Spending a full week in she shoes of a professional golfer only made Erica Shepherd that much more sure that it’s the career she wants.
Her performance at the Marathon Classic certainly proved that she’s capable of having it.
The 2019 Center Grove graduate made her fifth LPGA tournament appearance her best one to date. Her 3-under-par 68 at Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania, Ohio on Sunday left her at -5 overall (279), good for a 35th-place tie.
Sei Young Kim (-22) held off Lexi Thompson by two strokes to win the event.
Shepherd’s previous best pro finish was 72nd at last year’s Indy Women in Tech Championship.
"This week kind of put a lot of things in perspective for me," she said. "I think it just shows me what I need to be prepared for."
Just as she had in Saturday’s third round, Shepherd closed with a flurry. The Duke recruit had five birdies on the back nine Sunday, including two in a row on the 17th and 18th, both par-5s.
For the tournament, Shepherd was a combined 7 under on 17 and 18. She birdied both each time out, with the exception of an 18th-hole par on Friday.
"They definitely weren’t easy holes; I didn’t imagine I was going to birdie both of them three days," Shepherd said. "Today, I felt like I hit the best tee shots (of the week) and put them in the best place."
Shepherd also enjoyed tremendous success on the par-3 holes, going 6-under on those (seven birdies, one bogey). She said that being able to put most of her tee shots within close range helped; Shepherd averaged 28.5 putts per round for the tournament, needing just 27 on Sunday.
"I was definitely hitting it close," she said of her play on the par-3s, "and then I converted the 10-foot birdie putts on most of them."
Sitting at -2 overall after a 69 on Saturday, Shepherd birdied the par-3 second hole to get into the red early in her final round. She took a step backward with bogeys on the fifth and ninth, but quickly bounced back with back-to-back birdies on 10 and 11 to move to 3 under.
Another birdie on 14 was negated by a bogey on 16, but Shepherd gained a shot back on each of the last two holes to finish off one of the best weeks of her young career.
On Saturday, Shepherd recovered from a tough mid-round stretch of three straight bogeys by closing with four birdies in her final six holes.
She’ll next head north to St. Clair, Michigan, where she’ll play in a U.S. Women’s Amateur qualifier on Wednesday. With a few more events on her calendar before she heads off to Duke University in a few weeks to begin her collegiate career, Shepherd will be spending most of her time away from home from here on out.
With aspirations of playing 30 years on tour, the self-described homebody knows that life on the road is going to be the norm for most of the rest of her life. But it’s a trade-off she’s willing to make.
"I’m just going to have to be super mentally tough if I want to do that as a career," Shepherd said.
