Most recent LPGA Tour champion Austin Ernst earned her third career title earlier this month at the Drive On Championship presented by Volvik at Golden Ocala. Even with two victories over the last seven months, she knows just how difficult it is to find the winner’s circle.
“I think the Tour is as deep as it has ever been,” said Ernst. “We get better players coming in, whether it is young players or international players. It seems like the fields get deeper each week and it gets harder to win every year.
“I feel like I have gotten better every year that I’ve been on Tour and I had a six-year hiatus [from the winner’s circle] from 2014 to 2020. I think it’s harder than ever to win. But it really solidifies, when you can do it, just how well you’re playing.”
She also knows what it takes to put together a championship week, both in come-from-behind fashion like her final-round 8-under 63 to win the 2020 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G, and through sheer dominance, demonstrated by a five-stroke victory three weeks ago in central Florida.
“Golf is weird because you win once [in] a year and you’ve had a great year, so it’s different than other sports, but I think my mindset that week [at Golden Ocala] was something that I can try to replicate every week,” Ernst said. “The game might not always be there, but I think if I can be that sharp mentally it will definitely help. You can't expect to go win by five every week but it's a good goal to have. If I could be in that spot that I was in every week, then I would find myself in contention a little more often.”
With the two weeks off before the start of the West Coast Swing at the Kia Classic, Ernst was able to celebrate her win with friends in Florida and family in Virginia. She called herself and fiancée Jason Dods “young snowbirds,” since they split time between Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. and Richmond, Va., where Jason’s parents live, on weeks off.
Ernst will look for a second consecutive title in as many LPGA starts this week at Aviara Golf Club. She opens play tomorrow at 12:55 p.m. PT off No. 1 tee with Inbee Park and Danielle Kang.
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