One Colorado woman is officially the queen of the tee box.
Lakewood resident Monica Lieving won the World Long Drive Championship on Sunday at Bobby Jones Golf Course in Atlanta. The victory cemented Lieving as the new female face of the sport, just one year after she started to take it seriously by getting a coach and proper equipment.
“This feels incredible,” Lieving told reporters after the win. “Ultimately I blocked it all out and stayed true to myself, and I’m the one with the belt, so I’m feeling pretty good.”
Lieving, who entered the tournament as the No. 2 woman in the world, won the WLD belt and a $25,000 payout by beating top-ranked Phillis Meti in the finals. Meti didn’t put a ball in play during the round, enabling Lieving to win with a 288-yard drive.
“I knew I needed to get a ball in play (after Meti failed to hit the grid) and that it didn’t need to be my farthest,” Lieving said. “You have to roll with the game sometimes, and that’s what I did.
“I couldn’t have painted a better picture (for this win). It’s incredible to face (Meti) and I wanted to face her. The matchup was exactly what I pictured in my head.”
Lieving started Sunday with a 319-yard shot to beat Kelly Rudney in the quarterfinals, and then she blasted a 349-yard drive to oust Alexis Belton in the semis. Meanwhile, Meti hit a 382-yard shot in the quarterfinals that was the longest drive by a woman on tour this year. But the Atlanta resident couldn’t summon that same mojo in the finals.
The result was Lieving’s third win on tour in her rookie season, which propelled her back to the No. 1 ranking she held earlier in the year.
“That (382-yard drive by Meti) was pretty intimidating,” Lieving said. “But the most important thing about this sport is what happens in one set doesn’t affect the next. So although she went in the 380s, that didn’t necessarily mean we’d have the same conditions in the finals. I just focused on myself and tried to hit my best ball, and I knew I had it in me.”
This could just be the start of Lieving’s dominance in the niche sport. A former Division I golfer at Arkansas State, Lieving’s longest career drive is 375 yards, which came during a WLD event at Bigfoot Turf Farm in La Salle. She won the tour’s first two events this year before finishing strong on Sunday to upset Meti, a three-time champion.
Lieving, who works as a Denver-area realtor and currently doesn’t have any sponsors, hopes Sunday’s win will help ease the financial burden that comes with competing as she looks to continue her ascent.
“I’m just going to keep rolling,” Lieving said. “This is my first full year on tour and I have a lot of years left as long as I want to do it. I’m going to keep getting (my club speed and ball speed) faster.”
Lieving’s victory in Atlanta marked the second notable achievement by a local in the sport this year. In August, Andrew Eigner, a fellow Lakewood resident and one of Lieving’s best friends, won the WLD amateur championship.
Including that title, Eigner won four amateur events this year before turning pro and qualifying for this week’s championship, where he didn’t advance out of the opening round.
Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver’s teams.
