With the 2023 Women’s U.S. Open being held at the iconic Pebble Beach Golf Links in California, Amy Olson was never going to miss it.
Even if she is currently 30 weeks pregnant.
A major championship is enough pressure to handle on the course, but Olson has it much harder than her competition this week. Yet, she saw the opportunity to play at Pebble Beach, and knew she wanted to participate despite being in his third trimester.
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“We are at seven months right now. About to hit 30 weeks in two days,” she told ESPN while preparing on the course. “When I found out I was pregnant, I looked at the schedule for the year and I was like, ‘OK, how far realistically can I play?’ Started texting all my LPGA friends that have done this before and right around 30 weeks was the cutoff, and I saw the U.S. Open was at that point.
“If I qualify, it was at Pebble. I’m going to try to do it.”
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The 30-year-old posted rounds of 72 and 66 in her U.S. Open qualifier at Somerset Country Club in Mendota Heights, Minnesota, to land in the field at Pebble Beach.
That came back in May, and she’s participated in just three LPGA Tour events all season, missing the cut at the Shoprite LPGA Classic and Meijer LPGA Classic last month and finishing tied for 61st at the Lotte Championship in April.
“My swing changes day to day, and every golfer knows that already happens on a daily basis. But pregnancy is like that on steroids,” she explained.
While going through those swing changes and trying to get her game back on track for this big week, Olson is also enjoying the moment. Half-joking, she said hunger strikes every two hours now, and Pebble Beach will be accommodating one of her food requests.
“Now that I arrived on property, they’re going to switch out the [Smucker’s] Uncrustables for properly-made PB and Js,” she said laughing.
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Olson’s husband, North Dakota State football coach Grant Olson, said he isn’t the only one that is inspired by his wife.
“I’ve seen her doing a lot of really impressive things as far as her golf game. So sometimes I wonder if I get a little bit used to it and don’t appreciate it. But I’ve really the other people – our friends, people that we’ve known for a long time and especially people that know golf – that say they’re really excited for her. There’s so many people that are cheering her on and wishing her good luck. Extremely proud of her,” he said.
Olson will be teeing off Thursday on Hole 1 at 10:22 a.m. with Azahara Muñoz from Spain and Emma Spitz from Austria.