Sharp aiming to recapture her momentum
Alena Sharp is keenly aware that time is not on her side as a shortened LPGA Tour season resumes this week.
The 39-year-old from Hamilton is the only Canadian in the field as the inaugural Drive On Championship tees off on Friday at Inverness Golf Course in Toledo, Ohio. Sharp was ranked 48th on the LPGA Tour before it suspended play due to the COVID-19 pandemic in mid-February.
“It sucks that this is happening toward the end of my career because I’m playing well,” said Sharp. “I want to just keep riding that momentum for as long as I can until I decide to maybe slow down and retire.”
After taking a few weeks off following the 2019 season, Sharp played in three tournaments in the new year. She missed the cut at the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Raton, Florida, in January, tied for ninth at the ISPS Handa Vic Open in early February, then missed the cut at the Women’s Australian Open.
When that tournament finished the LPGA Tour, about to embark on its annual swing through Asia, she decided to take a four-week break to avoid what was then a regional epidemic of the novel coronavirus. Sharp, a professional golfer for 15 years, said she is worried that the dozen tournaments cancelled because of COVID-19 represent a dwindling number of opportunities to win on the LPGA Tour for the first time.
“I don’t have any injuries or anything like that but there’s a lot of up-and-coming players that are coming out and things happen as you age,” said Sharp.
During the time off, Sharp has worked on her fitness. Gyms were closed in Arizona, where she lives, but she dedicated herself to outdoor workouts.
Sharp and Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., would have been competing for Canada at the Tokyo Olympics this week had it not been for the pandemic.
“I’m glad that they’ve actually moved it to next year and rather than just cancel it entirely, because in four more years I don’t know where I’ll be,” she said.