Szokol, 30, announced her retirement Friday at Pelican Golf Club, where she bogeyed her final hole and missed The Annika by one shot.
Szokol had already finalized her decision to hang it in July, considering the event in her hometown, at her home club, as the perfect place for a farewell. Playing in Friday afternoon’s final trio with two of her best friends on tour, Caroline Inglis and Brianna Do, Szokol scored five birdies but also six bogeys to shoot her second consecutive 1-over 71 and walk off the final green with 2 left.
“I was good until I saw Caroline and Bri crying, to be honest,” Szokol said. “So I think it affected me more than I expected. I was pretty calm about it. I think I would say I let most of my emotions flow when I made the decision in July that this was going to be my last year. But it was definitely a little crazy that, okay, this could be my last putt.”
Inglis and Do both cut their numbers, which is important because, Szokol says, 31-year-old Inglis is also retiring after this week and Do is trying to keep her card after coming into this event at No. 110 in CME points.
Szokol will finish in the top 100 of the points list for the fourth time. Not that it matters now.
After preferring golf as a teenager after knee injuries in softball and tennis, Szokol played two seasons of college golf at Northwestern, where she led the Wildcats to their first Big Ten title, before finishing her amateur career at Virginia, where her highlights included winning an NCAA regional as a senior. She turned pro in 2017 and earned her LPGA card through the Symetra Tour the following year. After her rookie year on the LPGA, Szokol never made fewer than 13 starts in a season.
Her team victory with Cheyenne Knight at the 2023 Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational extended her career as Szokol, now married, had already begun to think about her next chapter.
“I’ve had a lot of nagging injuries, and the traveling got a little old for me and I just missed coming home,” Szokol said.
The Tampa area has been Szokol’s home since she turned pro, and she has been working with Pelicans director of golf, Justin Sheehan, since 2019. Unsure of her future plans, she said she had “some things in the works” but would start sorting everything out starting Monday.
“It’s hard to believe it’s been going on for nine years, which is pretty crazy,” Szokol said. “It was great to retire at home, on the golf course where I am a member and where so many family and friends were out today, so it was quite special.
“I would have liked to put one more putt in, but that doesn’t matter. I can look back on a successful career.”
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