Olivia Mehaffey has no timeline for her return to the game of golf after admitting she feels “lost” and “broken inside” following her father’s death last year and is stepping away to look after her mental health.
he Banbridge talent (24) earned a conditional card at the Ladies European Tour Q-School last December, just two weeks after her father Philip passed away aged 59 following a two-year battle with colon cancer.
She dedicated that performance to her dad but took to Twitter on Saturday to reveal she hadn’t given herself time to grieve and was taking time away from the game.
“Since the end of last year, I’ve been in denial and tried to brush all my feelings aside,” Mehaffey wrote on Saturday after withdrawing overnight from the LET’s Skafto Open in Sweden to miss her ninth cut in a row.
“I hid behind golf and didn’t give myself any time to heal. I pushed everyone who wanted to talk and help away. I constantly told myself I was fine, I was coping, life was ok. Until everything caught up with me a few months ago and reality hit me.
“I’ve tried to put a smile on my face and hide behind the fact I can’t make it through a day without crying, without feeling lost, without feeling broken inside and feeling so isolated from everyone,” she wrote. “I feel I have lost myself and I can’t find happiness right now.
“I’m learning that grief is a weird thing, something you don’t know how you will handle and what the next day will bring. It has taken me 8 months to admit I need help to get through this, to learn how to move forward, to navigate through life without my dad here.
“Therefore, I have decided to take some time away to get the help I need and be surrounded by my family. I’m not sure when I will come back on tour, but I feel right now I need to focus on myself as a person ahead of an athlete.”
Sweden’s Linn Grant finished birdie-birdie to win the Swedish event and her fourth title of the season by a shot from compatriot Lisa Pettersson.
On the DP World Tour, South Africa’s Thriston Lawrence claimed his second win of the season when he beat England’s Matt Wallace in a play-off in the Omega European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre.
Lawrence (25) began the day with a three-shot lead, but while Wallace shot a four-under 66 to his 69 to force sudden-death on 18-under, the Englishman three-putted the 18th in the play-off.
“All of the history around this tournament, looking at Seve there twice, 1977, ’78, I wasn’t even born yet,” said Lawrence, who won a 36-hole Joburg Open in November.
“Just crazy to see the history around this tournament. It’s my first time here, and it’s probably one of my favorite weeks. Definitely coming back, it’s been amazing.”
On the Challenge Tour, Paul McBride recorded his best finish on the second-tier tour since turning professional when he tied for 13th behind Sweden’s Mikael Lindberg in the weather-reduced Indoor Golf Group Challenge in Helsingborg.
The 2017 Walker Cup star (26) was two-over after six holes of the final round but played the remainder in three-under as he posted a one-under 70 to finish seven shots behind the winner on 10-under par.
Lindberg closed with a five-under 66 to win the event, reduced to 54 holes due to heavy rainfall on Saturday, by three shots from Denmark’s Nicolai Tinning, England’s Steven Tiley and France’s Robin Sciot-Siegrist.
Tom McKibbin shot 72 and Gavin Moynihan 70 to leave them tied 52nd on five-under.
Meanwhile, Ireland’s Beth Coulter, Anna Foster and Lauren Walsh tied for 16th on 11-over as Sweden won the Espirito Santo Trophy for the third time at Golf de Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche on Saturday.
The Swedes and Americans tied at 13-under par 559, but after comparing non-counting scores, a one-over-par 73 from Sweden’s Louise Rydqvist was one stroke better than Rachel Kuehn’s 74 giving Sweden the gold medal and the USA the silver by one stroke from Germany and Japan.