NORTON, Mass – Talk about being all you can be. How about 20-year old Westborough, Mass-native Alexa Pano!?
She turned pro in 2022 and qualified for the LPGA Tour in 2023 winning the first tournament she entered in August – the ISPS Handa World Invitational – and put the topping on her season by becoming a Rolex First-Time Winner, while cashing first-place check for $225,000.
This week in the inaugural FM Championship August 29 – September 1, Alexa Pano shows up at TPC Boston for a home game, (although she has never played here) making her 22nd start on Tour this season with focus on the $550,000 first prize money from the $3.8 million purse. Pano has two top-10 finishes including a T-10 at last week’s final major of the season (AIG Women’s Open)) at the Old Course in St. Andrews.
“I mean, every week that I go and play I’m trying to win,” she said in an interview Tuesday. “I think the main goal for me this year has been to just put my best foot forward every week and do everything I can to try and win each week. I feel like I’ve done that so far. I’m pretty happy with that. Obviously there is some result-oriented things I would like to see. I trust that that will come with time with all the work I’m putting in.”
Pano was undeniably one of the best junior golfers. During her amateur career, she won the 2016 PDQ-Philadelphia Runne Junior, the 2017 Jones Doherty Amateur and the Dustin Johnson World Junior Championship in 2018. She also claimed victory in the Rolex Girls Junior Championship in 2019.
“I mean, I would definitely argue that it’s (FM Championship) not a weak field. I don’t know how many girls are in the field, but everyone is a great player. I wouldn’t sign up for a golf tournament unless I thought I could win,” she Pano whose primary home is Lake Worth, Florida. “I’m going out there every day at practice and every day playing and putting my best foot forward to try and accomplish that goal to win.”
Alexa Pano also talked about life on the LPGA as a 20-year old including adjusting to constant travel, daunting expectations, unfamiliar golf courses, sporting the New England Patriots logo and how to win at TPC Boston Labor Day weekend.
Having achieved tremendous success early in her golf career, Pano has earned another unique distinction. She sports a New England Patriots logo on her golf clothing. The New England Patriots are one of her sponsors, the only professional sports team aligned in a business partnership with an LPGA pro. She recently secured a deal with the New England Patriots, the local NFL team owned by the Kraft family.
“Definitely a dream sponsorship. I really do think Boston is the best sports town in the world, so it’s pretty cool we’re here now and to have the support of the Patriots, as well,” said Pano whose family has been 40-year season-ticket holders. “It’s pretty amazing. I’m very lucky to have such a great sponsorship and have a sponsor that’s so supportive of me and I’m also a huge fan of.”
When asked if she ever made her way to one of 17 PGA Tour events hosted at TPC Boston since 2003 Pano immediately responded with a smile, “I wasn’t born in 2003, but I never made my way out to one. I wasn’t able to. I haven’t actually been to a lot of golf tournaments to watch.”
Talent. Charisma. Personality. Confidence. After a breakthrough year in 2023, the ingredients are all there for Alexa Pano to be the next LPGA super star, including one of the coolest logos in sports and her father Rick, as her caddy.
Leave a Reply