At 15 years old, Ashley Shaw gets the chance to join the LPGA since earning an exemption with her win at The John Shippen Cognizant Cup this past Monday. Describing this moment in her career as pivotal would be an understatement for the young golfer.
This week the Litchfield Park, AZ native takes on the LPGA Tour’s Cognizant Founders Cup as her first ever LPGA event. The Cup is extra special for Shaw as her mom, Sylvia, will be her caddy and experience her daughter achieving one of her dreams right alongside her.
“It just makes me so excited,” Shaw said in an interview with Luke Lyddon of 12News. “I know my mom is excited for this week during Mother’s Day weekend and she told me this would be the best Mother’s Day if we are on the course instead.” (via 12News)
The John Shippen National Invitational is made up of a series of competitions with the goal of providing golf opportunities to the nation’s top Black amateurs and professionals on the LPGA and PGA tours.
“It’s an extremely important tournament,” Shaw said. “It helps bring more diversity to the game of golf and to know the winners get an exemption to these types of events, it helps bring more diversity. This is so important because not a lot of people in this game look like myself.”
Shaw’s talent at such a young age is entirely built on her strong work ethic and daily dedication to practicing her craft. Shaw details that ever since she was 10 years old she has been on a course swinging away. “I put in a lot of time on the course and my happy place is on the course.”
The Cognizant Founders Cup will be taking place this week from May 9th to the 12th. The tournament will be held at the Upper Montclair Country Club in Clifton, NJ. Best of luck to Ashley Shaw as she makes her LPGA debut and competes against 143 other elite players.
Photo Credit: The John Shippen
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