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How Taylor Swift changed the career trajectory of a major champ thinking about quitting golf
Taylor Swift's list of accomplishments is seemingly never-ending at this point. She has four Grammys for Album of the Year, the highest-grossing concert tour of all time and a 2010 song so harsh that John Mayer is still recovering from the fallout. And yet, we never expected to say that Swift might’ve changed the golf world for the better.
In recent years, Thai golf prodigy Patty Tavatanakit seemingly lost her way in the sport despite winning an LPGA major at the 2021 ANA Inspiration. The 25-year-old admitted earlier this week at the Aramco Team Series Finals press conference that she “wanted to give up” and was losing her connection to golf.
“This is only my fifth year on tour,” Tavatanakit admitted. “I’m already contemplating if I actually love golf, but I do it as a job. But what drives me to do what I do is being successful. I really want to be successful, setting goals and trying to achieve them, whatever it is. I feel like I lost that for a little bit, over the past two years, I was just really lost and like, why am I playing?”
Well, this is where Taylor Swift comes in.
Tavatanakit was able to survive the Eras Tour ticket saga and see her idol at the Singapore National Stadium back in March. It was not only a once-in-a-lifetime show but changed the golfer’s perspective on her day job.
“Earlier this year I watched Taylor Swift in Singapore, and she performed probably three times a week at that stretch, and I really looked up to her,” the World No. 23 said. “There must be some nights where she just does not feel like it, she just wants to call it quits, but she can’t disappoint all those people.
“It’s just the same with us, sometimes we just want to call it quits and we just want to go home, but we can’t disappoint our fans, our responsibility for the tour, our sponsors. So yeah, if you watch her on the stage, she did not even show that, so I idolize her for that, and I try to put it in this year’s mindset, as much as possible.”
Tavatanakit will be teeing off in Riyadh this week for the Aramco Team Series presented by PIF and is looking to finish an up-and-down year with a strong showing. If you see her with earphones in while warming up, stay away. There’s little doubt about what she’s listening to.
