Every day, Emma Talley writes down a new idea for what she could do with the rest of her life. What started as an intimidating exercise has become invigorating over the past year.
“I kind of shocked myself at how much I loved other things,” Talley said.
“I had never had a job.”
In 2024, Talley, 30, while competing on the LPGA, worked for the tour in various media roles, ranging from social media to podcast host. She also began working with the Western Kentucky University women’s golf team and took a few juniors under her wing.
And then, while her husband Patrick Smith was caddying in Asia, she discovered she was pregnant and called him at 4 a.m. to tell him the happy news. Smith choked on his dinner to the point that his companions almost did the Heimlich. The incident was a coincidence, Talley said, but the fact that he was excited about becoming a dad is a better story.
“I had to finish my season pregnant and I was very sick,” Talley said. “I’m pretty sure half the tour already knew I was pregnant, because I was eating pretzels lying on the tee box in Hawaii.”
Talley, the pride of Princeton, Kentucky, was the last player in a long list to announce that 2024 would be her last season on the LPGA. She is expected to give birth to a baby girl in June.
While many LPGA players mix motherhood and tour life, Talley always knew it wasn’t for her.
When Talley says she’s going to miss everything on the tour, from the volunteers to the sponsors to her close friends, she means it.
If only the LPGA could bottle Talley’s personality and spread it like a ray of sunshine at every stop on the tour.
Professional golf is a chore. Many gamers put on blinders at the office and move from task to task without making much eye contact. Even simple greetings are rare.
This is what has made Talley stand out so much all these years.
When Talley won the 2013 US Women’s Amateur at the age of 19, the local Subway manager came to see her after she bonded with him while ordering her daily turkey sub, without cheese.
“I’ve only known you for a week,” Talley told the crowd at the Country Club of Charleston during the awards ceremony, “but I feel like I’ve known you my whole life.”
This would become a career theme.
Two years later, Talley became the fifth player in history to win both the NCAA championship and the women’s amateur championship. (In 2022, Rose Zhang became the sixth.)
Expectations have grown.
Just before Talley turned professional, former world number one Stacy Lewis took her out to dinner and told her not to change anything in her game for the first three years.
After Talley had a strong rookie campaign in 2018, she changed everything in an effort to gain more distance.
“My game kind of fell apart after that,” she admitted.
There’s also something else Talley only recently realized while watching the tour from a media perspective. She had won at every level of the game, but didn’t know how to thrive when she wasn’t winning.
“I think you have to fall in love with the process,” Talley said, “and I was so obsessed with winning that I kind of lost track of the process.”
Talley looks forward to staying involved in golf for the long term and sharing what she has learned. Her husband Patrick will continue to caddy on the LPGA for Gabi Ruffels in 2025, and Talley will focus on motherhood.
Talley was 12 when she first attended an LPGA event in Nashville with her father and announced on the way home that she wanted to play on tour one day. The trip would take their family around the world.
“Yes, I would have liked to win more trophies, but I think in 50 years I won’t think about trophies anymore,” Talley said. “I will think of all the memories I created with my friends and my parents in particular.”
Every morning before Talley went to school, her mother would tell her, “Be good. Be kind. Be smart. Make a difference today.”
This mantra has remained in Talley’s head and heart throughout his professional career. Talley has never won on tour, but there’s no doubt she’s had countless interactions over the years that resulted in lifelong LPGA fans.
The tour needs more Emma Talley. It makes the game shine brighter.
This article was originally published on Golfweek: Emma Talley was the latest in a long list to announce her retirement in 2024.
