After her dream came true at the Ladies Italian Open Amy Taylor remains on cloud nine and is excited to get going at this week’s VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open.
The Englishwoman had a week to remember a fortnight ago in Rome as she performed excellently to seal a one-shot win and land her maiden Ladies European Tour (LET) title.
Having had a week off to reflect on the sensational victory – as well as seeing her namesake Taylor Swift in concert – Taylor is feeling blessed and rearing to go at Golfpark Holzhäusern.
“It’s super cool to hear that [I’m a winner],” she said on The LET Golf Podcast. “It didn’t really sink in on Sunday, but I’ve had a week now so it’s kind of sunk in but it’s pretty surreal still. I’ve had a lot of messages which has been really nice.
“It’s definitely more challenging now in terms of expectations. I always try to not set myself any because I think they limit me. But yeah, once you’ve won you’re in a different position and for sure there’s going to be more eyes on me and a bit more pressure.
“But I’m still the same golfer and I felt I was capable of winning in Italy, so we’ll see. Switzerland is a great course – I played it last year and I’m looking forward to it!“
Having not had a previous top-10 on the LET, Taylor posted rounds of 70-67-69 at Golf Nazionale to seal the one-shot win to the delight of her peers.
Most importantly, though, Taylor was able to secure full status in the winner’s category having started the season with limited playing opportunities.
“It’s been kind of crazy,” the 23-year-old explained. “I definitely came into January feeling a better golfer than I was last year. But I had less status on the LET. So that was something that was battling in my head.
“I committed to trying to chase status on the LET, I knew I had my two starts in Australia and I got those through going to the WPGA Tour and playing there in December. Then I went down to the Sunshine Ladies Tour and played a few events there. I took a very hectic route for the re-rank, but if I hadn’t have made those decisions, I wouldn’t have got into Italy.
“The opportunities that now present themselves from now winning are endless. So it’s been cool to sit with that feeling. And yeah, it’s still kind of sinking it!”
As for the turnaround in results, Taylor credits a strong pre-season and change in focus to the fine-form – two factors which also helped the Englishwoman pick up third and fourth place finishes on the LET Access Series (LETAS) heading into the Ladies Italian Open.
She explained: “I’ve been focusing on my game a lot. Coming off last year, I felt like I had some ok results, but it wasn’t really what I wanted. So during the off-season I was focusing a lot on my stats – what I did well and what I needed to improve on.
“Even with not a great season last year, I was still in the top-three for fairways hit. So I knew that was one of my strengths but I just wasn’t converting greens-in-regulation. That’s where I felt I was losing the most shots. So I’ve been really trying to work on my approach shots.
“Then the week before France [on LETAS] I put in a new putter. Because that was also a part of my game that just wasn’t quite fitting the rest of the trend. I took confidence from Montauban for sure finishing fourth on the Access Series. I posted a low number in round one so that was reaffirming. Then turning up in Italy, I just felt really good.”
Two weeks on from winning gold in Italy, Taylor gets underway at the VP Bank Swiss Ladies at 12:51 on Friday playing alongside Switzerland’s Elena Moosmann and Wales’ Chloe Williams.
