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For some golfers, the dream doesn’t always stay the same.
The dream, that is, of competing on the biggest tours in the world and winning the biggest tournaments, which will only ever be achieved by a select number of superstars.
So when a player has those achievements well within their grasp but still decides to take a completely different route, it’s important to take note.
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Rachel Heck is one of the exceptions.
In a moving first-person story for No Laying Up, Heck, one of the most decorated female amateur players in history, has explained why she has turned her back on a career in the professional game.
The former world No.3 amateur, who became the first woman in Stanford golf history to win an individual NCAA title, will soon focus on a career in private equity after time as an Air Force lieutenant.
“It’s hard to imagine how it will feel to put my clubs away at the end of the season,” Heck said in the poignant letter. “How will it feel to stand over my last putt? How will I feel waving back to my teammates one last time?
Golf has given me the world and more. Post-graduation, I’m choosing to hold onto my love of the game as an amateur as I explore new horizons. Read about my decision at the link below🫶🏻https://t.co/LDq5j0pYYR pic.twitter.com/pZ7sEfpuX0
— Rachel Heck (@rachelheck2020) March 25, 2024
“I still look forward to playing amateur events and, hopefully, many more USGA Championships. However, it will be undeniably different. Taking a step away from the game that has given me everything has been a gut-wrenching decision.”
Heck first emerged onto the wider public consciousness back in 2017 when she made the cut at the U.S Women’s Open as a 15-year-old. But her glittering amateur career has been hampered by a back injury and time on the sidelines made Heck reflect on what she really wanted in life.
“Even when I was able to start playing again, I knew something was not right,” she said. I did not recognise myself anymore, on or off the course. All my joy was gone, and all my smiles were fake.
“That fall, I became severely depressed. In that period of darkness, I realised I needed something more than golf, and I vowed that I would find it. I told my parents I wanted, perhaps, to try Air Force ROTC. They told me I was crazy. It would be simply impossible to keep up with Stanford academics, Division I golf, a social life, and the military.”
Heck has eight collegiate wins at Stanford University and has competed in two Curtis Cups. She is an ex-college teammate of Rose Zhang, who is a breakthrough star on the LPGA Tour star.
But mounting injury problems caused her to miss six months of action last year as she had a rib removed during surgery to relieve the pain from thoracic outlet syndrome, where nerves or blood vessels are compressed.
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