Climbing The Ranks
Sure enough, after much practice, that
new shot shape in her arsenal came into
play last year when she finished tied for
second at the Meijer LPGA Classic. Sheehan
smiled when he watched his student
fade her shot into the green for a soft
landing 10 feet from the hole.
“She has maybe the best mental game
of any golfer I have ever seen,” Sheehan
added. “She’s just calm and confident in
her ability.”
And while Sheehan knew Altomare was
both heady and steady, he found himself
a little stupefied when he once asked
her to try wearing a headset device that
measured brain waves. The device played
music and the more active the brain
waves were, the louder the music played.
Conversely, the calmer the brain activity
was, the music lowered and turned off.
“Brittany did it in under 10 seconds,” he
said. “There were two other tour players
with us and they couldn’t get the music
to go off at all.”
STEADY AS SHE GOES
Former Virginia women’s golf coach Kim
Byham Lewellen said she is not surprised
by Altomare’s steady progress as one of
the LPGA’s rising American stars.
“She has always had one of the best
golf IQs I know,” said Lewellen, now the
head women’s golf coach at Wake Forest
University. “Brittany has worked on her
fitness quite a bit and she has focused on
the statistical areas that she needed to
work on to gain strokes on the field.”
In fact, Altomare’s steady climb as a regular
top-20 performer on the LPGA also
Altomare was one of five
rookies to earn a spot
on Team USA’s 2019
Solheim Cup roster.
earned her a spot as one of five rookies on
the 2019 U.S. Solheim Cup team. She posted
a 2-1-1 record at that event and walked
away with a shot of confidence and support
by LPGA Hall of Famer and three-time U.S.
Solheim Cup captain Juli Inkster.
“My main goal last year was to make
the Solheim Cup team,” Altomare said.
“You learn that it’s incredible what you
can do under pressure and as a team.”
TRENDING & CONTENDING
Both Sweeney and Sheehan believe Altomore
can crack the top 10 in world rankings
this year and the two coaches believe she is
on track to earn her first LPGA victory.
“Justin and I look at her stats and
trends a lot and we look at parts of her
game to see if the metrics are moving in
the right direction,” said Sweeney. “It’s
all very mindful. She’s not just out there
playing every week, hoping for the best.”
In only her second full LPGA season,
Altomare also took Anna Nordqvist to an
extra hole at the 2017 Evian Championship.
She finished second at that major
championship, but walked away with new
belief in her renovated game.
“It made me feel like I belonged out
there,” added Altomare, who will marry
fiancé Steven Stanislawzyk in October. “I
love being in contention and I think the
more I do it, the better my chances will
be to finally get a win.”
And as the saying goes, good things come
to those who wait. In Altomare’s case, good
things also come to those who put in the
hard work to get where they want to be.
Altomare took down Jodi Ewart
Shadoff of England 5 and 4 in
Sunday singles play, but the
U.S. fell to Europe 14.5-13.5 at
Gleneagles last fall.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
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M AY/J UNE 2020 | V IRGINIA G OLFER
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