"Pretty much everything was just as spot on as can be, and I just want to keep having that momentum going into this week and next week. "The last win felt very, very good," Moore said. After those three wins, Moore said she feels more confident and prepared for the LPGA restart. Moore competed in 11 tournaments on the mini-tour and won three of them. We were all just wanting to keep playing because we didn't know when the LPGA was going to start up again." But, the tour director made sure we were practicing safe protocols, social distancing, doing everything in a safe manner. "The first month and a half, we were getting really criticized about playing. "Even though I didn't have a definite 'back to work' date, I wanted to keep my game sharp, so I entered tournaments on the Cactus Tour," Moore said. Although holding the tournaments was criticized by many, the Cactus Tour followed safety protocols set in place by the state of Arizona and allowed players like Moore to compete for money and stay tournament-ready. Moore was familiar with the Cactus Tour and had competed on it in preparation for the LPGA Q-Series.
#ONTOUR GOLF SHUTDOWN PROFESSIONAL#
When Moore found out the season was being put on hold because of COVID-19, she knew she would need to find a way to still compete and remain tournament-ready.įortunately for Moore and other pros, the Cactus Tour - a professional women's mini-tour in the Southwest run by Mike Brown - was still staging tournaments.
But each tried to make the most of their time away from the LPGA Tour. This week, 16 of those 19 rookies will tee it up for the second phase of their initial season.įor Moore and fellow rookies Jillian Hollis, Patty Tavatanakit, Andrea Lee and Albane Valenzuela, this season has been unprecedented. Now, 166 days after the last time the LPGA teed it up, the 2020 season resumes with back-to-back events in Toledo, Ohio, starting Friday with the inaugural LPGA Drive On Championship at Inverness Club.
#ONTOUR GOLF SHUTDOWN FULL#
Many of the rookies who competed at the fourth tournament of the season, the ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open, thought that was just the beginning of a full year of competition. LPGA's Alex tests positive, not at Invernessįor the 19 rookies who qualified for the 2020 LPGA Tour, a season riddled with postponements and cancellations due to the coronavirus pandemic was never in anyone's master plan.This was never part of my master plan." Editor's Picks Event after event now postponed or canceled. Then, I looked at the news on my phone during practice and saw that the event was postponed. "I made my way over to Phoenix to practice and get ready for the Founders Cup. "The LPGA issued a statement at the beginning of March and said there would be no interruption to their current U.S.
But Moore wanted to remain positive and focus on her next tournament, the Volvik Founders Cup in Arizona. At that time, the LPGA had canceled three tournaments in Asia out of safety concerns over COVID-19. She told herself that it was just the beginning, and the next tournament was right around the corner.Īfter Australia, Moore traveled back to her home in California to prepare for the first of nine events before the U.S.
#ONTOUR GOLF SHUTDOWN TV#
"Suddenly, I was all over TV and in print media as one of the leaders," Moore recalled.īut, by the end of the third round, Moore missed the cut - the event had cuts after both the second and third rounds - by one shot. In the first round of her professional debut, Moore shot 6-under 66 and was on top of the leaderboard. Now, she could finally call herself a rookie. Since elementary school, Moore had dreamed about playing on the tour. In November, the University of Arizona standout qualified for the LPGA Tour after placing 11th at the 2019 Q-Series. Moore, 21, was finally teeing it up as a member of the LPGA Tour at the third tournament of the season, the ISPS Handa Vic Open in Australia. It was the first week of February, and the time had finally come. Haley Moore had been waiting three months to start her professional career.
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