It’s been 17 days since Jennifer Kupcho took the last leap into Poppie’s Pond at The Chevron Championship after winning her first major and LPGA Tour title by two strokes over Jessica Korda in Rancho Mirage. After a performance like that, your typical player would take the next event off, savor the victory and rest up, coming back out a couple of weeks later rejuvenated and relaxed, glowing from their recent triumph. But the 24-year-old did no such thing, teeing it up in Hawaii and carding a T18 finish in blustery conditions last week at the LOTTE Championship.
“Going to Hawaii I normally probably would've withdrawn honestly, but I already had the flights and it's kind of a vacation spot anyway, so I said I might as well just play,” said the Rolex Rankings No. 16. “But I'm still definitely recovering from it. It was really hard out there in Hawaii. It was a grind. To be able to go out there and putt really well and play good enough to take a top 20, it's really encouraging.”
Though Kupcho isn’t as fresh as she’d like to be ahead of this week’s DIO Implant LA Open, she’s more confident in her game than ever. The fiery competitor was itching badly for that maiden title especially considering how close she had come on so many occasions throughout the last few seasons having carded 12 top-10s and 6 top-fives since her rookie year in 2019. Now that the monkey is off her back, Kupcho is finally feeling validated and the floodgates could finally be open for the former collegiate standout.
“Being able to say that I've won and like that I can compete out here -- obviously I already knew that I could compete, but I think being able to win is really important,” said Kupcho. “That's what I've done in college. I won a lot so my confidence was low coming out here, not having won in two or three years. To be able to say I won, it's definitely a confidence booster.”
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