The tears were flowing for Sophia Popov even before she holed her last putt at Sunday’s British Open — tears of joy at becoming the first German women’s golfer to win a major title.
“I guess it is an incredible story and I think that’s why I broke down on the 18th hole, because it’s been something I couldn’t have dreamed of just a week ago, and it’s incredible that golf allows for these things to happen,” the 27-year-old said after her triumph at Royal Troon on the Scottish coast.
The United States-based Popov had already considered hanging up her clubs after struggling to make the grade on the cut-throat professional circuit.
She suffered from a mysterious illness, she revealed, with around 20 doctors unable to connect her symptoms to a successful diagnosis.
Popov lost several kilograms in weight.
Eventually Lyme disease was determined to be the cause of the health problems but on-course issues took even longer to resolve than Popov’s three-year wait for a diagnosis.
“At that point it was so chronic, though, that I had just been struggling a lot with fatigue, and honestly, I had like 10 different symptoms,” she said.
“It was a tough time to go through just because I didn’t know what it was, and it took so long to pinpoint exactly what was going on.”
She lost her card on the highest level LPGA Tour and slumped to 304th in the world.
As the Tour returned from its coronavirus break three weeks ago, she was there — but caddying for her friend Anne van Dam rather than striking shots herself.
Having scrapped into the field for the Open — in part due to cancellations because of the coronavirus pandemic — Popov made the most of her chance.
She led by three shots going into Sunday’s final round and cruised home two clear, even with a potentially life-changing victory on the line.
“I was a lot calmer, honestly, than I thought I would be,” she said. “I was very nervous the first hole, but I said, all right, just try to not let people see that.
If you’re calm to the outside you’re going to be calm to the inside.”
Popov’s winning cheque for her maiden major is a worth a shade over 675,000 dollars — more than six times her career prize money to date.
“The British Open was actually just a bonus for me,” she said having won her first professional event on the modest Cactus Tour in her home state of Arizona just a few months ago.
Popov is the first German woman to sample major success.
The men’s field is not crowded with only Bernhard Langer (Masters 1985, 1993) and Martin Kaymer (PGA Championship 2010, US Open 2014) in the elite club of major winners.
“What a performance,” said Kaymer on Instagram. “Congratulations on your first major win Sophia.”
“Today I woke up a major champion,” Popov wrote on social media yesterday. “I still can’t believe what happened yesterday.
A single week that turned my life upside down.”
Along with the trophy and cheque, winning the Open also provides five-year membership of the LPGA Tour. Without a Cactus in sight.