The stage at Boardwalk Corridor in Atlantic Metropolis, New Jersey, is large enough to park a 747. The corridor itself may home a number of airplane hangars. It was on this house, 10 years in the past, booming off the rafters and full of screaming followers, that I heard the phrases “Miss America is…”. And my life modified perpetually.
After the confetti had fallen, I used to be dragged off-stage to start the formal Miss America introductions. In some unspecified time in the future between the stage and the safety briefing room, Rodney Neely, our safety director, intercepted me.
“Kira, congratulations,” he stated. “Do you play golf?”
Within the frenetic power of all of it, I blurted out: “Sure!” Rodney’s eyes lit up. He promised to observe up.
Seems, Rodney was additionally the safety director for the BMW Professional-Am, an occasion on what’s now the Korn Ferry Tour. It’s a celeb pro-am in Greenville, South Carolina, that’s all the time on the lookout for extra movie star girls to play. On the time, Miss America traveled no less than 20,000 miles a month and was in a unique metropolis each two days. My each waking second was scheduled by a group of staffers based mostly exterior of Atlantic Metropolis. At some point, the golf event appeared on my schedule, and the reminiscence of that dialog with Rodney got here dashing again.
Fortunately, I actually did play golf. Because the youngster of Russian immigrants, my dad and mom thought it was necessary for his or her daughter to study this important American enterprise ability. So on a household trip to Florida once I was 3, my dad – who had by no means performed golf a day in his life – took me to a public course close to the seashore, received a bucket of balls and a few leases, and began enjoying … and enjoying … and enjoying. Earlier than lengthy, it consumed all of my free time. Junior golf tournaments, clinics, classes, camps – all of it.
However this was the late Nineteen Nineties and early 2000s; golf nonetheless wasn’t very cool for little ladies. I didn’t know what sort of life alternatives existed with golf past enjoying professionally. I used to be the one lady on the boys’ group, and I felt like I used to be standing out for the flawed causes. Golf grew to become dumb and a time-suck. A foul coach solely made it worse. So I give up the group in highschool. Positive, my dad and I’d nonetheless exit each every now and then and compete for our common prize: a sizzling canine and Gatorade. It by no means really left me. I simply didn’t know that when Rodney requested me that query, saying “sure” would change my life greater than profitable Miss America ever may.
In preparation for the BMW Professional-Am, I dragged my tour supervisor to programs every time we had a free day or afternoon in no matter metropolis we had been in. I hadn’t performed a full 18 holes of golf in a decade, and my recreation was actually not what it as soon as was, nevertheless it was a pro-am – how troublesome may or not it’s?
I don’t suppose I understood precisely what I had gotten myself into till I turned up at Thornblade Membership. The intimidation was actual: The celebrities. Just a few different girls. The professionals on the vary. And – oh yeah – the occasion was being televised reside on Golf Channel.
Nevertheless it quickly dawned on me that week that no one cared how I performed. They had been simply joyful I used to be there. Golf Channel analysts broke down my swing in gradual movement and interviewed me through the telecast, and it was like a lightbulb went off: What if I may pursue one thing in golf media?
After Greenville, I began getting invited to increasingly more occasions. I used to be requested to host and play in charity tournaments. I began working with golf manufacturers. And, slowly, I fell again in love with the sport that I cherished a lot as a child. I even began taking common classes once more.
The tip of any Miss America’s yr is all the time bittersweet. It means relinquishing a title that got here to outline you 24 hours a day for a complete yr. Nevertheless it additionally means transferring on and getting to search out your self post-Miss A – no matter meaning.
There’s a saying that Miss Americas typically hear that describes the sensation of passing on the crown to the following titleholder – you can really feel the bodily heat of the sunshine shift from you to a different, and also you’re left within the darkness, on the lookout for what’s subsequent, with out Miss A. My reply was golf, and it pulled me from the complicated time of determining my identification post-Miss America and helped me construct a brand new life.
It began slowly, constructing on the Miss America success I had. At some point, shortly after leaving Atlantic Metropolis – this time with no crown – I received a Twitter DM from Gina Ekmijian, who runs occasions and experiences for the TGR Basis. Tiger Woods was internet hosting his annual Las Vegas fundraiser, Tiger Jam, and so they had been on the lookout for somebody to assist host their charity public sale. Would I have an interest? Sorry – Tiger WOODS? It was a no brainer, and my first huge break in golf for the reason that Professional-Am.
For some motive, Tiger’s basis staffers appeared extra invested in my profession progress than even I used to be. They wasted no time inviting me to their occasions whereas giving me media alternatives and the all-important interviewing reps I wanted. I started to see golf as greater than only a enjoyable technique to do one-off gigs as I found out what was subsequent. Critical golf reporting grew to become the purpose.
At some point, I received a name from an unknown New Jersey quantity. On the opposite finish was John Mummert, the USGA’s artistic director. He stated they’d seen my work with Tiger’s basis, and so they had been on the lookout for expertise to host their digital protection of the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock. On the time, I used to be beginning to doubt my place within the golf world and was near giving up; I even thought of going to enterprise college. However a couple of weeks later I used to be within the Hamptons interviewing Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. I hadn’t undergone any formal reporting coaching, and through my time there the USGA gave me a crash course: methods to write and current a report, methods to interview, how golf media labored. They allowed me the house to study and nurture relationships that I nonetheless rely on in my work at this time.
Whereas strolling via the media compound on the U.S. Open that yr, I received one other name – this time, from a Golf Channel govt. They had been casting for somebody to host “Golf Advisor,” a life-style and journey present. It was proper up my alley and a technique to get my foot within the door at Golf Channel.
Just a few months later, Steve John, the event director at Pebble Seaside, flashed throughout my cellphone. He was calling to see if I needed to play within the pro-am – THE Professional-Am. That first time enjoying within the AT&T was life-changing. It received me within the room with individuals I may by no means have hoped to fulfill, allowed me to construct on-course credibility with gamers, golf followers and the decision-makers at Golf Channel – and most significantly, it confirmed how onerous I’d been engaged on my recreation since that first pro-am 5 years prior, as I made the minimize alongside Ryan Armour.
The AT&T was a real catalyst second and ultimately led to reporting for Golf Channel for the primary time on the 2020 PGA Present in Orlando. I believed I’d be off and operating after that, however the pandemic thwarted my plans. Fortunately, Miss America is the most important supplier of scholarships to girls on the planet, so throughout COVID, I utilized to and started a grasp’s diploma in specialised journalism at Southern Cal, and Miss America paid for it in full.
A yr into this system, Golf Channel referred to as once more: They had been hiring for a reporter place. Would I have an interest?
Identical to that day strolling off the Miss America stage, I rapidly replied: “Sure.”
Final month, I accomplished my fourth season reporting for Golf Channel and NBC Sports activities, and I even made my Olympic reporting debut on the Paris Video games, flying the golf nest and reporting on sports activities like water polo, taekwondo, equestrian and trampoline.
Golf is a superpower, and my journey throughout the recreation since Miss America is a testomony to that. In order I have a good time 10 years since that second on the stage large enough for a driving vary, I additionally say thanks to the sport that helped me discover my ardour, function and identification after the sunshine shifted.
