Kelsey Koch won’t leave the Sandhills of North Carolina with a trophy or medal, but she will take home a brand new ring.
Following her final round of the 2023 U.S. Adaptive Open at Pinehurst No. 6 on Wednesday afternoon, Koch was proposed to by her boyfriend and caddie, Josh White, on the ninth green, her last hole of the championship. And of course she said yes.
“I did not have any idea but I hoped and prayed. I hoped and prayed because life is so much more than golf and what better of an opportunity,” she said after the round. “This experience as a whole has been so humbling to be here. Like I always say, it’s not what you do on the course it’s what you do off the course, right? To be here and to have this, we’re so blessed to start this way.”
The 31-year-old made her adaptive debut this week in the leg impairment category. Koch was born without a left tibia bone and her leg was amputated at 11 months old.
“I don’t know any different,” said Koch, who owns a yoga studio back home. “I don’t want to know any different.”
The Grand Blanc, Michigan, native finished 20th out of 21 women in the field, and while she may not have had the week she wanted on the course, she’ll leave Pinehurst with countless new memories, a fiancé and wedding to plan.
“Golf has been difficult for me this week,” said Koch as she hugged her husband to be, “but that doesn’t matter.”