ANTRIM (Northern Ireland) — Marissa Steen had to rely on her patience and perseverance when she was on the Symetra Tour, and then the LPGA. Marissa Steen, a former University of Memphis golfer, has had to deal with injuries and doubts in her career.
The payoff is beginning to show.
After undergoing ankle surgery in 2019, the 33-year old had a career-defining year in 2021. She earned nearly $200,000 after a successful recovery. The 33-year-old has also had a few big results in 2019. She finished 15th at ShopRite LPGA Classic Presented by Acer, and added a top-25 finish at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
Steen faced a challenge this week in the ISPS Handa World Invitational. The event’s first two days are played on two different courses, the parkland Galgorm Castle and the Castlerock Links. She trudged through a solid round of 70 at Galgorm to earn the top score on the course. When players switched to Galgorm on Friday, those who had beaten Castlerock struggled.
Steen shot a 72 on the Links Course in her second round, and soared to the top of the leaderboard for this event that includes LPGA, Ladies European Tour, and DP World Tour participants.
“My main goal for today was to be patient.” It’s so much more exposed out here on the links course. All I said was to be patient. “It’s not going play easy for anyone,” Steen said, who was raised in Cincinnati. “My first five golf holes were all into the wind. I was happy to have made it through the stretch. Yes, and you hung in there. “I always joke that a long putt will make the lunch taste better.”
Steen knew that to be successful on Friday, she needed to outlast her opponents on Thursday. This was something that she has done throughout her career. She knew her best chance was to stay even-keeled as she climbed the harder Galgorm.
“I thought it was huge. She said, “I told my local caddie after our Galgorm practice round that I thought it was really important out there to drive the ball well because in some places it gets narrow off the tee, and the rough is really thick.” “On the couple of holes where I drove it into the rough, it was a guessing-game on how it would come out. With more trees and wind, it is much harder to judge the ball’s direction.
“Galgorm still presented a challenge yesterday, but in a new way.” In the UK, the weather and wind can be crazy. I think that over here you should just try to stay as patient as you can.
Steen’s best moment so far was on the 18th green on Friday. She made a birdie from 50 feet, which pushed her total for the tournament to 3 under. This was one stroke better than Esther Henseleit at the top of leaderboard.
She doesn’t press. Steen is happy to be in the running. She hasn’t won anything since 2014 when she won the Symetra Tour three times.
She said, “I feel great.” “I have been rolling really well on greens which is obviously a confidence booster. “I want to keep the same mentality that I had in the first two round through the weekend.”
