Last night I shared with you Christina Lecuyer's views on the third episode of The Big Break Ka'anapali. Tonight it's my pleasure to introduce contestant Tina Miller and get her thoughts on the series and this latest episode.
For those of you who don't know Tina too well, let me fill you in a bit...
Tina started golfing when she was 7 and competed throughout high school, winning the Florida Women's State Junior Girls event twice. She attended the University of Miami, graduating with a BA in Graphic Design/Marketing (Ah ah! Now I know why her website is so cool).
At college, Tina won seven times before she graduated in 2005 and turned pro. Tina has played in two US Women's Open Championships ('04 and '05) and two LPGA events (the 2005 Wendy's Championship for Children and the 2007 Corning Classic) on sponsor's invites.
She also made it to the final stage of LPGA Q-school both times she entered. In 2006, her rookie year on the Duramed Futures tour, Tina finished in the top 50 on the money list and had a T4th at the Lake Geneva event.
In 2007, Tina faced a number of personal struggles and chose not to try and qualify for the LPGA that year, even though she came so close the year before. When the BB came along, Tina was not playing golf very much, spending most of her time modeling in Sunice golf catalogs and the 2008 Golf Digest World Ladies Golf calendar. No, Tina's not the Big Breaker who did the nude calendars - that's Sophie.
Since the BB series, Tina has a new lease on life. She's engaged and working hard on getting her game back in shape to try and qualify for the LPGA and European tours in September. Somehow I think she just might make that happen. This girl has lots of spunk and talent.
Now, let's find out what she has to say about the show so far...
Welcome Tina! So how did you become part of the Big Break Ka'anapali?
I actually auditioned for BB 6 (Trump) and was declined, so I wasn't sure if I wanted to audition again. Among other professionals, Big Break gives you a reputation that you're always going to be a Big Break golfer and that's not something I wanted. I wanted to get on the LPGA my own way and not have to get there via the TV show.
However my 2007 season wasn't very good and some people recommended that the BB 7 would be a good fit for me, so I applied online and one the producers called me and asked me if I wanted to audition in person. They had audition sites at Futures Tour events, so I was supposed to audition at the Albany event, but my grandpa was very sick and I couldn't go.
The Golf Channel was nice and allowed me to audition in Florida after my grandpa passed away, so I flew down to Orlando from Baltimore for my audition. After it was over, I thought maybe I talked too much <giggles>, but they actually really liked me and called me back and told me they were considering me. Then before I knew it, they called and said I was on the show. They wouldn't tell me where it was, but they said, "Bring sunscreen."
A week before the show, they actually told us where it was. It was kind of a whirlwind, but it was awesome that of the thousands of girls who applied, I got on the show. It felt great that the Golf Channel thought that I needed a Big Break and thought that I'd be good for the show. It was a long process, but it was fun.
So Tina, last week we watched you in a very intense elimination challenge with Cerbie and you said "I've never felt pressure like I did today." Given how many tournaments you've won and US Opens you've played, that was surprising to me. Where did that pressure come from?
I think it was the fact that was just short game and I didn't know Cerbie's game at that point. I had seen her hit some shots that weren't that good. However, if people were to judge that of me and the first few shots I had hit in certain challenges, then they'd think that I wasn't the best golfer in the world either. If they didn't know who I was and didn't know that I competed in college and won 7 times, they'd think, "She'll definitely be one of the first girls to go!"
I'm not going to say that Cerbie's game was bad, because I really couldn't judge it at that point. It's the Big Break -- it's not going out and playing rounds of golf with one another -- it's hitting different shots. So I guess because it was short game, and her putting is decent actually, I was thinking she could drain some long putts here.
I really didn't want to be the first eliminated on the Big Break. I didn't want to go home against someone who everyone here had been dogging, and kind of belittling, her game. I was also putting a little pressure on myself because I survived a really hard elimination challenge the day before and I didn't want to go home by missing a short putt or losing to someone who doesn't have the experience I do.
Did Cerbie rattle you with her pace of play issues last week?
The funny thing about it...it honestly didn't hit me that it was taking that long, until I heard Stina and Andrew say, "We are going on 4 minutes and 15 seconds." And then I said, "Are you kidding me!?"
I was so focused on doing my own thing that I didn't realize how long it was taking. I tried to really not let it affect me.
Well, you certainly played well today! Given how the players chose their positions on the first immunity challenge, did you have a plan for that?
I'm really good at flop shots. One of things I did work on before heading out to the show was my flop shot because you know the wall is going to be on BB. So I practiced.
The reason I didn't want to choose the sixth position was that I didn't want to get too cute with it. In the fifth position, I knew I could get it up high enough, quick enough and long enough to get it into the circle.
When I had to go back down for another immunity challenge with Courtney and Kim, the first thing I thought was, "It's never going to be easy for me on this show!" On the last episode, when Courtney and I were against each other on the blind distance shot, we had to go back twice and they didn't show it on TV because it was too much footage. So we actually tied twice more and then eventually I tried to go for the four points and was too pumped up and [it] hit the green and rolled over.
So, how did immunity feel for the first time? :)
It was awesome!
Did you have favorites in the elimination pairings?
I really didn't, because they are all my competitors and I knew they were all good golfers. and you knew two people were going to go home and you feel bad for them, but then that's two more you don't have to worry about.
If I had to choose -- in the back of my mind, my favorites were probably Liz and Sam. Liz because I've known here for the past few years -- we played college golf and the Futures Tour together. I really didn't know Sophie that well, but she's a very nice girl. Nothing against Adrienne either -- really good girl.
Everybody that was there, the Golf Channel picked because they felt that we needed a big break for one reason or another. So when somebody goes home after getting to know them, hearing their stories and what they've struggled through the past few years playing the mini tours and trying to make it to the LPGA, you feel bad. But at the same time, you're thinking, "Okay, that's two less I have to worry about."
But Liz and Adrienne were the two that put the most pressure on themselves. Liz needed things too much and Adrienne couldn't settle for anything less than perfect. That's probably the reason why they were the next two to go.
Is Susan a wolf in sheep's clothing? She seems so flaky on TV, but really pulls off the shots when she needs them.
She's just a happy-go-lucky girl. I played with her in a practice round and her short game was really good. She wasn't very impressive as a whole, but I think she is one of the girls who is sneaky good. You know [like when] you play a round of golf with someone and shoot a 74 and you ask her what she shot and she says, "71" and you say "What?!"
She's just sneaky good. She says what she feels and she says stuff all the time and you look at her and say, "Did you really just say that!?" <laughs> That's her personality and I think a lot of the girls underestimated her. I played a practice round with her when we got there and I knew she had some game. She's got a great amateur record too - she's no slouch. Obviously she turned pro for the show and she's definitely the girl that just keeps shocking people every week.
Anything else you want to share from this week's show?
When I woke up the day of this episode I wanted to get into the immunity zone as fast as I could. Whereas in past times I was very hesitant, thinking that I had to hit good shots because I was on TV, this time around I said, "You know, it not about being on TV, it's about me getting on that bench and getting on that bench quick!" <laughs>
Sounds like a good plan! Tina's off to Minnesota next week for a US Open Qualifying event so we'll catch up with her there after next week's show. Good Luck, Tina!
Golfgal
Photo of Tina Miller, courtesy www.Playgolfdesigns.com
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