Playing Through Chaos

“I was telling my girls about it,” says Epson Tour member Emily Lauterbach. “I literally came in last place in the last Epson event. I don’t have the right 7-iron. I forgot to buy a yardage book because last week was so hectic. I don’t have a rangefinder. I have to go move out of my apartment in one day and it’s going to take me all night. I might have to pull two all-nighters this week. And they're just like, this is so funny!"

Lauterbach Monday qualified for the Ford Championship Presented By KCC at Seville Golf and Country Club in Gilbert, Arizona, adding to an already hectic week. 

After missing the cut in her first Epson start of the season with scores of 84-76, Lauterbach spent the following week waiting around as the first alternate, but never got into the field. Lauterbach landed home in Phoenix in the sleepy morning hours the day before the Monday qualifier for the Ford Championship, having made just one cut in her last 10 Epson starts. Exhausted, Lauterbach skipped the practice round, deciding to rest and pack – the lease on her North Scottsdale apartment is up at the end of the week and furniture movers are coming Wednesday.

Lauterbach looked at the field list for the Monday qualifier and saw it was loaded with top Epson Tour and LPGA Tour names. She knew it was going to take a low score, and it’s been a while since she’s posted one. In her senior year as a Wisconsin Badger, Lauterbach finished 2nd in the 2023 Big Ten Championship and won the Wisconsin Women’s State Open in 2022. She turned pro and the game got harder – she made only a single cut and $595 in her rookie season on the Epson Tour. 

To begin her second season as a pro, Lauterbach took a swing lesson and sought out help from a sports psychologist to rebuild confidence in her driver. 

“I’ve been hitting the driver – there’s no nice way to put this – like absolute trash,” says Lauterbach. “Hitting three O.B. a round on average. And it’s not the driver. It’s not that my swing is bad because I can hit everything else good. So the mental coach helped with that.”

Feeling more confident with her driver when she teed it up on the first hole on Monday, Lauterbach missed the fairway and then realized she hadn’t purchased a yardage book, or remembered her rangefinder. Flustered and rushed, she didn’t pace off a distance to the hole, guessed a club and missed the green. That would be her only missed green of the day. 

After an anxious first hole, Lauterbach decided to commit to her routine and she settled down. 

“I got into a good rhythm, I carried my own bag and I loved it,” says Lauterbach. “I think not having a rangefinder actually helped a lot because I had to slow down and pace off everything.” 

Lauterbach broke her 7-iron before her first Epson tournament and she replaced it with a club from an old set. She doesn’t think the weight, loft and lie match her current set, and she had to rely on the old club four times during the qualifier. Fortunately, her irons were flying true and the putts were falling. She was 4 under through 7 holes – a potentially uncomfortable position for someone who hasn’t been under par in a while. But Lauterbach couldn’t be rattled and set her sights on going lower. Lauterbach got to 5 under before reaching the 16th tee. 

“Hole 16 is a drivable par 4 with water up the right and O.B. down the left,” says Lauterbach. “With three years of bad drivers in my head, I definitely felt the pressure there.” 

Facing a short hole and being near the lead, she could have chosen a safer club, but decided to meet the moment. 

“I need to make myself uncomfortable to get better,” she says. Her tee shot found the short grass. 

Coming to the 18th green, Lauterbach hadn’t made a putt longer than 4 feet on the back nine and had an 8-footer left for birdie. She knew for any chance to qualify, the putt had to fall.

“I made that last putt and I was like, ‘let’s go!’ Not that I would ever first pump,” she says with a laugh. 

Lauterbach was in the clubhouse at 6 under, one stroke behind Muni He (who lost in a Monday Q playoff the previous week to Alena Sharp), and tied with two other players. She would be heading back to the first hole in a 3-for-1 playoff. 

Far more composed now than when she teed off in the morning, Lauterbach hit two solid shots to 15 feet and was first to putt. No negative thoughts would get in the way of her ball and the hole – Lauterbach sank it and applied  the pressure. Her opponents missed and Lauterbach was in. She’d be playing in her first LPGA event in her hometown. 

Lauterbach went out for a celebratory dinner with a friend. She enjoyed a quesadilla and pina colada in between figuring out who would caddie for her and where she was going to stay. 

“If it was up to me, I’d be carrying my own bag this week but LPGA says you have to have a caddie this week,” Lauterbach says. An LPGA player who didn’t get into the tournament offered her caddie to Lauterbach for the week. 

By the time she tees off on Thursday, Lauterbach’s bed will be in storage and the floors of her apartment will be empty. She decided she’d fill her car with all her belongings, find a place to park it for the week, and use the courtesy car to get around during the tournament. Fortunately, the Tour found her host housing while she was considering how comfortable (and advisable) a bare floor would be to sleep on. 

“I used to be very chaotic and played better golf when I was,” says Lauterbach. “I got organized and stopped playing great golf.” 

She’s back to playing through chaos and perhaps that’s exactly what her golf game needs. 

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