Last week Kristyna Napoleaova became a first-time winner on the Ladies European Tour (LET) when she secured a play-off victory over Cara Gainer at the Amundi German Masters.
Only seven years earlier, the title-winning footballer for AC Sparta Praha had never held a golf club, but an ACL injury turned her to a new sport at the age of 20.
Straight after becoming an LET winner, she said: “It’s amazing and I can’t wait to do another one, especially next week, back home!”
According to Napoleaova, the win was timed perfectly and, it has boosted her confidence massively heading into the rest of the season.
“It managed to give me some security for the next couple of years, which I didn’t have. I thought it was a so-so season for me and I hoped to get into a few events, but now I have the freedom of where to go and play and to get into my first major, the AIG Women’s Open, is incredible,” she said.
It also means that the Czech player will have plenty of support with friends and family able to come and watch her play.
“I do stay in my own bed this week. It’s so special being home and competing on home soil so I don’t mind a few extra minutes in the traffic.
“The crowd is amazing and so many friends and family will show up to support us so it will be super cool, especially with so many great Czech players in the field.
“The course is lovely. You have a lot of scoring chances, and the cut tends to be low. You need to be good on the approaches and putting. Off the tee, I remember taking hybrids and 3-woods. The main defence is the greens and I know that my putter is hot.”
The 27-year-old from Pelhrimov added: “My putting was the worst part of my game – and my chipping. The last few years I have been struggling with a very active right hand. I couldn’t play the putts straight and I had to let them die in, otherwise if I missed it, it would be in big trouble.
“I changed it to the reverse claw after the first round in Belgium and in the US Open qualifier I ended up eighth, so I could see that something was working well. In the game of golf, you never know what’s going to happen.”
Napoleaova admitted that her experience as a footballer has given her some transferrable skills for her golf career.
“I would say that discipline would be the first thing. In football, it’s a team and you want to commit because all the other members of the team rely on you. In golf, I don’t have another 10 players covering my back. I just have one good one, Jan, my caddie. I want to build on that and see where it goes,” she added.
