Alena Sharp makes news on and off the course
It has been an interesting 14 months or so for Hamilton native Alena Sharp, although much of it has been off the golf course.
It took until the Evian Championship late in the 2018 season until she had made enough money to clinch her playing rights for next season. She did it, however, and finished the year in the 92nd spot.
“Ideally, you want to finish in the top 80,” said Sharp who pointed out that players from 81 to 100 don’t automatically qualify for tournaments like the majors. Still, finishing 92nd with earnings of US$121,779 means she’ll be back on the LPGA Tour for the her 14th season.
In the summer of 2017, in the middle of a year in which she earned $310,435 and finished 61st she changed coaches and she she came out.
In a magazine piece, she introduced the world to Sarah Bowman who is both her life partner and her caddy.
Sharp told The Spectator this week that the two have discussed marriage but it’s not currently on the horizon.
She admits she was worried how her sponsors might take to the news that she was gay but they’ve been fine with it.
“Heck, if people are upset with it in this day and age, there’s something wrong,” she says. “It was good to just get it out there and be ourselves.”
Sharp wasn’t happy with her game last year although she was getting good results. So, she made the decision to part ways with Tristan Mullally, the Waterdown resident, who is Canada’s national women’s golf coach. He had also been her personal coach for two seasons, her most successful on Tour.
“I learned a lot from Tristan,” she says. “I just felt it was time to make a change.”
She’s now working with Adam Hadwin’s former coach Brett Saunders, an Australian who teaches out of Morgan Creek in Surrey, B.C.
“I’d seen Brett last year for my putting and I went up to see him this summer and he’s got me down to simple things which will be good for longevity,” she says of her change.
Most recently Sharp, who lives in Chandler, Arizona, has become an American citizen although she plans to retain her Canadian citizenship as well.
“I got my green card in 2010 and you can apply for citizenship after five years,” she explains.
“I decided last year to do it because when I finally consider retiring I don’t want to leave here and the way things are right now down here getting visas is tougher. I just decided to go ahead and get it done.”
Don’t ask her about American politics, however, because the 37-year-old stays right out that. *****
A few members of the golf media got to see the new version of the historic old Hamilton Golf and Country Club in Ancaster yesterday and it is spectacular.
The removal of around 2,000 trees has created ideal growing conditions for grass on greens, tees and fairways and the course has never been in better shape as it prepares to host next year’s RBC Canadian Open.
The tree removal program has also opened vistas across the golf course that hadn’t been seen since Harry Colt first set foot on the property to design the course in 1914.
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McMaster University’s Centre for Continuing Education is offering two more courses in its golf management program.
Strategic management for golf operations and finance for nonfinancial managers both begin Oct. 22.
For more information go to the website: golfmgmt@ mcmaster.ca. Garry McKay is a veteran, award-winning golf journalist and a former sportswriter with The Hamilton Spectator. Garrymckay1@rogers.com