NW players get their Big Break

Lindsay Aho remembers walking through a Florida airport a while ago, wearing some golf clothes and her hat from the Golf Channel’s Big Break Florida. As she walked toward her gate, someone stopped her and asked if she was the same Lindsay from the reality television show.

She said yes and the guy walked away feeling he had just met a celebrity. Aho doesn’t always feel like a celebrity, but after being on the Golf Channel’s Big Break Florida, she is known throughout the golf world.

Aho joined a cast of 12 lady professionals on the Big Break Florida show, Golf Channel’s most recent viewing pleasure. In fact, she was just one of four ladies from the Pacific Northwest along with Courtney Coleman from Rochester, Wash., Renee Skidmore from Everett, Wash. and Sadena Parks from Bethel, Wash. None of the Pacific Northwest girls won the event, but life after the Big Break has been just fine.

Coleman likes the fact that people recognize her when she is at a golf course or sometimes shopping at a golf store. “You never know where you will run into someone who thinks they know you,” she said. “It’s a lot of fun.”

Lauren Sullivan from Texas was also part of the show and was in the Pacific Northwest to play in the Pepsi Northwest Women’s Open at Twin Lakes Golf and Country Club. “I was hitting balls at a course near the tournament and someone came up and asked if I was the girl on the show,” she said. “You never know when people are going to recognize you.”

Aho hopes to get known for more than just being on the cast of the Big Break Florida show. She won her first professional tournament in 2013 when she won the Pepsi Northwest Women’s Open and the $4,000 first-place prize. She is a regular on the Cactus Tour and hopes to advance through LPGA Qualifying which begins in August in Palm Springs.

“Everything with golf is sponsor driven – so if you are known that really helps,” said Aho. “Being on the show really helped open some doors. Exposure is big in the world of golf.”

Aho said being on the television show also helped her golf game. She is more confident, more likely to take some chances and hopefully that will result in some wins.

“Experiencing that kind of pressure was great for me,” said the 26-year-old Aho. “I used to try and play it kind of safe. But not anymore. I need to start taking more chances.”
Being on the Big Break Florida show was a big chance. Aho was eliminated fourth of the 12, but still was around long enough to make some money and improve her game.

Though Coleman was bounced fairly early from the show it was a learning experience she wouldn’t trade for anything.

“It was pressure every day and it was a lot of fun,” she said. “It was a great place to learn how to deal with that kind of pressure.”

Aho hopes that her improved play and the exposure she received from being on the Golf Channel’s show will line up some sponsors down the road. Entry fees for tournament, airplane tickets, rental cars and hotel rooms tend to add up fairly quickly. In fact, it costs $2,500 just for the first stage of the LPGA Qualifying School.

“Winning will help everything,” said Aho. “And I got some great confidence from the TV show that should help me get there. And hopefully that will mean some sponsors.”

Aho is spending time on the Cactus and Canadian Women’s Tours. She does have a deal with Jones Golf Bags out of Portland. And hopefully more on the way. She hopes to make it through LPGA Qualifying and either spend time next year on the big tour or the Symetra Tour.

She proved her game is solid. She won the 2013 Pepsi Northwest Women’s Open and finished third this year.

“I just need to keep having good results and hopefully things will work out,” she said.