Brynn’s journey

Editor’s Note: This is part two of a monthly series where Brynn Walker Collins describes her experience in professional golf. A former University of North Carolina golfer, Walker Collins competes on the Epson Tour, a circuit that offers top finishers access to the LPGA Tour. You can read part one here. 

I still remember that day vividly, when I first felt a squeaky pain in my left shoulder while taking my bag off my back at the 2022 IOA Championship, an Epson Tour event in Beaumont, California. It was a minor discomfort, and I didn’t think much of it at the time. I popped some Advil and continued playing through the event, hoping the pain would just go away on its own. And for a brief period, it did.

But as soon as I returned home and started practicing, the pain returned with a vengeance. I was hitting the ball better than ever before and quickly snapped a video to document the instance of perfection in such a perplexing game. I sent the video to my dad with the caption: “I got it.” Then, a few moments later,...