Back-to-back: my first winning week as a professional

My last individual win was a few years back: the 2018 English Girls’ Open Amateur. A lot had happened since. Five years of college golf, the step into the professional game and a first season on the Ladies European Tour in which I grew enormously, as a player and as a person.

With every experience the belief grew that I can win at this level. At some point it is no longer about having that thought but about truly allowing it. Why not me?

Humewood: the moment it became real

At the SuperSport Ladies Challenge in Humewood that moment arrived.

After three rounds it came down to a playoff against Casandra Alexander. She was the home favourite in South Africa, ranked inside the world’s top 50 and the number one on the Ladies European Tour. Beating a player of that calibre head to head made the win even more special for me.

The playoff went to six extra holes. Hole after hole it was about staying calm, trusting my game and continuing to believe that the chance would come.

And then the putt dropped.

My first win as a professional. A moment I had pictured so many times and that was suddenly real.

Eight days later: once more

Just one week later at the NTT Data Ladies Pro-Am something was different. I no longer just felt I could win. I had experienced what it feels like.

That new self-belief turned straight into the next title, this time by five strokes.

Two wins within eight days showed me how much can change when hope turns into real conviction. A win often begins long before the final putt drops. In the moment you truly believe you can win.

At the end of the season I finished second in the Sunshine Ladies Tour Order of Merit. Above all, though, I left South Africa with a new feeling: I belong in these situations and I can decide them in my favour.