MyTurn by JIM DUCIBELLA
Diaz Preparing For Her Moment
She stood on the 10th tee, imprisoned in a relentless, torrential rain, during the second round of the Kingsmill Championship in May. Elsa Diaz draped a white towel over her head and shoulders. She resembled The Flying Nun or an Arab sheikh, which would have been funny and appropriate given her vivacious personality, but for the circumstances.
Not even halfway through her professional debut, Diaz stood 13 over par on her way to an eventual score of 17 over and last-place finish. But only someone who’ d lost touch with reality would have been surprised.
In the days immediately preceding the t o u r n a m e n t, D i a z moved out of her living quarters in Richmond on May 12 and graduated from the University of Richmond the next day. Three days later, she returned with the Spiders’ women’ s team from Florida and the NCAA regionals. That night, she and her sister, Sara, began contacting potential sponsors. Then she turned professional. Kingsmill and a sponsor’ s exemption began immediately after that.
People asked how she prepped for her big moment.
“ I’ m going to work more on the mental game, remind myself that this is now my fulltime job, this is what I’ ve wanted to do.” – Elsa Diaz
She couldn’ t.
Don’ t expect Diaz’ s Kingsmill performance to be the norm as she climbs onto the LPGA Tour. Her past hints at her having the talent and, her admirers say, the indefatigable work ethic needed to succeed.
She won one tournament as a senior at UR and posted six career top-10 finishes. She captured the 2015 VSGA Women’ s Stroke Play title at Two Rivers CC then came back two years later to finish second by a stroke at Blacksburg Country Club.
Should Diaz even come close to winning, she’ ll be a media darling. The girl’ s got a tale.
She spent her first seven years in Mexico before moving to Texas because her parents wanted her to learn to speak Spanish first. She started playing golf at 9 and hated it for six years. Then she entered a First Tee event at Pebble Beach, looked out at the ocean from the 10th hole, and was hooked on playing for pay.
She hangs out with former San Antonio Spurs star Bruce Bowen, a close friend of the family, who she calls her“ uncle.” That relationship has its privileges, such as the night Bowen stopped by her home in San Antonio, Rory McIlroy in tow.
Keep an eye on former Richmond Spider Elsa Diaz as she begins her hopeful journey to the LPGA Tour.
Ask me anything, McIlroy offered. Diaz wanted to know what happened to him at this year’ s Masters, where a final-round 74 cost him his latest attempt to finish a career grand slam. McIlroy confessed that he tried to be somebody he wasn’ t that day, and advised her to be true to herself and her game.
“ I guess that’ s the beauty of professional golf,” she said.“ When the nerves are up how well can you keep to yourself? Playing college golf, you think you have it down a little bit, but being able to play at a course like this in an event like this taught me what I need to work on to get out here with these girls.”
Diaz will tackle that task under the guidance of Adolfo, her father, occasional caddie and coach. It’ s an intriguing arrangement.
He’ s a chiropractor who didn’ t take up golf until his 30s and, Diaz said, only because so many patients came to him with golf-related back and neck problems. He decided he would develop a biomechanical swing to help them.
When his daughter tried it, she found“ that I could compete, that I could play well, and that’ s why I haven’ t let him go. The partnership I have with him, the relationship, is very valuable to me.”
During college, Adolfo gave her lessons via Skype. That won’ t be necessary once she moves back to Texas after spending the summer at Independence GC, where she’ s a jane-of-all-trades, up at all hours, working, and working on her game.
She does that in an unconventional way, saying“ I don’ t really follow many drills because I’ m trying to follow the biomechanical part of my swing. That’ s the path I’ ve taken.”
Despite her travails at Kingsmill, she called the experience“ a big confidence booster.”
“ I’ m going to work more on the mental game, remind myself that this is now my fulltime job, this is what I’ ve wanted to do,” she said.“ I need to remember that I was out here and that I can compete with these girls.”
CHRIS LANG
40 V IRGINIA G OLFER | J ULY / A UGUST 2018 vsga. org