England’s Karen Stupples explained that living a life on a golf tour is extremely hard on personal relationships. The Weetabix Women’s British Open champion admitted that her marriage had suffered as a consequence of being away from home so much and living a life which is far from normal.

Karen Stupples

With many top golfers having their private life scrutinised by the media such as Colin Montgomerie, Nick Faldo and with the recent news of Annika Sörenstam’s divorce announcement, Stupples put the subject of personal relationships into perspective.

“It’s all through the men’s tour and now it’s through the women’s tour, too,” said Stupples who put the record straight that she was separated form her husband, David.

“It’s part of life in this day and age. It’s the pressures of life. As individuals we are all very selfish people at the end of the day and that’s why we play golf.

“If we were team orientated, we would go on to play netball, field hockey, soccer and any other team sports. But we didn’t, we all chose to play golf, which is about as solitary game as you could possibly find.

“Even if you went on to play tennis you still need a partner to play against. You couldn’t go on out there on your own and power balls, someone needs to hit them at you. So, it’s a very solitary game and that’s where it all comes from.”

But in a dose of priceless Stupples humour, she laughed off the question suggesting that women golfers were impossible to live with.

Karen Stupples

“I think it takes a very special person to meet and get involved with and deal with the life we lead. It’s not a normal life and I don’t think any professional golfer can say that they have a normal life.

“We don’t wake up in the same house every week, we don’t get up for work and travel to a regular job and take the kids to school. One week we’re on one city, the next week we are in another city and the only familiarity is that we may have been to that city the year before.

“We may have stayed in the same hotel and I try and stay in the same hotel chain each week. I find it nice to stick to the same hotel chain and get some kind of regularity in my life. I actually try and get to do some of the silly things like laundry because it’s “normal”, because what else is normal about it?”