Arizona ties helped Sophia Popov pull off one of golf's greatest upsets

Kent Somers
Arizona Republic
Sophia Popov, the winner of the 2020 Women's British Open golf tournament, demonstrates her swing at the Firerock Country Club in Fountain Hills, Ariz. on Sep 1, 2020.

It was a chit-chat kind of question, an icebreaker at the beginning of one of several interviews Sophia Popov, winner of the Women’s British Open two weeks ago, would do one day last week at FireRock Country Club in Fountain Hills.

“Did you ever think you would be in this position?”

“No,” Popov said. Then she paused before hitting another shot on the driving range and looked up with a little smile.

“Actually, down deep, I did.”

Two weeks ago at Royal Troon in Scotland, Popov pulled off one of most improbable victories in golf history. She became the first woman ranked outside the top 300 (304th) to win a major. The only man to do it was Ben Curtis in 2003.

Popov made the field only because she finished tied for ninth at the LPGA’s Marathon Classic two weeks prior. And she played in that tournament only because COVID-19 concerns kept other golfers away. And she was playing golf only after nearly quitting nine months earlier.

“I knew I was capable of it,” said Popov. “It was just having to overcome so many things.”

The victory gave Popov a tour exemption through 2021, although she isn’t playing in the ANA Inspiration, a major tournament, this week because that field was set before the tournament was postponed in April.

Popov understands that and has used the extra time to follow the advice of several tour players who told her to take time to let the accomplishment fully sink it.

“I don’t think I’ve gotten to that point yet,” she said. “As golfers we have a natural tendency to rush into the next thing and the next thing and then the next thing. We don’t look back to be proud of what we have accomplished.”

Arizona ties

On leaderboards, there is a German flag next to Popov’s name. But she has a few places she considers home.

Born in Massachusetts, Popov moved to Germany with her family as a young girl. She has dual citizenship and is fluent in both German and English.

She was an all-American four years at Southern California and now splits her time between Florida and Fountain Hills, where her parents moved four years ago in order to be closer to one son in Tucson and one in Los Angeles.

Both of Popov’s brothers attended the University of Arizona.

Popov has spent most of 2020 in Arizona. It’s where she resurrected her skills and renewed her love for a game that caused her so much anguish for most of the previous four years.

So many things...

The symptoms started in 2015, a year after Popov’s final season at USC. Fatigue. Digestion issues. Crushing headaches. Tingling in her hands and feet. All came in unpredictable, debilitating waves.

“I would have a good week, a bad week, a good week,” she said. “It would be so frustrating because I’m trying to play well and overcome whatever was going on in my body. That was very draining.”

Over the next three years, she saw numerous doctors. Already thinly built, Popov lost 25 pounds. No one could tell her what was wrong. Finally, in late 2017,  a doctor diagnosed Lyme Disease, a bacterial infection caused by the bite of an infected tick.

“My case is chronic,” said Popov, 27. “The symptoms stay with you the rest of your life, so it’s up to you to figure out a way to suppress them.”

So Popov started paying strict attention to her diet. “The worse I eat, the more it becomes active in my body. To me, it’s almost like a blessing it happened, because I take care of my body so much better than I did previously. But I wish I didn’t have to go through what I went through to realize that.”

One more try

The illness took a heavy toll on her golf game. She lost her tour card, and after failing by one stroke to regain it through qualifying school in 2019, Popov was seriously considering giving up competitive golf.

A communications major at USC, Popov weighed applying to graduate programs and for internships in broadcasting. She talked to everyone close to her, including her parents, her brothers and her boyfriend, Max Mehles.

Sophia Popov, the winner of the 2020 Women's British Open golf tournament, poses with the her trophy from the tournament at the Firerock Country Club in Fountain Hills, Ariz. on Sep 1, 2020.

But the most heartfelt conversations came with her mother, Claudia. “My mom is my closest friend,” Popov said.

“The way I look at being successful at something is it needs to come from within and from the heart,” Claudia said. “You have to find the passion on your own. You have to want something to not only be successful but also to make it worthwhile for yourself.”

Claudia advised Sophia to take her time with the decision. Put the golf clubs in a corner, take a break and think about it. And when you reach a decision, go through the process again just to make sure.

“I didn’t ever want her to feel any pressure from the family," Claudia said. "It was going to be totally fine with us if she chose another route.

“Then we dropped the subject, and we didn’t talk about it again.”

Eventually, Popov came to a simple and profound conclusion. “You don’t get this frustrated and worked up about something you don’t love that much,” she said. “It just doesn’t happen.”

Popov decided to continue to pursue golf, but in a different, more enjoyable way.

“You have to be 150 percent into this,” she told herself. “You can’t be ‘let’s just kind of practice.' Focus on your mental game. You haven’t worked hard enough at that EV-ER. Work on the short game, also not my favorite part of the game. Really work on those things because it won’t happen if you don't do that.”

And just as important as all that, enjoy the game. Don’t make every round a sparring match with it.

“My mom told me ‘I don’t like that person you become on the golf course sometimes,’” Popov said. “I said, ‘I don’t, either.’

“That’s where the attitude change comes in. Either you’re going to go out and have fun, and have a smile on your face even when you’re playing bad, or don’t do it. Do something else.”

Putting in work

So Popov worked at all the above. And she put practice into play on the Cactus Tour, a series of mini-events played mostly in the Valley, from Queen Creek to Goodyear.

Popov won three times. Small victories, but not insignificant.

“You hear ‘Cactus Tour’ and you think, ‘oh, it’s a tiny, little mini-tour,’” she said. “Which it is. But a win is a win, and I think you still have to overcome the same little demons in your head that are trying to stop you from winning a tournament. It doesn’t matter if there are 44 girls or 144 girls (in the field). It still doesn’t come easy. Being able to win there multiple times gave me confidence and I knew my game was in a good spot.”

Sophia Popov, the winner of the 2020 Women's British Open golf tournament, demonstrates her swing at the Firerock Country Club in Fountain Hills, Ariz. on Sep 1, 2020.

She called upon that reservoir of confidence two weeks ago at Troon. Mehles, her boyfriend, caddied for her, and the two played a little game during all four rounds. Popov was not allowed to react to bad shots. Or comment on good ones. The goal was to stay as neutral as possible.

Once, Mehles caught her rolling her eyes and shot her a look. “He didn’t even have to say anything,” she said. “Immediately, my focus was on the next shot.”

She was tied for second after two rounds and a 4-under 67 on Saturday gave her a 3-shot lead heading into the final round.

Before her 68th and final shot on Sunday, Popov dropped her pursuit of neutrality on the course. She cried, hugged Mehles and then tapped in the putt for the victory.

Claudia and the rest of the family watched at home.

“It’s been a long, rocky road,” Claudia said. “I think that what I’m most proud of is she just kept getting up after falling down. Kept getting up.”

Reach Kent Somers at Kent.Somers@gannett.com. Follow him on twitter @kentsomers

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