OLYMPICS IS A PRIORITY

I always said Hannah would be a slow burner. Our goal this year was to make it to top 60 in the world because that gives you the chance to play at the Olympics.

She will want to play that as much as the majors next year. She loves her country and wants to represent it. It may not have been a priority for the men in Rio, but it certainly was – and still is – for the women.

In some ways Minjee’s success has helped Hannah. She’s taken all the press, all the limelight. It’s just meant we could take our time developing Hannah a bit more.

Minjee also got all the support.  It’s not that Hannah got no support but she got less support.

If you were going to select two players to go to the NZ Amateur, for example, you were going to select Minjee and someone else. And it was likely that someone else would come from another state.

At the time, she would acknowledge that Minjee was kicking her arse and she would be happy to say that: ‘If she’s kicking my arse why shouldn’t she get the funding and support?’ That’s the sort of person she is. She doesn’t ask for anything but she’s appreciative when she gets it.

Both have a steely determination to be better than anyone else. Hopefully they’ll bring that with them as teammates to the Tokyo Games next year.

STILL TEARY THINKING ABOUT IT

Hannah and I speak often; normally two-three times a week.  She’s really self-sufficient which is how I like my players to be. Usually I’ll just ring up and ask if there’s anything I can help with and tell her to stick to her projects. We have a really honest relationship. If I think she’s playing shitty or she thinks she’s playing shitty, we’ll tell each other.

But this was a major, so we spoke between rounds every day.  Even after the third round, she was composed albeit pretty excited and a bit nervous. I’m normally pretty calm and my aim is to keep them calm and in the moment as well.

I’ve been coaching Hannah for 10 years, since she was 12, so there’s a lot of trust between us and I just try to keep my message consistent and calm, but honestly I was shitting myself!

We spoke about finding a quiet place before the game and visualising a few different scenarios. ‘Think about how you want to it to feel if you’re a few shots ahead.  And also imagine how you want to feel if you’re behind – do you want to be aggressive, or calm?’ You can’t avoid being challenged in a final round when you’re leading, especially when you’ve led from day one and so many of the best players in the world are on your heels. So I just told her ‘you need to be prepared for it to be challenging’.

What I wasn’t prepared for was how challenging it would be for me watching from the couch! I was an absolute mess. I’m still a mess. I’m teary just thinking about it.

She screwed up 9, 11 and 12 and then she hit a pretty good shot off the tee at 13 and that settled her. Although it was nail biting, I had faith in her. Hannah’s tough as old boots and a great performer under pressure, even if she wasn’t technically at her best.

When she holed her putt at 16, I knew the win was getting closer, but Sung Hyun Park’s great putt on the 18th really put the pressure on Hannah for her final hole. To get up and down out of a bunker, with the pressure of a play off if you bogey… it’s just tough.

Every kid dreams of winning a major, and Hannah has done it. I’m quite emotional about what it means for her. She’s worked so hard, and she’s such a great kid.