An Early Start
I was 13 years old when I knew that I wanted to become a professional golfer. It was during the summer and raining in New Jersey, so I wasn't able to ride my horse (I used to ride horses competitively back then). I turned on the television and the LPGA was playing the women's Kemper Open in Hawaii. I've always loved to watch sports on TV, so I thought I'd see what golf had to offer.

It was the final round and Nancy Lopez, Beth Daniel and Betsy King were going down to the final hole neck and neck. It was very exciting; in the end Betsy King made birdie while Nancy Lopez made bogey, so Betsy won. I watched the trophy presentation and saw Betsy win something like $45,000, and I thought that maybe I wanted to do that. I could be outside, travel to great places like Hawaii, play a sport, and make money. What more could a person want? I had played a little bit of golf with my family during vacations prior to that summer but never really thought anything of it. After watching that tournament, I knew I wanted to play.

At that point, my father sold my horse, joined Newton Country Club, and taught me everything he knew. I had some natural talent, so he tried to help me in any way he could. We found a teacher, first Ron Young, and then, at 16, came under the tutelage of David Glenz, with whom I've been ever since.

Getting Serious
Once I set my goal to become a professional, all I did was play golf — every day, morning till night. I played all the junior and amateur national tournaments that New Jersey and the tri-state area had to offer. Later I played junior and amateur national tournaments — earning the New Jersey State Amateur Championship in '94 and the Women's Metropolitan Golf Association Player of the Year Award in '95-'96 — which helped me get a full scholarship to Furman University. Betsy King went there, so I had to go there too! I started to mold my game at Furman and, as a senior in 1997, I was named the Most Valuable Player for the women's golf team and earned Southern Conference Champion honors.

Becoming a Professional
After two years on the Futures Tour, I qualified conditionally for the LPGA Tour as a rookie (2000) by tying for 46th in the final qualifying tournament. Despite some good finishes here and there — including 4th place finishes my rookie year at the Hawaiian Ladies Open and at the Du Maurier LPGA Classic, where I held the first round lead — I wasn't able to make much headway on the Tour my first few years out there. Around 2005 I started to feel more comfortable on Tour and that's when things really started to change for me. Despite playing in only seven LPGA Tour events in 2005, I played well enough to finish the season 75th on the Money List and earn exempt status for the following year, thanks in large part to my career-best, 3rd-place finish at the John Q. Hammons Hotel Classic.

2006 was really my coming out party and a signal to myself that I could compete with the best in the world every week. For the year, I finished inside the top 40 on the Tour's Money List, qualified for the season-ending ADT Tour Championship — competing for the $1 million first place prize and finishing 9th! — and earned a new career-best, 2nd-place finish at the last tournament of the year, the Honda LPGA Thailand event. I closed out 2006 in great form, making 11 straight cuts including three top 5 finishes.

I started 2007 a bit rocky, missing three of my first four cuts, but then I put together a string of 23 made cuts out of 24 events to close out the year. Despite having only one top 10 appearance in that stretch, I was very proud of my consistency over the course of the long and sometimes grueling season, and I was also proud that I finished the year ranked 16th on the Tour in birdies made.

I think much of my success the last two years can be attributed to my newfound commitment to eating right and exercising regularly. I am proud to say that I lost more than 60 pounds between '06 and '07. Everyone wants to know my secret and they're surprised to learn that it was really quite basic: I simply trained myself to eat smaller portions and to eat sensibly.

Thank You for Visiting
In my free time, I enjoy watching movies and sports and mountain biking. Thank you for visiting my site and see you on the links!