RANCHO MIRAGE, CALIFORNIA | One club and one relationship made all the difference.
Jennifer Kupcho has always shown the talent to win on the LPGA Tour. She came out with such flair, having won the 2018 NCAA Championship as a star at Wake Forest. Then she burst onto the golf scene as the first winner of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, in 2019.
To this point, the fourth-year tour player hadn’t met the lofty expectations. Until last week when she fired a 64 on Saturday at the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills Country Club to open a six-shot lead in the Chevron Championship, a margin that turned out to be too big to blow. Despite a closing 74, Kupcho made her first LPGA Tour win a major championship. And she did it on the strength of a one-club turnaround.
“My putting is not my strong suit,†the 24-year-old from Colorado said.
That has certainly changed, in large part because of some work she has done with her husband, Jay Monahan, who caddies on the LPGA Tour for Sarah Schmelzel.
“I really just worked with my husband because he's a great putter, and he knows my game really well,†Kupcho said. “So, I worked a lot with him over the off-season, and really worked on my stroke. My stroke has been really good recently.â€
It showed, and not just in the first three rounds. In the closing 74 when things got tight, Kupcho’s putter saved her.
“For a while her through stroke was getting a little too far on the side,†said Monahan, explaining exactly what the two had done to make it better. “I honestly just set up a drill for her to kind of try and work through that, get the stroke a little more straight back and more straight through, and she's been doing such a good job working on it. It's nice to see it pay off.â€
The two were married in February, and Kupcho has seemed more relaxed and confident since then. Married life and good putting will do that for you.
“I would kind of, like, cut across it exiting my putter left,†she said of the habit the new drill cured. “I just need to start my putter straight back and basically straight through has been the biggest thing. That really helps when you have pure greens.â€
After the Saturday 64, Kupcho said, “Everything was working. I mean, seriously this week I think my putting is definitely the props.
“I have putted really well, and you got to make putts in a major championship.â€
Steve Eubanks
