In addition to getting into the CME Group Tour Championship, the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, the majors and that $300,000 winner’s check, Gemma Dryburgh won a Toto toilet thanks to her breakthrough victory in Japan.
“So they asked me,” said Dryburgh, “where do you want the toilet sent?”
Given that the Tulane grad is renting a place in New Orleans, Dryburgh asked if they could hold off on shipping the toilet.
Though winning is something that players dream about all their lives, reality can look much different. Like the fact that, according to Dryburgh’s Whoop, the final round of the Toto Japan Classic was one of the calmest, least strenuous rounds she’s ever had. Her caddie’s dad jokes surely played a role.
She dined on champagne and octopus after the victory and made plans for her soon-to-be prized toilet.
Dryburgh, one of a record-tying 11 first-time winners on the LPGA this season, left Japan on a 7 a.m. flight and was on the ground in Florida for the Pelican Women’s Championship by Monday afternoon.
“To be honest, I was still a little drunk, hungover on the flight,” said Dryburgh, “so I’m not sure how long it took. Maybe I shouldn’t be telling the media that, but I had some champagne, you know.”
Dryburgh, who became only the fourth Scot to win on tour, is still buzzing from excitement. She vaulted 107 spots in the Rolex Rankings to No. 92.
She plans to send a message of thanks to Justin Rose and his wife Kate for the confidence gained from competing in the Rose Ladies Series during the COVID-19 pandemic, when professional golf tours were shut down. Dryburgh won three of the events.
“In that period during COVID, and that next year, it was just invaluable to have those playing opportunities,” she said. “And they were pretty decent fields considering they were small events. So Georgia (Hall) and Charley (Hull) were playing them and a lot of LET players. Those wins meant a lot to me.”
Dryburgh is a first-time player at the Pelican, and she played nine holes on Tuesday and another nine in the pro-am. A number of players asked Dryburgh if she might withdraw from this event to rest for next week, but her parents were already coming to watch her play in Belleair, and she’s enjoying catching up with players and caddies to revel in the win.
“Still can’t believe I’ve done it,” she said.