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If you didn’t know Yealimi Noh before last week, the braided ponytail, pink outfit and flawless, old-school golf swing – one plane with no hip restriction and a powerful release through impact – likely left an indelible impression.
This is a 19-year-old on the rise. She was one pushed tee shot on the final hole at the Evian Resort Golf Club from joining the playoff with eventual winner Minjee Lee and Jeongeun Lee6. And she showed the steady nerves that likely will put her in the winner’s circle soon. Noh is probably too far down the Solheim Cup points list to be considered as a captain’s pick in early September. But you never know. The shots she executed down the stretch under intense pressure at the Amundi Evian Championship won’t go unnoticed by United States captain Pat Hurst.
It’s a good thing Noh learned early on to ignore advice from random passers-by.
“Go to school,” I pleaded. “What’s the harm? The tour will still be here. Go learn about yourself and your game with someone else paying the bills.
Way back in 2018, a time when travel to Asia was open, maskless and relatively easy, I made a point of cornering Noh at the LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship in Incheon, South Korea. She had just turned 17, was playing on a sponsor’s exemption, and was a week away from turning down a scholarship to UCLA to join the professional ranks.
As an elder observer of the game, it was my duty to talk her out of it.
“Learn how to travel, how to live on your own; learn how to eat and when to sleep. Make the thousand mistakes everybody makes in their teens but do it away from the spotlight. Plus, UCLA is fun. It’s Bel Air for goodness sakes. There are worse places to go to school.”
Her smile was as big and bright then as it remains today.
“Thank you,” she said. “I’ve thought a lot about it. I’ve talked about it with my family. We think this makes the most sense.”
I left shaking my head at another kid trying to enter adulthood too soon.
I’m sure there have been times when I was more spectacularly wrong – that Pets.com investment comes immediately to mind – but not by much.
Just remember kids, your elders have seen a thing or two. They tell you things in the hopes that you will learn from their experience.
Also, free advice is worth exactly what you pay for it.
E-MAIL STEVE
Steve Eubanks