With the exception of legends like Juli Inkster and Laura Davies, modern female pros tend to leave professional competition behind far earlier than their male counterparts. Annika Sorenstam, Lorena Ochoa and Suzann Pettersen are three players who left full-time competition at high points in their respective careers to raise families and pursue other interests.
Even 25-year-old Lydia Ko made headlines when, at the height of her powers age age 17, she revealed that she didn’t see herself staying on tour past age 30.
So it should come as no surprise that today’s female stars already have their post-pro-golf careers at top of mind, and 31-year-old Marina Alex, who just notched her second career victory in May, is no exception.
On this week’s episode of Off Course with Claude Harmon, Alex revealed what she’d like to pursue once she stops competing year-round.
“There are a lot of other things that I’m interested in,” Alex said. “I don’t feel like golf is the only thing I want to do and I want to be successful at. I love golf and I don’t want to be out of golf. I think that I’m pretty passionate about where our tour and women’s golf is at, and where it could be, and that’s the avenue I that I’m gonna go next.”
Alex says she’s not exactly sure what that will look like, but she wants to see the game grow.
“I would love to see something like a Presidents Cup become a team event with a guy and a girl,” she said, acknowledging that big-time change doesn’t happen overnight.
“You plan out little in-between steps to make something happen,” she continued. “Let’s say I would love to run a mixed-team Presidents Cup. That would be amazing, but you don’t just start that tomorrow. So it’s like, what are the little in-between phases that can get that to become a reality? And that’s the planning that I kind of have to do.”
For more from Alex, including why her second win was so much sweeter than her first, and the stark differences between the PGA and LPGA Tour, check out the full interview below.
