Carolin Pineggar and Krista Puisite would have seemingly been better suited to meet on a ski slope or an ice rink. After all, they hail from Austria and Latvia, two countries known far more for their winter sports access than for golf.
But the two 23-year-olds are now well-traveled professional golfers who are earning attention for their level of play, first on the 2014 Epson Tour and possibly the LPGA soon, and even more so with tonight’s season debut of “Big Break Myrtle Beach” on the Golf Channel.
“We knew each other even before we came to college in the United States,” Puisite said. “This year we became even better friends. We were in a similar situation – both playing on the Epson Tour, traveling across the country for the same events and coming from so far away. And then with the ‘Big Break’ filming, it was 16 days where all day long you’re with the same people.”
“Big Break Myrtle Beach” debuts today at 9 p.m., on Golf Channel and runs for 11 episodes until mid-December. The popular reality series has been a stepping stone to professional golf for a number of players, including Jackie Stoelting, who played on the Epson Tour this season, qualified for the 2015 LPGA and won “Big Break Florida” earlier this year.
International viewers can watch the show at www.golfchannel.com/tv/big-break-myrtle-beach on a weekly basis each Wednesday, the day after it airs in the United States.
“Big Break Myrtle Beach” was filmed this summer on the Fazio, Dye and Love courses at Barefoot Landing and Pawleys Plantation Golf & Country Club in Myrtle Beach. The show has various golf challenges for the participants and also displays how they interact with each other in front of numerous cameras during the competition as well as off the course. The 12 participants are currently prohibited from discussing results or plot lines in order for the show to draw more viewers.
“It was definitely different than anything I had experienced before,” Pineggar said. “There are cameras everywhere you go and you get used to them after four or five days. You’re thrown into a house or hotel with 11 other people you really don’t know very well. You figure each other out pretty quickly. You don’t get a lot of sleep and it’s very stressful. But now when I play golf I realize it helped me to grow as a player. I’ll never see that many cameras again, I don’t think.”
Pineggar took up skiing at age 2 like most Austrians, but was drawn to golf by her parents’ interest. She came to the United States at age 16 to attend IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., and played collegiate golf at the University of Central Florida. She just completed her rookie season on the Epson Tour and will be on the LPGA’s developmental tour again in 2015.
“It was really hard coming to the U.S., because I thought I could speak English,” Pineggar said. “That wasn’t the case. The first few weeks of high school here I was really like a deer in the headlights. I had no clue about what the teachers expected of me.”
Puisite comes from an even more humble golf origin. Latvia has only one 18-hole course and a few hundred golfers. But her father introduced the family to golf, which led Krista and sister Mara to the Latvian Junior National Team and to college golf at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. Krista will compete in the final stage of the LPGA Qualifying Tournament in early December after playing on the 2014 Epson Tour. She recovered from an opening 79 in last week’s Second Stage of the Qualifying Tournament to shoot three consecutive 70s and advance to the finals in Daytona Beach, Fla.
“Once I made the cast in the summer, people started saying, ‘She’s on ‘Big Break,’ ” Puisite said. “That’s been going on a while now. And obviously that fame runs out. I had to just go back to focus on playing golf. The next season starts soon.”
But for the remainder of 2014, the unlikely duo from small European countries will be receiving ‘Big Break’ attention.
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