ÉVIAN-LES-BAINS, FRANCE | Somewhere in Sylvania, Ohio, this week, just as on the shores of Lake Geneva last week, Germany’s Sophia Popov will be thinking of Royal Troon in Scotland.
Although Henrik Stenson might have been the last golfer to win the Open at the west coast venue, Popov was the most recent winner of a major championship there, and it was a victory that, due to circumstances and back story, may have resonated more within the world of golf than any other result in the tournament’s recent history.
Consider the contrast between the Amundi Evian Championship of last week and that AIG Women’s Open of 2020.
The former involved in plenty of socialising while the latter focussed on social distancing.
The French event actively encouraged the drinking of bubbles; the Scottish one had complex rules about staying in bubbles.
The ropes at Évian held back thousands of fans in the galleries; Troon didn’t need ropes. There was no one there.
In this peculiar vacuum, which extended way beyond the boundaries of Royal Troon Golf Club, Popov’s triumph was just what the world of golf needed: a compelling narrative amid COVID-19 gloom.
The irony is that had the world not been in various stages of lockdown, the story might have been missed by the majority.
Instead, with any competitive golf hungrily consumed that strange summer and though very few people witnessed the golf in person, millions more than normal did so on television sets across the world, and the fairytale elements of Popov’s story turned it viral in a good way.
She had first played the AIG Women’s Open as an amateur at Carnoustie in 2011 and had even (very briefly) hit the top spot on the leaderboard early in the first round. Unfortunately, her early years as a professional were difficult, hampered by persistent illness and fatigue that was only later diagnosed as Lyme disease.
“I’d always felt that I had the game to hang with the best players in the world.”
Sophia Popov
She commentated for German television at the 2015 Solheim Cup at St. Leon-Rot in Germany and contemplated turning her attention toward the media, but deep down she knew there was more to achieve on the course. Nonetheless, midway through 2019, she seriously reconsidered quitting the sport.
Later that year, however, she began to find form on the second tier, and it kicked on into early 2020 whereupon COVID interrupted her flow. Nonetheless, in May of that year she won three events in a row on the Arizona-based Cactus Tour satellite circuit, the last of them at Troon North Golf Club in Scottsdale.
Casting her mind back four years at Évian last week, Popov, now 31, allowed a content smile to spread across her face as she said: “It was funny because Max [Mehles], who was my boyfriend but is now my husband, said, ‘You’ve got one Troon under your belt. Now, go get two.’ But at the time, I wasn’t even qualified for the Women’s Open.”
In fact, she caddied for her friend Anne van Dam on the LPGA in July and was due to do so again a week later at Highland Meadows Golf Club – the very course she will be playing this week for the Dana Open – but, because international golfers were struggling with travel restrictions, Popov got into the field.
Her ninth-place finish – the first LPGA top 10 of her career – earned a late entry at Troon and prompted her to wonder whether there might be a sense of, It’s meant to be.
Unlike the men’s Open, which was cancelled in 2020, the R&A had decided to push on with the AIG Women’s Open, but it took place with all the caution that defined (and confined) that summer.
“It was a tough time for everyone,” Popov said. “In my case, I hadn’t seen Max for three months because of restrictions. It was great to change all of that by walking the course with him every day.”
With a third-round 67, Popov grabbed a three-shot lead, and a final-round 68 sealed victory, all the while the sport’s social media were entranced by this remarkable effort from the world’s No. 304-ranked player. Bubba Watson, the two-time Masters champion, spoke for many when he tweeted: “Sophia Popov is one of the best stories in golf this year.”
“Everyone around the world was stuck at home. Everyone was looking for something to watch. It meant there was great pickup,” Popov said. “To win was very special, and it was very sweet that there was such a lovely reaction from people around the world.”
Two years later, she was made an honorary member of Royal Troon. “The members and the captain have been so welcoming,” she said. “I have a locker next to Henrik Stenson, which is pretty cool.”
Will she be watching the linksland action this week? “I’ll absolutely be watching,” she said. “I watched a bunch of YouTube videos of Henrik and Phil Mickelson in 2016, seeing what shots they hit. We had very similar Sunday weather, and I kind of fed off that a little bit. Now it’s my turn to see what comes next.”
Popov and Mehles welcomed daughter Maya into the world in June 2023, and the new mom returned to action in March of this year. She contended for the Mizuho Americas Open in May ahead of recording a season’s-best tie for 14th but concedes that her form, as well as life, has changed since 2020.
“I’d always felt that I had the game to hang with the best players in the world,” she said. “The difficult part was getting the opportunity and, when I got it, I was playing really well and very freely. The difference between then and now? Back then, I didn’t really think. Now, I’m thinking a lot.”
She missed the cut in Évian, but being a parent has provided perspective and she is looking forward to storytelling with Maya in the near future.
“I’m very excited to take Maya to Royal Troon one day and to tell her the story of a very special week,” she said. “Who knows? Maybe she’ll care what we did back then.”
E-MAIL MATT
Top: Sophia Popov seriously considered quitting golf before finding some form in late 2019.
Matthew Lewis/Getty Images