Just weeks after returning from her rookie season on the Epson Tour, South Australian Caitlin Peirce is putting the lessons she learnt in the United States into practice as she prepares for this week’s Players Series South Australia at Willunga Golf Course.
Peirce made 19 starts on the Epson Tour, the official qualifying pathway to the LPGA Tour, recording six top-10 finishes in a promising campaign that has further established her as one of Australia’s emerging talents.
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Reflecting on her time in the US, Peirce said it took some time to settle into life on tour, but she ultimately enjoyed the experience more than she had expected.
“After a few events, you get used to how they run and what you do in your off time,” she said. “It was good for me that Jen Elliott was there, along with other Aussies, so we could travel together, play practice rounds, go to gym sessions, all that sort of stuff.”
By the end of the season, Peirce said she had developed a greater appreciation for the experience and felt her performances were competitive, even when the results did not fully reflect her efforts.
“By the end of the season I was like, Yeah, this is good, and I enjoyed the travel and the competition. I felt a lot closer than some of the results sort of ended.”
The 24-year-old believes her time competing against some of the best emerging players in the US has given her a valuable confidence boost ahead of the new WPGA Tour of Australasia season, which gets underway for the women at Willunga this week alongside the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia.
“I had a top-10 to start the [Epson Tour] season, which, after what felt like a year off, sort of made the rest of the season a little easier, and I felt like, Yeah, I can compete,” she said. “Following a couple more top-10s throughout, it was a good one.”
Returning to her home state for the Players Series South Australia, Peirce is hoping to carry that confidence into the tournament and make the most of the opportunity to compete in front of family and friends.
“This is only the second time I would’ve played this event, so it’s a little bit tricky. I need to hit some fairways and hole some putts,” she said. “But I would just love to play the weekend and have my family come out and watch, really.”
Peirce will open her campaign at 7:55am today, playing alongside Willunga local Lachlan Barker and the in-form Louis Dobbelaar as she looks to turn her US experience into a strong result on home soil.
