When the relationship between Alena Sharp and Sarah Bowman began to blossom, it happened in many Canadian ways: they were playing hockey.
“He loved chasing me and definitely engaging in some body check,” says a laughing Bowman from Pennsylvania. “I just thought it was a Canadian form of flirtation.”
Sharp is one of only two full-time Canadians on the LPGA tour and Bowman has been his caddy since 2014.
Bowman is also Sharp’s partner off the pitch.
Sharp, of Hamilton, in his early years as a professional golfer, was not comfortable with being openly gay, although he says that all his friends knew about it. But with the maturation comes the confidence and Sharp has found his voice as an LGBTQ athlete.
“It is different to be open to the media, even if people knew it,” says Sharp, who turned 39 at the beginning of the year and is in his 15th year as a professional. “(But) things have become much easier. Well, it’s not easier – because it’s not an easy thing to find out – but now it’s more widely accepted than when I was 22, 23 and I was really starting to tell people who I really was. ”
Despite the occasional difficulty in mixing their professional and personal lives, Sharp says she was lucky to have Bowman alongside her. Their full-time relationship on the ropes began when Sharp let go of his previous caddy before an event in Hawaii, a trip that Bowman was about to arrive anyway.
It quickly became a business vacation. Of course, Sharp already knew by then that Bowman had caddy skills: he had won a Symetra Tour event earlier that year with Bowman on the stock exchange.
Sharp says it’s easier to let yourself go with someone you love than someone you’re working with, so there are occasional venting sessions between the couple when the heat is on. But she says Bowman has been a “huge” part of her recent hits.
“I’m older and more experienced in the course, but it has given me so much positive reinforcement, whatever is going on,” he says. “[Bowman] it helped me become more positive and not react too much to the ups and downs of golf in general. “
“No matter what it is, there is love,” says Bowman. “It doesn’t matter if she makes a big hole shot or hits the shot – that’s not why I’m there, so to speak.”
Bowman claims to be able to bring some much needed lightness to a sport where there is plenty of time to think too much or doubt yourself. On the connections, the couple mainly talk about their dogs or, a couple of years ago, about their renovations in the courtyard.
Although Sharp has not found the circle of winners on the LPGA Tour, it has become a fixture on the biggest stage of women’s golf. His best career result was a fourth place at the CP Women’s Open 2016, part of the great summer even when he played in the Olympics. He has earned more than $ 2 million (USD) in his career – practically everything since he started working with Bowman.
Sharp has also often been there with Brooke Henderson while rewriting the record books. Canadian women’s golf has seen a handful of its bright lights run out over the past two years – for personal or health reasons – but Henderson and Sharp have been a constant 1-2.
After almost all of Henderson’s victories, Sharp – and Bowman – were on the 18th green ready to celebrate with her. Henderson also tells Sportsnet in the weeks she approached but didn’t win (including the CP Women’s Open in 2019), the couple was there to greet her after her round.
Laurence Applebaum, CEO of Golf Canada, says he has been as impressed with Sharp’s off-course contributions as he has been in recent years, particularly his leadership as a member of the LPGA Tour Board of Directors.
“She has been an active and active voice in golf for me personally in wanting to help sport – and in particular women’s golf – to move forward and grow,” says Applebaum. “It brings its whiteness and authenticity into everything it does.”
Off the pitch, Sharp says the wider acceptance he has seen for LGBTQ athletes, especially in Canada, is a positive step in the right direction.
Point to a recent Golf Canada initiative as an example. At last year’s CP Women’s Open, signs decorated with a rainbow triangle that said “CP, Golf Canada and LPGA support positive space in sports” were posted around the Magna Golf Club.
There have been other indicators of the standing tour for wider social change. In a Twitter statement in the wake of George Floyd’s death, the Tour claimed that it has been “firmly supported for equality, opportunity, equity and unity” since it was founded 70 years ago.
It’s a start and there are many good things going on, says Bowman, but there is still a lot to do. After the television broadcasts, the couple received messages from viewers stating that television crews rarely mention Sharp and Bowman.
Normalizing their relationship on TV could do a lot, he says. Organizations such as the You Can Play project are helping to encourage LGBTQ participation in sports, but Bowman points to a recent University of British Columbia study showing that lesbian, gay and bisexual teenagers are still half as likely to play sports as heterosexual youth. .
“It’s not something that affects me personally because we feel comfortable in our skin and in our relationship and we don’t need validation from external sources,” says Bowman. “However, there are LGBTQ youth and adults who are watching and perhaps struggling. A mention could perhaps serve as a reinforcement for them who are normal and it’s really OK. ”
Meanwhile, Sharp is more than OK. He has found his voice, he has found love and he is playing an excellent golf course.
“I’m embracing the role,” says Sharp, “and if I can help people by telling my story – if it helps them – it’s something I’m passionate about.”
