I didn't see that that week,” Ortiz told LPGA.com. “Missing three cuts in a row I understood you can lose a bit of swagger. Drawing off of my MLB career and all I learned, I shared all I could.“
Jackie is kind, maybe to a fault, and Ortiz believes that same sweet player became her dominant personality on-course. For Ortiz, he learned to separate the two identities and shared that same advice with Jackie during their dinner.
“When I put on my uniform it was all business. I felt like a different person,” said Ortiz. “She is preparing every tourney to win. Not make friends. She knows she can play at this level. When it's game time she needs to flip on a switch and play with the fire she has.”
Fearlessness, patience and swag were the three keywords the Stoeltings took away from their meeting. Travis wrote them on the inside of his wife’s yardage book as a reminder at last week’s Kia Classic, where Jackie made not only her first cut of 2017 but also finished T-18 – her best career finish on the LPGA Tour.
“Walking with shoulders a little bit more back and a little bit more killer instinct was the main conversation from what he experienced in Major League Baseball pitching and having that want to be the best when his name was called,” Travis told LPGA.com.
“I saw a swagger on TV,” Ortiz said about watching the Kia Classic from home. “The fact she climbed to the top and held her own with the best, is a testament of her focus and confidence and commitment.”
”We got the putter got really hot, which didn’t hurt, and that breeds swag too when you make putts and you walk off that green with your head a little higher,” Travis said about his wife’s play last week in Carlsbad.
Jackie's strong showing earned her a spot in the field at this week's ANA Inspiration. It’s her first trip to Mission Hills and fourth career major start.
“If my family didn't have a plan to go to the dinner, it may have not happened,” said Ortiz. “I am thankful for that.”
The Stoeltings are thankful, too.
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