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By the time she was 20 years old, Kristyna Napoleaova had only played golf a few times — those few times hadn’t gone well.
“I was absolutely terrible at it and I said, ‘I’ll never do it in my life. I swear.’ It was terrible. I remember it until now because it was so bad,” she told DailyExpertNews Sport.
Fast forward three and a half years to 2020 and Napoleaova is a professional golfer after a meteoric rise through amateur golf and the Ladies European Tour (LET) Access Series – the LET’s developmental journey.
And at the Saudi Ladies International earlier in March, the 25-year-old Czech player had her career best golf result, tied for second place, five strokes behind eventual winner Georgia Hall.
Napoleaova called the experience in Jeddah “absolutely insane” — from arriving at the airport to a man holding a sign with her name on it to the golf course itself — while also admitting she was a little starstruck when she realized she was paired up. was up to Solheim Cup players Anne van Dam and Hall for her Saturday round.
“When I heard after Friday’s round that I’m going to play with Anne (Van Dam) and Georgia (Hall), I was over the moon,” explained Napoleaova.
“You hear about those players and you wish you could get close to them on the driving range and play with them in one group, I knew it was going to be an absolutely incredible experience.
“I did get an idea of how I would like to move on the golf course after this experience on Saturday, so it certainly gave me a lot and I really enjoyed every minute of it.
“As soon as I heard about it, I was like, ‘Okay, I need to take a picture on the first tee. I won’t get up until it happens.’ Luckily they sorted it out for me, which was very nice of them.”
As a child, Napoleaova remembers trying different sports, including tennis, basketball, and floorball.
However, it was another sport that she fell in love with, largely for the Brazilian stars of the time like Ronaldinho and Ronaldo: football.
As a youth, Napoleaova was extremely successful, claiming six Czech league titles in different age categories and representing her country in the Under-15, Under-17 and Under-19 teams.
She had already started making plans for her career in football, with the goal of playing at a university in the US. She remembers getting a few offers when she was 16, but her “mother didn’t want” her to go.
In addition, injuries began to put pressure on her football career.
She explains that she tore the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her left knee at age 13, but “nobody knew” about it, so she never had surgery for it, playing on it “for another three or four years.”
Then, just before she was finally due to have surgery, she tore her right ACL, as well as her meniscus.
“So I think I was completely done playing by age 17,” she recalls.
“But because I had a contract with AC Sparta Prague for schooling and things like this, so I stayed in the squad, but I became a referee for two years, so then I actually tried to do something different, like the career path.”
And it was after these injuries, and after realizing that a career in football might not be an option, Napoleaova rediscovered golf.
Despite the bad memories she had of playing golf before, Napoleaova picked up the clubs, this time in an effort to spend more time with her parents during the holidays while she was in college.
“When I picked it up, when I was 20, it was definitely a different sport,” she said.
At her first event, Napoleaova played so well that the players in her group joked with her that she would one day become a professional.
However, Napoleaova knew from her experience in football that it would not be so easy.
“It’s never going to happen because I know how much time and everything it takes to get to a certain level. Like I had it with football and I grew up with it, and I know it’s not easy. It is not easy.”
Napoleaova’s next big decision was to choose where to study for her master’s degree in International Business. Her last two options were between St Andrews – the home of golf – or the University of Stirling.
She settled on St Andrews, in part because of the area’s historic significance, and decided to give her golf career a year to make it grow or disappear.
Aided by financial support from her parents, it turned out to be the best decision Napoleaova had ever made.
She describes herself as a “feeling player,” meaning that while her technique may not be perfect, it hasn’t held her back.
Another advantage that Napoleaova thinks she has found is that she gets into the sport a little later than others.
“I think my biggest advantage that I see, and I know about football, is that a lot of people ended up at the age of 15 to 20. So it was like the scale when they found a friend, school, job or whatever, ” she said.
“And because I started so late, I got the advantage of being fresh in the sport, just about ambitious and enthusiastic, and I’m not bored with it. Like I absolutely love it.
“Every day I am very grateful that I can do this. So I think it’s one of the things I’m really lucky with. And I used to feel a disadvantage of not playing for so long, but I don’t see it anymore. I see it as an advantage. If I saw a downside to it I wouldn’t move forward and I think that’s the thing that makes me take another step forward. †
Napoleaova got her chances on the professional podium through the LET Access Tour, before earning her status on the LET itself through the Q-School qualifier.
She describes the Access Tour as ‘super helpful’ but always knew she wanted more because she was ‘always ambitious’.
However, after a steady start to the 2022 season, it was in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, that her season really took off.
Despite being just a rookie, Napoleaova was part of the lead with Georgia Hall halfway through the Saudi Ladies International. And while she finished in second place by five shots behind Hall, it was the Czech golfer’s best performance of her career.
It was her first top-10 finish at the LET, earning nearly $68,000.
Napoleaova admits she felt “nervous” finishing on Sunday, but says she’d felt “quietly confident” all week.
“I still feel like I’m in a dream or something. I don’t think it still matters. I understand I’m second but I don’t feel like it changes anything but it’s probably a huge career changer. And I think I will soon realize it.”
She followed up her career-best second finish with a tie for ninth place at the Joburg Ladies Open to continue her fine form.
With the help of her coach, Napoleaova has worked to set short, medium and long term goals, including a top 500 place in the world rankings she has already achieved.
“I would love to play the Olympics someday and ideally a medal would be great,” Napoleaova added.
“But what I’d like in general, I’d like to play on the LPGA, then win at least one event or major and … become number 1 in the world. I know it’s a long, long chance and maybe it will go it never happen.”