Emilie Alonso - photo credit Tristan Jones / LET

Hello Emilie, you passed the cut and finished 57^e last weekend in Prague, for the resumption of LETAS. What are your goals for this end of the season that is definitely unlike any other?

It is very difficult to set goals. We don't really know how many tournaments we will be able to play, or which ones. We learned two days ago that the Terre Blanche Ladies Open, scheduled for early October, was canceled. I don't have any results targets. With my team based in Spain, we rather set technical, physical and emotional management goals. My first resumption tournament, last weekend, gave me a bit of an idea of ​​where I was. To progress, I also requested my first bank loan to be able to buy a trackman ...

A bank loan to buy a trackman? How much does it cost ?

In the 23 euros, even if the Tour allows us to have a small reduction. I also have a Whoop, a bracelet that allows you to obtain data on your heart rate. Many players like Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Romain Langasque use it. It is very useful to manage its recovery. I see how much my emotions can affect me at this level because I realized that the night before a tournament, my heart beats 000 beats / minute more than usual. This bracelet can also help detect cases of Covid, because it seems that when you have three more breaths per minute, this is one of the symptoms.

It is already difficult at the base to make a living in Europe for a golfer, but this year must be terrible for you and all the players on the circuit…

Indeed. For several months, we have won nothing at all because of the health crisis. Fortunately, the Vanade golf course allows me to give a few lessons so that I can bring in some money, which is really nice of them. I want to thank them. Just like the Opio-Valbonne golf course, which awarded me my first employment contract as a secondary school teacher. They also helped me a lot, especially during my amateur career, it has been my training ground for many years. I would also like to have a little word about Valescure golf course, where I have been playing since I was 12 years old.

You mentioned your team in Spain. Can you tell us more ?

Last year, I played a tournament in India on a superb course and I didn't have the level at all, my balls were going all over the place, I was completely lost. I contacted my friend Jon Rahm, with whom I was at university in Arizona, to find out if he didn't have a coach to advise me. He referred me to Marta Figueras Dotti, who chairs the LET committee and signed the agreement with the LPGA. She is a former player of the American circuit who has an academy near Madrid, at the Real Sociedad Hipica Espanola Club de Campo. So I went to see her and I was immediately impressed by the facilities. There are two different courses, a 30-meter chipping green, three putting greens with very varied height differences. She was with Miguel (Fajardo), her assistant, and they asked me to hit some balls at the driving range. After three bullets, they arrested me immediately and told me that there was a lot to review, that I had at least eight months of work to do, that it was not possible to play golf like that (laughs)!

You didn't come for nothing ...

You don't think so well put it. Watching my swing, the academy's physical trainer, Eduardo Carnero, asked me if my shoulder was sore, which I did. Then seeing the soles of my shoes, he told me that my ankles must be painful. The guy didn't know me at all and already knew all my problems! Thanks to a strengthening and stretching program for my shoulder, my pain disappeared in two weeks ...

Technically, what was wrong?

Oh, lots of things, nothing was actually right (laughs). I crossed the club, I rolled my hands, even the first thirty centimeters of my start were not good ...

It seems that at the age of 10 you were already able to play Bach concertos on the piano. It is true ?

Yes. I started playing the piano around 3-4 years old because my parents are musicians. I quit when I was 12, because at the time, I was doing 2 hours of piano and 2 hours of golf every day. I had to make a choice and I loved golf. From my second year, I was in the semi-finals of the French championships, before winning them two years in a row. I wanted to make it my job very quickly. I was lucky because my parents supported me. They told me: ok, we support you 100% but you, you have to live your golf 100%.

Did you discover golf at 10 years old?

Yes. And at 11, after a year of golf, I was index 3,5. I entered the record books for the most dazzling progression in the world, along with Tiger Woods and Annika Sorenstam! Suddenly, Nick Faldo contacted me to join his foundation (Little dream), which came to the aid of the best prospects. I played with him at the Divonne golf course and he released funds so that I could train. I owe him a lot.

Wait… 3,5 index to 11 years after one year of golf. Do you have a thought for our readers and the millions of licensees who row each year to scratch one or two index points?

You know, there are very few self-taught golfers. The first piece of advice I give each time is to take lessons and train. It's no secret, it's the best way to progress quickly. Kid, during my first French championship, I missed the cut by one point by missing a putt by one meter. I never told myself that again. Every day, I started hitting 100 one-meter putts or 50 drives. This is how I progressed so quickly, doing a lot of repetitions. There are few children who train so much at this age. I was supervised very young, I also had a taste for competition and a thirst for learning.

You spent four years at Arizona State University in the United States. How did you live this experience?

To be honest, it went badly at the start, especially since I arrived during the year because I had to play the Solheim Cup junior. Suddenly, I could not join the team, I felt a little sidelined, I was the new one. Besides, I didn't have a car and my "roomate", the girl I shared my room with, had a drug dealing boyfriend. I went to live alone in an apartment and things went much better afterwards. The following years, with my friend Noemie Jimenez, we said to ourselves that it was important to welcome and put newcomers at ease so that they do not experience what we have been through.

At 26, what is the best memory of your young career so far?

Having played the junior Solheim Cup in Knightsbrook (Ireland), at 18 years old. At 14 and 16, I was already very close to qualifying. The Ryder or the Solheim is every professional golfer's dream. It's really great, there's the atmosphere, the team spirit, the locker room with our names, supporters everywhere, we are treated like the pros… There was the real Solheim Cup afterwards and the players gave us passed inside the ropes, they had dinner with us in the evening. Carlota Ciganda and Azahara Munoz, with whom I had shared the last game three years earlier at the Mediterranean Games, remembered me and asked me for my news. They were the ones who advised Arizona State to recruit me.

And your worst memory?

At the age of 16, when I had to stop working with Benoit Ducoulombier. I started to play less well, my level dropped. I returned cards of 85, 90, I missed the cuts, whereas before, I sent -5. It is a period that I did not live well.

Your dream as a golfer?

There are two. Play the Solheim Cup of course, especially since I played it as a junior, especially with Céline (Boutier). And then win in Evian. It was there that I hit my first golf ball, while my parents were playing a concert there. During my first year at Jabra, I actually finished 8^e.

What is your strong point?

Putting. I love putting (laughs)! I generally putt well under pressure. Last weekend in Prague, during the 2^e round, I tucked in two 8-meter strings during the first two holes. Julien Brun, with whom I started golf in Valbonne, calls me “la Fourreuse” (laughs). I find putting that we have the most emotions in golf. Look at Jon Rahm's 20-meter putt in last Sunday's play-off at the BMW Championship. Wow!

Do you know him well?

We spent three years together at university in Arizona. She is a beautiful person. When he wins in Muirfield Village, I text him and write to him that although he must have received thousands of messages, I wanted to congratulate him. And he answers me within two hours. Same when I ask him if he knows a good coach for me, he answers me within the hour. The guy is world No. 1 and takes the trouble to answer a friend from college. He's a great guy, I love him.

Your weak point?

The stress (laughs)! It's been my weak spot lately, even though I'm able to put in the winning putt. And then I don't hit far enough. It's one of my goals, to gain power. Today, on the women's circuit, we can no longer afford to have a ball speed of 91 miles per hour. On the LPGA, the average is 94, some even hit 100 mph. That's 20 meters more and two clubs difference at the finish, we no longer play the same course.

You were talking about stress. What are your mental keys when it comes to hitting a really big putt, which can make or lose you a lot of money on the 18?

I'm trying to find stability from my routine which is quite slow, even though I took out a practice putt recently. Then I try especially not to move my head, to stay static. If your body moves when putting, you lose precision. And then I have positive thoughts. I say to myself: I'm going to put it in, I'm going to put it in, I'm going to put it in ...

Your best score?

-7 in match-play against Damien Perrier at the Rennes Saint-Jacques golf course, during the Orangina Bowl. I am also the player who has participated the most in this competition, exactly five times. Otherwise, I played -6 at Bossey or -5 at the Spanish Open in Jerez.

Have you ever done a hole in one?

I made six. The first one, I was 13 years old, was at hole n ° 5 in Saint-Andréol: a hybrid shot of 150 meters. More recently, something incredible happened to me on the Opio-Valbonne golf course, which has always been my golf course, the one where I learned to play. I box a 6 iron on the 5 hole and I'm almost disgusted because there is no one to see it (laughs). I send the photo to my parents and my father bedroom me, telling me that there are no witnesses. The next day, he accompanies me on the 9 holes of the return, and there I directly enter a 6 iron on the 11! Completing two holes in one in two days on the same course must not have happened to many people.

Is there a player you admire?

There is necessarily Jon Rahm, because we shared some nice moments together. And then Rory McIlroy. I played a Pro-Am with him in Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche a long time ago. He was young and still had his Rory haircut (laughs). He sees a 14-year-old girl arrive who is starting from the red balls, he must have said to himself that the day could be long. On the way out, there is a moment when I go birdie then eagle. I started about fifty meters before him from the reds and at the drive, our balls are found side by side. He said to me: well, we have a chip competition, show me the way. And there I enter my chip of 20-25 meters! I tease him a little by asking him to show me what's in his stomach and… he enters the chip in his turn! We had a “high five” and a “hug”, we were laughing out loud. I remember that he couldn't come to the awards ceremony and gave me his number, so I could tell him if we had won the Pro-Am. We had won and he had answered my message elsewhere.

What about women?

I really like what the Korda sisters do, especially Nelly's swing. And then, it's not original but there is also Annika Sörenstam, she revolutionized women's golf.

What do you think is the most common fault among amateurs?

They all make an "overcoat". They all slice if you prefer (laughs). They are also waiting to make sockets to go see a teacher. Otherwise, they don't like putts, they absolutely want to lift the ball. And in general, it's always the fault of the course if they miss (laughs). More seriously, what I would recommend to amateurs is to create a routine before but also after their shot, try to understand after each bad shot what went wrong and also work on the strategy. When you don't have a routine or a strategy on a course, it's always more complicated to give good scores. If you immediately get in front of the ball and hit, without taking into account the wind, the places where you shouldn't miss, etc., you can lose points very quickly.

A word about your sponsors?

I am sponsored by the insurance broker Verspieren and Crescendix. There were the Little Dream and Sport For Life foundations during my amateur seasons. At that time, the Lacoste family was also very supportive with clothing sponsorship. I am also thinking of Jacqueline Baqué, the captain of the Valescure golf course, who recruited me when I was 12 years old. She has an herbalist's shop in Saint-Raphaël, Naturshop *, and she provides me with all the food supplements that promote blood circulation and strengthen my immune system. All of them have been essential in my journey and are part of my life.

Apart from golf, what are your interests?

I have many. My mother giving music theory lessons, I love to sing. I also do mountain hikes with my boyfriend. Last time, we drove 26 km in seven hours. And then, my father being Spanish, I like to dance to Latin music.

Interview by Franck Crudo

https://emiliealonso.com/

*https://www.naturshop.fr/