This winter, everything has been coming together for Megan Osland.
Osland won Sunday’s Cactus Tour event by one shot after shooting a 6-under 66 in the third round. It’s the Kelowna, B.C., native’s third win on the mini-tour this winter, and she feels like her hard work is paying off.
“It makes me feel like all the work I’ve been doing during the off-season has been worth it,” she said in a phone interview from Scottsdale, Arizona. “My training is starting to pay off.” My swing coach, my putting coach, and my mental coach have all been helping me. With those three, everything is coming together.”
Osland said that she has only made small changes to her game in every way.
“There’s nothing big in any area,” Osland said. “We’re just making small changes and making each area more consistent.”
Because of these changes, he won by three strokes at the Sun City Country Club on November 2, by seven shots at the Riverview Golf Club on January 15, and then by three strokes at the Willow Creek Golf Club on Sunday.
All three of these tournaments were in Sun City, Arizona, but the next two tournaments on the Cactus Tour will be in Beaumont, California.
Osland plans to play in both, since the Cactus Tour could be a stepping stone to the Epson Tour, which is the second-best tour. This circuit is a direct path to the LPGA Tour, which is the top level of professional golf for women.
“The incentive is that you get points for both of those tournaments, and the player with the most points at the end of the two tournaments gets a free pass to an Epson Tour event,” said Osland, who played in five Epson Tour events in 2022 and was a regular on the second-tier circuit from 2016 to 2019.
“The most important thing I need to do is get back on the Epson Tour full time. The next step is to get an LPGA Tour card, which can be done through Epson or Q-school at the end of the season.”
Osland’s strong start to the season makes it likely that she will reach her goals quickly, as long as she keeps getting results.
“You just have to play and make some money,” Osland said, referring to the LPGA and Epson Tour’s annual reorganisation. “Basically, if you’ve made enough money, you can be moved up to full status again.” That would be the best way to go if I could just get a couple of early starts.”
The Epson Tour will start its season next week at the Country Club of Winter Haven in Winter Haven, Florida, with the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic. Sue Kim, from Langley, B.C., won the event in 2015, and the next year, Samantha Richdale, also from Kelowna, won. This made it two years in a row that a Canadian won the event.
Adam Svensson, from Surrey, B.C., is the best-ranked Canadian golfer at this week’s Honda Open, which is part of the PGA Tour. At the moment, Svensson is 10th in the FedEx Cup rankings. He will be playing on The Champion course at PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, with Taylor Pendrith of Richmond Hill, Ontario, Michael Gligic of Burlington, Ontario, and Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ontario.
This story from The Canadian Press came out for the first time on February 22, 2023.
The Canadian Press’s John Chidley-Hill said this.
