Update: The End and a New Beginning

Hi everyone!

If you have been with me since the beginning of my professional golf journey 6 years ago, you know that I did travel blogs and email updates to keep everyone in the loop. Below is an adapted version of my last email update as a tour pro. I wanted to publish it on here as well because I like having my writing all in one place to be able to look back at and I felt like this email does fit into my body of work here. It is a reflective email that encapsulate many of my emotions and broadly expresses my gratitude toward a game and community that has given me so much.

11/28/22

To: everyone I have met along the way in golf

Subject: Sincerest Thank You and Final Update

I hope this email finds you well and the fall holiday season is giving you the chance to slow down a bit. Travel has finally settled for me after a really full year of trips domestic and abroad. I went everywhere from Michigan, to Japan to the Dominican Republic and Mt. Whitney. The rest of the year will be pretty quiet and I plan to stay around San Francisco with intentionally very little on the calendar. Most of my time will look like reading, writing, reflection and visioning for the future.

Today, I write this update to you in the context of a professional golfer for the last time. After six years of playing on tour I have decided to transition out of playing full time to pursue new opportunities. Golf has been the main focus of my life since I was 11 years old and it has given me more than I could have ever imagined. The places it has taken me, the adventures I have gotten to experience, the people I have gotten to meet, it has been incredible. Pursuing professional sports and playing at the highest level has been an absolute privilege.

The decision to transition or evolve as Serena Williams put it earlier this year when she announced her retirement was not an easy one. To put it simply for the sake of conciseness of this email, it felt like the right time. My desire to be on the road week after week and practice for hours a day was declining and my desire to step into business and pursue my intellectual curiosities was increasing. As I look forward, I am not sure what the future holds, but I am hopeful and excited to grow. For the last couple months, I have been interning in Venture Capital at Learn Capital as a Senior Fellow and also started a golf focused consulting business with another tourmate. Both have been great to get my feet wet in the business world, but I am now looking for something full time. I have been exploring different roles ranging from staying in venture, to start ups, to partnership roles at sports agencies and more. It’s an exciting and challenging process all at the same time.

This journey in golf has been such a special time of my life, but nothing out of it has given me greater joy than the people and relationships I have gotten to build along the way. To now have friends in rural Arkansas, the east coast beaches of Australia, bustling New Delhi, the canyons of Utah and beyond makes my heart so full and more alive. So many people over the years have become like family. While it is the season of thanksgiving and this update was strategically timed for me to express my gratitude to all of you, my gratitude goes far past this moment. Your love, support, encouragement and wisdom have made me who I am today. Words can barely begin to express the gratitude I truly feel toward many of you who made pursuing my dream of playing professional golf possible. I still end with thank you.

Thank you for believing in me. Thank you for celebrating my successes and standing with me in disappointments. Thank you for opening the doors of your homes for me to stay in while traveling. Thank you for greeting me with excitement and thoughtfulness no matter how much time has passed. Thank you for showing up for me in times of need. I have learned deeper levels of kindness, hospitality and authenticity because of all of you. Thank you for being a part of my golf journey and life that has shaped me to be the woman I am today. I enter this next stage of life with great peace, hope and confidence thanks to you.

Lots of Love,

Andrea

P.S. A much fuller reflection of my time in golf and evolution into the next chapter to come before the end of the year on my blog, so look out for that.

P.P.S. I do plan to continue these updates because I love keeping in touch with all of you. This is just the last of me writing as a tour player. The next will come with me as a business professional. :)

Hope you will continue onto the next chapter with me. Content of course around travel and golf will continue, posts on baking and recipes will likely increase and I will be publishing some new pieces around business, thoughts on something (ie new products / companies I’m excited about, lifestyle hacks, etc) and storytelling. I have also been ideating on forming a new online community around personal reflection and asking questions. Will report back in that :) Excited for what ahead, but pray for me. Much wisdom is needed on decision making and being lead by God on how to steward my time.