Stephanie Meadow gladly answers Olympic call

Stephanie Meadow was winding down from her opening round at last week’s LPGA tournament when the call arrived. And though the news wasn’t completely unexpected, it took a moment for the realization to completely settle in.

Book a flight. You have a tee time in Rio.

The Hilton Head Island golfer is an Olympian.

“I was still reasonably shocked,” Meadow said Tuesday after her name was confirmed for the 60-player field set to compete next month in the very first Olympic women’s tournament.

“I was super excited. What an awesome opportunity, to be able to represent your country at the Olympics.”

Meadow will represent Ireland in Rio de Janeiro, a late addition to the lineup after two Dutch players dropped out — not because of health concerns that have stripped the men’s event of several top draws, but when Dutch Olympic officials held back their names for not meeting their own internal requirements.

Their withdrawal opened the door for Meadow, who spent several weeks on the qualifying bubble before dipping below the top-60 threshold in mid-June. The Northern Ireland native was second on the reserve list when the cutoff date hit last week.

“It’s complicated,” she said, “but it all worked out in the end.”

It’s another sign that things are looking up for Meadow, who finished third at the U.S. Women’s Open two years ago but suffered through a nightmare 2015. Her father, Robert, succumbed to cancer at midyear and she struggled with her form upon returning to competition.

The 24-year-old golfer has limited LPGA status this year, though she has played five of the past seven events and earned a check in three.

“Small baby steps,” she said, “and everything will come.”

Golf is returning to the Olympic stage for the first time in 112 years. In 1904 in St. Louis, Canada’s George S. Lyon captured gold in a small men’s tournament, and women’s golf had yet to take hold.

Meadow, a former All-American at Alabama, is one of three former International Junior Golf Academy students in the Olympic women’s lineup. China’s Shanshan Feng and Colombia’s Mariajo Uribe also are set to tee it up in Rio, though neither remains in the Lowcountry.

Olympic qualification rules limit the number of entries to two per country, with up to two more if they are among the top 15 in the world rankings.

South Korea’s Ha-Na Jang, for instance, is 10th in the world but ineligible because four Korean pros rank ahead of her. Likewise, American Gerina Piller got in only after a top-10 finish at the U.S. Women’s Open lifted her to No. 15 at the cutoff.

Meadow hovered near the cutoff all spring and summer, but ultimately fell below the original line. Her status changed, though, when Dutch pros Christel Boeljon and Anne Van Dam came off the list because neither met the Dutch Olympic Committee’s requirement that they be in the world’s top 100.

Ireland captain Paul McGinley, a former European Ryder Cup captain, called Meadow to give her the news.

“Obviously the golf part is exciting,” she said, “but it’s also being in the Olympics — getting to see other athletes and see other events. The whole experience is so different from the usual tournament week. I’m just going to try and take in as much of the extra stuff as I can, and focus on the tournament too.”

As for the Zika virus, a mosquito-borne disease linked to severe birth defects in pregnant women, Meadow said a conversation with the Irish delegation’s medical chief put her at ease.

“He was pretty factual with me,” she said. “It’s winter now. They’ve had over 1,700 people go down there for test events and no one has been infected. We’ll take necessary precautions, but it’s not stopping any of us from going.”

For now, she’ll play on the LPGA’s developmental Symetra Tour this week and next, then settle in at Berkeley Hall to fine-tune her game for Brazil.

“It’ll be nice to have a little bit of practice time at home,” she said. “I usually play pretty good after taking a week and a half or two weeks (off). I’ll be nice and rested. I’m looking forward to this.”

This story was originally published July 19, 2016 at 8:30 PM with the headline "Stephanie Meadow gladly answers Olympic call."