When it comes to golf, Alexa Pano’s patience pays off

CHASKA, Minn. — A funny thing happened on Thursday. Not like the ha-ha funny or beat your leg roaring laughter that is funny, but ironic.

I arrived at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Hazeltine National on Thursday morning with a loose plan to write a few words. But golf is rarely predictable. (See Keith Mitchell 41-29 at last week’s US Open.)

One thing for me he did planned, however, was to view the Alexa Pano. He is 21 years old and is in his fourth full season on the LPGA Tour. He hits it far (273.4 yards on average) and has won once, at the ISPS Handa World Invitational in August 2023 (he won on the day he turned 19).

But I really wanted to watch and find Alexa because seven years ago I spent a lot of time talking to her, her father, her tennis coach and others in a 2,000-word profile before the launch of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, where, only 14 years old at the time, she was about to become a junior competitor in the event. I spent time with them on the golf course, while Alexa played a rare round with friend Tommy Morrison. (Tommy, who just finished his senior year on the Texas men’s golf team, has grown to 6 feet, 9 inches tall. Man, time flies.) I asked a million questions, including one that wondered if Alexa didn’t like that Amazon Alexa, then new, had stolen her name. I think Alexa, the person, thought this question was weird.

Although in the time since then, I haven’t seen Pano play golf, at least not in person. So that was Thursday’s plan: watch a few holes, maybe say hi and get on with my day.

But it turns out that the first time I got a chance to talk to Alexa, she was backstage, taking questions from the media (myself included) as Golf Channel cameras rolled and photographers snapped photos.

He had just shot a smooth five-under 67 and led the clubhouse for the third LPGA major of the season. That lead didn’t last — Ina Yoon sneaked in and shot a 63 about an hour later — but Pano will enter Friday in a good spot.

“Hitting it straight is the most important thing on this golf course,” he said. “It makes it easier to reach the fairway. The roughs are patchy and have thick areas. The more you keep the ball on the fairway, the better.”

They are all grown up!

A decorated young player, Pano came onto the radar of golf fans when he starred in a 2013 Netflix documentary. The Short Gamereported at the 2012 US Kids Golf World Championships in Pinehurst, NC Pano was 7 years old at the time. Since then Alexa and her father, Rick, have traveled tens of thousands of miles a year duking it out in high-level junior competitions.

She has competed in the Drive, Chip and Putt at Augusta National three times and was the youngest participant in the 2019 US Women’s Open. He played in Junior Solheim Cups and Junior Ryder Cups before turning 17 in 2022.

He played a year on the Epson Tour before earning his LPGA card through the LPGA Q-Series and earning LPGA membership for the 2023 season. Since then he has been on a great journey, although he has had to learn lessons along the way. Like patience.

“You lose a lot more than you win here and that’s a change from junior golf to even college golf,” Pano said Thursday. “You’re not as high on the leaderboard as you think you should be. You have to really trust the process and keep putting in the work. But it’s worth it for days like today when it pays off or weeks when it pays off.”

Pano had an early morning Thursday and had an even swing, but he went a little short when he went 69 yards for an eagle on the 11th. As the ball kept rolling, Pano screamed go away when his caddy, Kyle Alexander, told that stay. Pano usually puts his father in the bag but he was out sick a few weeks ago. He looked out of sorts on Thursday.

“Do you know who Wally Pipp is?” he asked me with a smile. (Yes I do.)

He burned the back nine from there: birdies on 14, 16 and 17, and even an easy putt-putt par on 18 after his drive found a fairway bunker.

“I felt like I was putting myself in a really good position, whether it was off the tee or just playing safe on the green and hitting all my marks,” he said. “All in all a really solid day.”

This is her 13th major start as a professional, and her only top 10 was at the 2024 Women’s British Open. But now comes the hard part – staying in contention. Golf tournaments, and major tournaments in particular, are all about staying on a 72-hole course. On Thursday you usually don’t shoot yourself in it. So far so good.

“I think the more experience you get, the better you get,” he said. “I think the more I play in these events, the more comfortable I get. But I really miss being a junior golfer and qualifying for events like the US Opens and stuff. The tournament felt a lot bigger than me. Now I feel like I’m handling it better and feeling more comfortable.”

You can reach the author at joshua.berhow@golf.com.