Hi Everyone,
For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Olivia Jordan-Higgins and I am a 6th year member of the Epson tour. I’ve won twice and had numerous top 10 finishes. I am originally from Jersey, in the Channel Islands, which is a small island located off the coast of France. I have been asked to write a bi-weekly blog for the website, so here goes!
Last week we were in Brockton, MA, which is just south of Boston. I’m not sure I’ve ever played a tournament where the weather has changed quite so dramatically. On Tuesday, it was 55 and rainy. By Friday and Saturday, it was 90, which was borderline unbearably hot. Then on Sunday, I don’t think it got above 60. It was madness. The best part was the locals would just say ‘welcome to New England!’ I guess this wasn’t out of the ordinary for them.
I didn’t have a chance to go into the city this year, but my host dad took me to Gillette Stadium, where the New England Patriots play, so that was pretty cool. For a girl from a small island, who has not been to many NFL Football games, the stadium was huge. But from my understanding, this one is relatively small. You Americans love your Football!
My host dad, last week, is big into classic cars so we went to this event called Cruisers, which takes place just outside of the Stadium. It’s a gathering of 2,000 or more people who all have a love of classic cars. I really like cars, so it was cool to be educated on the history and how much they’re worth etc. My host dad, Brendan, has several classic cars, which he does up, and we got to ride to the event in a ’88 Chevrolet (I sure hope I got that right). This car was actually used as a pace car in a movie Brendan, and his friend, made about the Norwood, MA race track, which is no longer being used. I love to be around people who are passionate about something as you can see it in their eyes. Brendan was like a big kid when he was telling me all about the different cars. It was awesome!
On the golf side of things, I certainly made progress this week. I always thought I was a relatively patient person, but I am coming to the conclusion I am not at all! I put a lot of work in this offseason, and I have wanted to see results NOW. Unfortunately, this has not happened so far, and my patience has really been tested. All good things take time, and I’m having to constantly remind myself of this at the moment. However, there did seem to be some light at the end of the tunnel this week. This came during the second round with a 3 under. Golf felt easy again. I had 6 birdies (and there could have been quite a few more), which was great. Birdies are always fun! Now it’s just a matter of eliminating the mistakes, which comes down to short game. My bunker play is great at the moment, nearly holed out a couple of times this week. Chipping definitely needs work and putting can always be better. Thankfully, I’m flying to see my Coach next week so we will be able to work on a lot of these things to get them sharpened up.
This week we’re in Albany, New York. This is actually one of my favorite events of the year. The golf course suits me and I have good memories here. I’ve finished twice here, narrowly missing out on the win. I’m staying with one of absolute favorite host families. This is my 4th year staying here and we are really close. They make me feel so welcome and comfortable, that I feel like I’m part of their family. This makes a huge difference throughout the year when we’re traveling so much. I have a feeling this is going to be a good week! Be sure to check out the live scoring and follow along!