TOLEDO, Ohio – Jennifer Kupcho comes into her first Solheim Cup on the highest of notes after getting engaged to Jay Monahan (not that one). The couple met at Superstition Mountain Golf and Country Club in Gold Canyon, Arizona, and have been together for a year and a half. Monahan now caddies on the LPGA.
“He took me to a really fancy, nice restaurant,” said Kupcho of the proposal, “and it came out on the plate with dessert, and on the plate it said it, ‘Will you marry me,’ so it was really cute.”
Kupcho said they picked out the ring together.
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The 24-year-old Wake Forest grad qualified for her first Solheim Cup team via the Rolex Rankings and is in a pod with Danielle Kang, Austin Ernst and Lizette Salas, which means her pairings for the week will come from that trio.
“Yeah, I’m really excited, definitely overwhelmed,” she said. “The whole entire experience has been really special. These girls have made me feel very comfortable, as well as Angela, just to get me comfortable and get me ready for what’s about to come.”
Assistant captain Angela Stanford oversees Kupcho’s pod and said the former Augusta National Women’s Amateur champ is quite focused and organized for a rookie.
“A lot of times rookies are kind of looking around and checking things out,” said Stanford, “but she’s been very good about being very focused on what she needs to do. So I have to remind myself that she is a rookie because she hasn’t acted like a rookie.”