LPGA Tour player Amy Olson will be competing in her seventh U.S. Women’s Open this July – but her first while pregnant.
The Oxbow, North Dakota native, who began playing golf when she was just two, says it was her father who introduced her to the game and her brother who inspired her to compete. An outstanding amateur, Amy led her college team all four years before qualifying for the LPGA in 2013.
Married to Grant since 2017, the Olson baby is the couple’s first child and due in September.
Qualifying for the premier summer event came after Amy shot a 6-under 66 this past week in the closing round of the US Open qualifying event at the Somerset Country Club at Mendota Heights in Minnesota.
“I wanted a shot at it because it’s Pebble,” she told the Minnesota Golf Association. “That was the big motivation and it’ll be my last tournament before the baby comes, so it’s a good way to go out.”
It’s refreshing to see stories about Amy’s success highlight the fact that she’s pregnant and excited about the couple’s baby. Reporters and commentators are even calling it a baby – not a fetus.
The Olson’s don’t see their baby as a burden or hindrance, but a happy blessing. Yes, it will mean less golf, fewer competitions and refocused energy. Will she return the Tour? Time will tell – but for now here is a woman who has her priorities straight.
Follow Amy Olson on Instagram and you’ll see John 3:16 in her bio. On Twitter, she cites Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
Amy especially put feet to her faith back on the last day of the 2020 U.S. Open. She had just learned the night before about her father-in-law’s sudden and unexpected passing.
“That moment I realized the depth of God’s strength,” she reflected. “I did not have what it took to process everything and be in contention for a victory. God did. Just as He has always allowed me, through wins and losses, ups and downs, to use every moment as a mission.”
She continued:
“That day and every day, God gives me the strength to deal with whatever is thrown in front of me. On my own, I had nothing. I relied on God’s strength and on His plan. That is easy to do when things are going your way. But in hard times it’s important to believe that God’s plan is perfect, even if it makes no sense to us at the time.”
Amy Olson didn’t win that day, but she played well and finished strong, all the while singing Josh Groban’s song, “You Raise Me Up.” Olson said she almost couldn’t get through the lyrics “You raise me up to walk on stormy waters” without breaking down.
“You can’t think about winning,” she said about the game of golf. “You can only think about what you control. One of the things I can control is my faith in God and His son, our savior Jesus Christ. A lot of people speak about the strength of their faith as if the faith itself is the source. I know that my faith is not strong, but my God is all powerful. He lifts me up in times of sorrow. Without him, I am nothing.”
It’ll be easy to root for Amy Olson this coming July at the famed Pebble Beach course in California – but she and Grant and their baby would also appreciate and benefit from our prayers.
Photo from Shutterstock.
The post Homeschooled Christian Golfer Amy Olson to Play U.S. Women’s Open While 7 Plus Months Pregnant appeared first on Daily Citizen.
Daily Citizen