Nicole Broch Estrup won the 2015 Helsingborg Open and her first LET event at Vasatorps Golf Club. This week sees the return of the tournament where the Dane will defend her title, albeit eight years later, at Allerum Golf Club.
The 30-year-old from Hillerød, just a stone’s throw away from the venue across the Öresund, has some great memories from this event and it’s a winning feeling that she is keen to rediscover.
“My first and only win on the LET came here in Helsingborg, so it was pretty special,” she said. “I have good memories and it’s nice to get this event back on the map.
“It’s the closest event to home for me, so it will be nice to have some family and friends here as well. My little brother, Emil, (21), is going to caddie for me, so that will be fun. He started playing just before Covid and he’s solid.”
Speaking about the challenge of Allerum Golf Club, which hosted the Allerum Open on the LET Access Series in 2018, 2019 and 2021, she added: “It’s more about the mentality of staying patient. You probably don’t have to shoot super low scores to be up there and especially with the wind and the course being as firm as it is. The greens are quite tricky, so hopefully the wind isn’t going to be as strong as it is today, but I don’t think it is going to be a super-low winning score.”
In a game of fine margins, where one shot per round – or a lip-out – can be the difference between winning multiple titles or missing cuts, Broch Larsen is still working hard on her championship mindset.
“This year, I’m working on the mental part. It’s everything for me,” continued the 21st ranked player on the 2023 Race to Costa del Sol, whose best finish so far this season has been a tie for fourth in the Joburg Ladies Open.
“I just had a talk to my mental coach about toning down my goals and expectations.
“I had a good start to the season. After the break, I came out putting a bit more pressure on myself to win this year. I need to go back to the small steps again to try and take me to the win at some point.
“A lot has happened in the last eight years. That week, (when I won), it was the easiest that golf has ever felt to me. At the moment it’s getting better, but it’s been a struggle for the last two years, I’m not going to lie about that.”
On the latest episode of the LET Podcast, Broch Estrup goes deeper, explaining that she would have given up golf, had it not been for the support of her husband, Kasper Broch Estrup, who caddied for her for two years as she struggled with nerves and anxiety.
“It started right after I got married. In the Fall of 2021, I couldn’t make a putt on the LPGA and it started to stress me out,” she said.
The 2015 LET Players’ Player of the Year, who had previously described herself as “fearless,” winning the 2016 EPSON Tour Championship and finishing second in the 2019 Canadian Open on the LPGA, began to worry about making cuts, which progressed into panic attacks.
“The first one where it hit me was at the KPMG LPGA Championship in 2021 when I hit it so bad, I shot 80, she said. “I made a double and then four birdies in a row and I started shaking. I was so uncomfortable and it was something I hadn’t experienced before. The last four tournaments that year were brutal. I didn’t want to go to the golf course; I was scared of making mistakes and it got really stressful being on the golf course,” she said.
“I got into a couple of LPGA events at the beginning of last year and it was like playing with a knife in my chest. It was so uncomfortable. I knew that if I could make a cut, I could get reshuffled and I could get into the rest of the year but looking back, I’m glad I didn’t make a cut and pulled the plug on the LPGA and got back to the LET. From the first event I played on the LET, I felt like I could breathe a lot better. I mean, it’s not the LPGA that’s making me feel like that, but suddenly I felt like I wasn’t good enough to be out there which is super strange because it’s a place where I almost won in 2019. Golf is a strange game but it’s the same in every sport and the mental part can get a little crazy.
“The difference between the LPGA and the LET is that on the LET, people need each other. Not everyone has someone to travel with each week, like a family member or a friend, so we use each other a lot more on the LET. On the LPGA, people do care about each other and help each other out but it’s a little bit more individual out there. Coming back to the LET, I quickly ended up talking to Becky Brewerton and Meghan MacLaren and staying with them for a couple of weeks. Becky has been through something a little bit worse than I have but just talking to someone who had been through it and sharing was just huge for me. There are a lot of good people on the LET: the players and the staff. It’s been a good move for me and I feel like I can breathe a lot better.”
Broch Estrup said that the end of last year marked a turning point and a recent belated honeymoon to the Maldives, almost two years after her wedding, offered an opportunity for relaxation and reflection.
“On the flight back from the Maldives, I thought, I can see myself winning again – and I really want to win, which is something that I only hoped I’d get back: that mindset.”
It’s been a long road, but Broch Estrup is finally getting close to being back to where she wants to be – in a positive and confident frame of mind – and seeing herself lifting trophies again.
