The 20-hour drive home from Michigan's Upper Peninsula gave Haylee Harford Sanchez plenty of time to think.
And she did the drive alone, no one next to her like in years past. Her husband had once traveled the country as her caddie, but now he was back home working a full-time job. There simply wasn't enough money for them both to keep chasing the dream.
Sanchez had just missed the cut by miles, beating only four players in the field. The money from her 2023 Colorado Open victory was almost gone, and the LPGA Tour, where she had played just a few seasons earlier, felt farther away than ever.
At 29, Sanchez began wondering if her professional career had reached its end.
Two weeks later, Sanchez found herself back in her car, this time driving to South Bend, Indiana, for the next Epson Tour event.
An opening-round 73 left her tied for 100th, and the pit in her stomach returned. But a second-round 65 not only earned her a weekend tee time, it gave her an outside chance to win. She entered the final round tied for ninth, three shots behind the leader.
Haylee Harford Sanchez had gone nearly 100 Epson Tour starts without a victory. Two weeks after wondering whether her career was over, she shot a final-round 63 to save it.
It had been a long road back.
Sanchez turned professional after a standout career at Furman University. As a senior she was named Southern Conference Player of the Year and capped her amateur career with a seventh-place finish at the Augusta National Women's Amateur.
Her success continued immediately. In her rookie Epson Tour season she made eight of 10 cuts, recorded two top-10 finishes, and ended the year 15th on the money list.
Another strong season followed. Sanchez finished 20th in the Epson Tour standings, advanced to the final stage of LPGA Q-Series, and earned her LPGA card for 2022.
Everything was unfolding exactly as she had hoped. A great college career, two successful seasons on the Epson Tour, and then the jump to the LPGA. It felt like the next step in what would be a long professional career.
But golf rarely follows the script.
After making her first cut of the season, Sanchez hit the first real rough patch of her career, missing her next six starts. She played better down the stretch, but still made just six of 17 cuts and finished 131st in the points standings.
The 2023 season was a mixed bag for the Furman standout. She retained only limited conditional status on the LPGA Tour, making one cut in four starts. She also played 18 Epson Tour events, making 14 cuts, but a 47th-place finish in the points standings left her well short of earning her way back to the LPGA.
One week, however, changed everything.
In June, Sanchez won the Colorado Open. The $100,000 first-place check was by far the biggest payday of her career and gave her something even more valuable: the financial runway to keep chasing the LPGA instead of wondering how much longer she could afford to.
However, the next season brought another step backward. A 70th-place finish in the Epson Tour standings led to a difficult decision.
Reed, Haylee's fiancé, had caddied for her for years. But the financial burden of having them both on the road had become too much. He took a full-time job back home while Sanchez continued chasing the LPGA alone.
For the first time in years, Sanchez was making the long drives alone.
Last season ended with a missed cut at the Epson Tour Championship. After signing her card, Sanchez sat in her car and cried. Her dad, who was caddying for her that week, gently asked if she was starting to think about the next chapter.
"I'm not ready for this to be over," she remembers thinking through the tears.
Sanchez decided to skip Q-School. She knew her game wasn't in a good place, and spending thousands of dollars on another attempt didn't make sense.
Instead, she turned her focus to the 2026 Epson Tour season, knowing there was a very real possibility it would be her last chance.
Then came the 20-hour drive home from Michigan. After another missed cut and with the passenger seat still empty, Sanchez found herself thinking something she never had before.
Maybe I AM ready for this to be over.
Two weeks later, she shot a final-round 63, and suddenly the career she thought might be ending had a future again.
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