Amelia Garvey has had a wonderfully weird couple of months.
This week, the 25-year-old Kiwi golfer will make her first appearance in the Women’s British Open at Royal Porthcawl in Wales.
It’s an opportunity that follows an impressive run of form featuring four top-10 finishes in her past six events.
A rookie on the Ladies European Tour (LET) this season after a few years on the United States-based Epson Tour, Garvey admits she didn’t start the season on the right note.
However, after some tweaks to her game, Garvey finds herself at No 11 in the LET rankings and No 3 in the rookie of the year race.
“I just found some form. I went through some swing changes before my run of events in Europe and [it] obviously seemed to pay off and it kind of clicked pretty quickly,” she tells the Herald.
“Then [I] just gained some confidence through that stretch and was really happy with the way I was playing. It was weird, I had, what, three third places but never really felt like I had the chance to win the golf tournament.
“I always seemed to put up a good last round that jumped me into those spots, but [I’m] just really happy with the way the season’s been going.”
Garvey will be one of three Kiwis in the field for this week’s major championship, alongside defending champion Dame Lydia Ko and Momoka Kobori, who earned her place through the final qualification event earlier this week. It will be Kobori’s first major championship appearance.
With entry into the British Open came a return to links golf for Garvey, which began with teeing off in the Scottish Open last week.
That served as a reminder of just how challenging links courses can be with Garvey finishing nine-over-par through two rounds and missing the cut.
The biggest lesson she took away from her efforts in Scotland?
“Oh, stay out of the rough and the bunkers,” she says.
“I mean, I had one shot that didn’t move at all in the rough, which I can’t remember the last time that that happened.
“I feel like links golf is a game of chess. Like, you really have to be strategic with angles into pins with how bouncy the greens are and just learning that sometimes a 60ft [18.29m] putt is a good result in the wind.
“It’s about just minimising the damage out there. You can go low when it’s not windy, but you’re just really on the tough holes, you’ve got to stay out of trouble, and I didn’t do a great job at that last week, so definitely going to look to do a better job this week.”
She got advice along the same lines during nine holes with Ko on Tuesday morning (NZT). Royal Porthcawl shapes up as a course where positioning off the tee will be crucial to putting up a competitive score.
“She was just saying that it’s really about just trying to position yourself around the golf course and be patient. The wind’s going to test you, and you’ve got to be able to accept a bogey and try not to make big numbers out there.”
While appearing in one of the four majors is always big, Garvey says she will take the week as it comes and enjoy herself.
The co-sanctioned tournament is one of seven left for the LET this season, with Garvey now looking to improve her claim to a top-10 finish through the back end of the campaign.
Although she didn’t come into the season with any expectations, she has played herself into a position where securing a chance to play for an LPGA Tour card is a realistic possibility.
“I didn’t quite know the standard of competition out on the LET, and I think at the start of the year, I knew I wasn’t playing my best and wasn’t very happy with the numbers I was putting up.
“I knew I could play better, but the jump I made in the last five weeks, that wasn’t expected whatsoever. I think it’s just been nice to finally have some good results and show that the hard work has been paying off.
“But yeah, to finish inside the top 10 this year is the goal, because that gets us into [the] final stage of qualifying for the LPGA. That is my main goal, and I just hope that I can continue the form going into the end of the season to be able to do that.”
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.