Amy Olson announced her retirement Wednesday on social media after 10 years on the LPGA Tour.
Olson, 31, had been on maternity leave with the birth on Sept. 15, 2023, of daughter Carly Gray Olson with husband Grant Olson, the defensive coordinator at North Dakota State University.
“What. A. Ride,” Amy Olson tweeted on her X account. “My journey in professional golf is officially ending. Call it quitting, retirement, a VERY extended maternity leave. … I am turning the page to the next chapter in my life. I couldn’t be more thankful to the places God took me through this game of golf.”
A native of Oxbow, N.D., Olson turned pro after setting an NCAA-record with 20 titles at North Dakota State but did not win on the tour. She told Golfweek that was an unrealized dream along with not playing on the U.S. Solheim Cup team.
“I’ve had to come to terms with that,” Olson told Golfweek. “I’m just realizing OK, that’s not part of my story, and realizing I have different dreams and bigger dreams, rather than clinging to the same ones that motivated me for a number of years.”
Olson has 13 career top-10 finishes, including rallying to tie for second at the 2021 Kia Classic.
She also tied for second at the 2018 Evian Championship with a double bogey on the 72nd hole, losing to Angela Stanford. The 2020 U.S. Women’s Open was especially painful, as her father-in-law Lee Olson died the night before the final round, and she ended up tied for second in a highly emotional performance.
“Unfortunately, a couple of the pivotal ones of my career were actually really sad moments,” Olson told Golfweek. “But I think one of the things I’ve always been most proud of is keeping golf in perspective and realizing that life is bigger than golf. In a lot of ways, some of those bigger moments that people remember me for, I was able to live that out in front of them.”
Olson last played on tour in July 2023 at the U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links, when she was seven months pregnant and missed the cut.
–Field Level Media