Alexa Pano Talks Breakthrough LPGA Win, Her New England Patriots Sponsorship and Tour Life at Age 19

Life on the LPGA Tour can be difficult, especially for a 19-year-old rookie. Adjusting to constant travel, daunting expectations, unfamiliar golf courses and even the occasional piece of lost luggage is just part of the process. 

Alexa Pano might not have figured out how to completely eliminate those obstacles just yet, but evidently she has learned how to push through them. 

On Sunday, Pano clinched her maiden LPGA Tour victory at the co-sanctioned ISPS Handa Invitational in Northern Ireland by surviving a three-hole sudden death playoff over Gabriella Cowley. 

Pano, who first came into the spotlight at age seven as one of the prodigies in Netflix’s The Short Game, broke through for the win on her 19th birthday, taking home $225,000. Previously, Pano’s largest paycheck was $22,040 for a T61 finish at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in June. 

With her “satisfying” moment of triumph in recent memory, Pano sat down with Sports Illustrated to discuss her long-awaited birthday present, young stardom, her sponsorship with the New England Patriots and why everyone should invest in an Apple AirTag. 

Sports Illustrated: You won your first LPGA event on your 19th birthday, have you ever gotten a better birthday present? 

Alexa Pano: No, definitely not. This was the best birthday ever. I’m usually a bit of a downer about my birthday, but this was perfect. I kept telling everyone, "I’m going to win in Ireland. Everything is going to be fine, because I’m going to win there and it will be on my birthday." And that’s just what ended up happening. I should do that more often—speak it into existence.

SI: Talk us through your final round at the ISPS Handa Invitational. You won in dramatic fashion in a three-hole playoff. What were you feeling? 

AP: I remember trying to make as many birdies as possible. My putter was super hot. I felt like I could make anything if I just got to the green. I wasn’t necessarily ball-striking it my best, but my putting was making up for it. I knew the lead got to 9 under, and I had made bogey on my 16th hole, so I was two back. I knew I needed to make something happen on 17, and I finished with two birdies. I knew there were three girls within one and two shots coming down 18, and with a reachable par-5, I knew I would probably be heading into a playoff. 

SI: A sudden-death playoff to win your first LPGA event—were you nervous?

AP: I’ve always thought about what it would be like, trying to win my first LPGA event, and I thought I'd be more nervous. I was really in the moment. My game plan was to take it shot by shot and I did a really good job with that. I felt calm in the playoff and focused on the shot at hand. 

SI: Your dad has been by your side throughout this journey and he was on the bag on Sunday in Ireland. What was it like to have him there with you when you accomplished this milestone? 

AP: I’m so glad I could get a win with him on the bag. He’s been just as big a part of this as anything I’ve done. I don’t think I would have won without him, because being in Ireland, with the wind and the rain, playing links golf for the first time, it was helpful to have someone who knew every club and every shot in my bag. 

SI: You’re a first-time LPGA winner, but you’ve been in the spotlight for a long time. How did you get involved with Netflix’s The Short Game and how has it impacted your career?

AP: We started filming when I was 6 years old. We declined it at first, because I was very shy growing up. But we ended up agreeing to the movie because we wanted to inspire other golfers, but specifically younger girls to start golf. At the time, that was needed. It’s impacted me so much because my whole life, so many girls come up to me saying they’ve watched the movie and that’s why they started golf. It’s so special and I’m so grateful to be in that position. 

SI: Was there any part of you that thought you needed to prove it to the golf world that you could live up to the expectations you set out in the movie? 

AP: I think being a rookie on the LPGA Tour can lead to a lot of expectations, and I think winning kind of solidified those expectations. I don’t know if I had them for myself or I was trying to prove it to people. It was definitely very satisfying to win, and kind of prove to people—or prove people wrong. 

SI: You have a pretty cool sponsor on your shirt—the New England Patriots. How did that come about? 

AP: I’m from Massachusetts and my family and I have been lifelong fans. This is my dad’s 39th year of having season tickets. I remember before the U.S. Women’s Open, I decided to put the logo on my bag because it was my first time using a Tour bag, and I didn’t have a college logo to put on it. We put the Patriots logo, just for fun and it got some traction. They reached out to me and wanted to support my professional career. So when I was back in Massachusetts, we had a meeting. It was honestly the best meeting of my life. I’m very lucky to be part of an organization that I consider to be the best in sports. They’re like a big family. I think even Tom Brady reached out to my agent to congratulate me. It’s so surreal. I grew up spending Sundays with my family, watching the Patriots play. 

SI: You’re 19 years old, traveling on the LPGA Tour. What have you learned so far during your rookie year? 

AP: Managing my own expectations and the amount of pressure that I can put on myself. That was a struggle earlier in the year. A lot of people talked about how calm I looked on Sunday trying to win, but I think that’s another thing I’ve managed. Going through those ups and downs teaches you a lot. 

SI: Favorite destination you’ve traveled to on Tour? 

AP: I loved the Mizuho event. Staying in the city [New York] and taking the ferry everyday to the course, getting to see the Statue of Liberty—it was a blast. My favorite course that we played was definitely Baltusrol for the KMPG Women’s PGA Championship. It was a dream major championship. I’d love to go back. 

SI: You lost your luggage at the beginning of the week in Ireland. What travel tricks have you picked up, and how did that saga pan out? 

AP: AirTags are a really great thing. I lost my luggage and I was able to see exactly where my bags were. I landed in London, and I noticed that my luggage was still at Boston Logan Airport. I flew to Belfast, and I realized my other three bags were still in London. I got my clubs the next morning, but I didn’t end up getting my suitcase and clubs until the night before the golf tournament. For the first few days, I was wearing Galgorm’s pro shop rain gear. The situation definitely added some spice to the week. It gave my first win a story.