Sandra Gal - February 1, 2012

• By Morning Drive Team
• Feb 1, 2012 8:26 AM ET

Sandra Gal won the Kia Classic on the 2011 LPGA Tour and she was also a Captain’s Selection for the winning European Solheim Cup team. She is very excited for the 2012 season following a great 2011 and she has spent the offseason working on her game and she cannot wait to get started. In her opinion, girls tend to play better when things in their life are more balanced and she feels that is the case for her.

The Solheim Cup experience was unbelievable and while she did not play as well as she wanted to as a rookie, she learned a lot of lessons from the experience and had an incredible time. The week is so busy and she feels that she will do a better job in the future of managing her schedule and finding moments in which to relax so she can be as ready to play as she can be.

Following her win in the Kia Classic, she spent a week in Key West, FL to celebrate and it is one of her favorite places to go. While she enjoys breaks, she is very happy that there will not be as many forced breaks in 2012 because there will be more tournaments on the LPGA Tour.

She was very humbled to receive the Hottest Golfer honor from GolfDigest.com because she never really considered herself the most attractive player on the LPGA Tour and while she did not go to Key West to celebrate the award, she was very happy to receive it. Sex appeal does matter in the business of professional golf but at the end of the day, you have to play great golf if you are going to have long term, lasting success.

On the question of slow play on the LPGA Tour, she agrees that it is hurting the game and she spent a lot of time during the offseason trying to get faster on the golf course because she understands how slow play can impact the spectators at the course as well as TV viewers who do not like slow play.

Her goals in 2012 include winning again but also become stronger mentally because as she becomes more experienced, she wants to become better in all aspects of her game. She would tell young amateur golfers not to get burned out on the game and to enjoy themselves on the course.