Calgary golfer gets glimpse of life at top
Calgary ’s Jennifer Ha hadn’t spied a leaderboard.
But as she completed her work on that memorable day last summer, there were pretty obvious hints her name must be somewhere near the top.
“I was one of the first couple of tee-times to go off that morning, and normally the LPGA Tour is shown on TV in the afternoon,” Ha said, reminiscing about one of the early highlights of her professional career, the opening round of the 2017 Meijer LPGA Classic in Grand Rapids, Mich. “So on my last couple of holes, when the cameras started showing up, I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m probably up there somewhere.’ That was a new experience, too, to have people following me around on the course with the mics and the cameras and all that.
“The next day, too, I didn’t have a great round but to have the cameras following me for almost the full 18 holes, that was insane. It was soooo cool.”
You likely won’t see the 24-yearold Ha on television this summer.
She survived the cut only once in 18 tournaments last season as an LPGA Tour rookie, failing to earn enough dough to renew her card.
Instead, she’ll tee it up on the second-tier Symetra Tour, the women’s equivalent of the Web. com Tour. The schedule cranks up with four tournaments in May, including a stop this week in Greenwood, S.C.
“It was definitely an eye-opener,” Ha said, reflecting on her rookie season at the highest level. “Obviously, when you’re on the LPGA Tour full time and you’re not making any cuts, it’s really easy to get down on yourself and there were a lot of times where I was just like, ‘Wow, this is really, really hard.’ But you just have to keep pushing forward.
“You’re put into these situations for a reason. The universe and God doesn’t just give you more than you can handle, so I took it as a learning experience and I’m ready to play well this year and hopefully get my card back at the end of the year .”
On that Thursday at the Meijer LPGA Classic last June, Ha proved — to herself, among others — that she can rack up birdies with the best of ’em.
She needed only 29 strokes to complete her opening nine, briefly sizzling into the top slot on the tournament leaderboard.
She eventually signed for a score of 7-under 64, one back of Brooke Henderson’s lead after that first lap and sharing second with Lexi Thompson and others. That’s darn good company.
The following day, with the camera crews tracking her progress, Ha struggled to a 9-over 80 and missed another cut. (Henderson eventually collected the trophy, one of a half-dozen career victories already for the 20-year-old superstar from Smiths Falls, Ont.)
“That moment of being (in contention), I think back to it quite a bit, saying: ‘I can be there. It’s not something that is completely unreachable for me,’” said Ha, whose path to the professional ranks included countless hours of practice at Inglewood, Glencoe and Country Hills.
“To have that moment, it feels really great knowing that I can compete with the best.”
The universe and God doesn’t just give you more than you can handle, so I took it as a learning experience
Now, she needs to earn the right to re-join them.
The top-10 finishers on the Symetra Tour money-list automatically graduate to the LPGA Tour for the following season.
Ha, a representative of Golf Canada’s Young Pro Squad, hopes to be among the Class of 2018.
“Being out on the LPGA Tour, there are little kids out every week and they have these big eyes and they just look up to you and see you in this big light, and I think that was the most touching part of the whole experience for me — seeing the future of women’s golf. That part, I loved,” she said. “Playing on the biggest scale that women’s golf has to offer, that’s just made me so much more pumped and excited to get back out there.”
Chip shots: Calgary’s Brett Hogan (Glencoe) is among the newest members of the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada. The 24-yearold Hogan won’t be fully exempt, but he earned conditional status on the minor-league circuit with a four-round tally of 6-under 282 at Q-School last week at Crown Isle on Vancouver Island. Evan Holmes (Glencoe) and Kyle Miller (Lynx Ridge) finished on the wrong side of the cut-off for tour cards.