The ambitious Aussie flying under golf’s major radar
Darren Walton |
Hannah Green and Minjee Lee are commanding the attention but there’s another Perth prodigy with big hopes and dreams entering women’s golf’s first major of the year in Texas.
Hira Naveed may be flying under the radar ahead of the $US8 million ($A13 million) Chevron Championship in Houston but the 27-year-old has the credentials to back up her belief that she too can contend on the world’s biggest stages.
Initially hailing from the same stable as Green and Lee, Naveed grew up playing with and against the now-major champions in the esteemed West Australian development program before taking a vastly different path to the LPGA Tour.
While Lee turned pro at at 18 and won her maiden tour event six months later and Green captured the 2019 Women’s PGA Championship at 22, Naveed carved out a hugely successful college career in the US.
She was a West Coast Conference Player of the Year and All-American while juggling studies with golf at the prestigious Pepperdine University in LA between 2015 and 2019.
“I just don’t think I was ready to turn pro right out of high school,” said Naveed, who upset four-time major champ Lydia Ko at last month’s Match Play in Las Vegas.
“I don’t think I had the maturity at the time and financially my family couldn’t afford it.
“And so the best route really was to go through college and I’m really glad that I did do that. Moving across the world by myself to America and going through college and playing collegiate golf really helped hone my skills as a professional athlete.”
Naveed has always been a little different while also possessing obvious pedigree.
“Nobody in my family plays golf,” she said.
“My parents emigrated from Pakistan in the 90s to New Zealand and that’s where they had me. And then pretty much as soon as I was born, we moved to Australia and that’s where I picked up golf.
“I was just a really athletic kid growing up. I used to enjoy playing all types of sports – footy, cricket, soccer, all of it. Then I just chose golf.
“I liked the individual aspect of it. I started off at Royal Freo in Perth where Minjee and Min (Woo Lee) were at and took some lessons from the coach there and worked Ritchie Smith a little bit.”
Naveed made an immediate impact after graduating to the LPGA Tour last year, finishing runner-up at the Ford Championship behind world No.1 Nelly Korda in her second event.
The second-year emerging star enters this week’s championship on the back of seven straight cuts made and a far more experienced player than when she missed the weekend on her major debut last year.
“I didn’t really know what was the best way to prepare and how to approach a major, so I kind of just winged it a little and obviously that’s not something that’s ideal going into a major week,” Naveed said.
Hoping for much more than merely making the cut, Naveed “absolutely” believes she can emulate Green and Lee and contend for majors.
“I mean, I grew up playing with them and competing alongside them and there’s a lot of times where I came out on top against them, and so that definitely gives me that belief that I can compete and out here like them,” she said.
“And it’s definitely inspiring when you grow up with people like that who go on to achieve such great things and it just gives you that extra little fire in the belly to go out and achieve the same things.”
AAP
