'Fabulous fortnight fuelling Fuller's future'

A more comfortable airplane seat was the first of what are likely to be many benefits accruing from a career-changing fortnight for young English golfer Annabell Fuller.The 22-year-old treated herself to an upgrade after fully capitalising on forcing her way into the PIF Saudi Ladies International last week. Once there, she was beaten only by world number four Jeeno Thitikul, of Thailand, and South Korea's Somi Lee.Of all the tournaments on the Ladies European Tour to do well in, this is the one. Worth a total of £3.9m it towers over the rest of the schedule on a circuit where making ends meet is the main priority.It is little wonder that Fuller asked for a sponsor invitation into the field, but unlike last year it was not forthcoming.So the previous week's Lalla Meryem Cup, worth less than £375,000, suddenly acquired considerable value. "In Morocco I said to my caddie (Neal Herman) 'it's fine, we'll just get a top 10'," Fuller told BBC Sport.A finish of such magnitude in Morocco was the only remaining route into the Riyadh tournament. And she was true to her word, finishing in sixth place.
"I was probably just as happy with that as I would have been if I'd won the tournament," Fuller said. "I so badly wanted to go to Saudi because it is one of our biggest events."The Roehampton golfer, who turned pro a year ago after attending the University of Florida, returned to Saudi Arabia a different player from the rookie of 12 months ago."I saw that if you made the cut in Saudi you would get $10,000, which is basically what I got for coming sixth in Morocco," Fuller said."So my little goal was to make the cut and that would be a stepping stone forwards again. And then, obviously, I did a little bit better than that."Fuller opened with rounds of 66 and 68 and in the final round battled back from early dropped shots to card a 71 that left her 11 under par, five shots behind the winner and in third place on her own.She collected more than £205,000 which she agreed amounts to a life-changing sum. "That's one way of putting it," Fuller said."I still haven't comprehended what happened, but I changed a couple of my flights to upgrade a little bit. The whole outlook of this year has changed now. I've got different goals in mind than I had a week ago."Now I've got the same amount of points after two events than I got in 22 events last year."Twelve months ago Fuller told BBC Sport she would give her professional career an initial three years and see how much of her father's money she would end up spending."In one week, effectively I've built up my next three years without needing my dad," Fuller smiled. "I was on the flight back that I had booked and I saw Charley Hull sitting up front in business."And it was a weird, surreal feeling that that's going to be my life now too. It was cool, I kind of got giggles about it."Surviving on the Ladies European Tour is far from easy. Three-time LET winner Meghan MacLaren illustrated the point on a recent post on X, where she detailed her January outgoings.They included tour membership fees of nearly £700, almost £2,000 in flights, management fees of £2,688 as well as indoor practice fees, an Australian visa costing £214 and gym and physio costs.In all, the 30-year-old forked out £6,551.85 for the month. Another English pro, Eddie Pepperell estimates he pays £5,000 a tournament in costs, sitting at the back of planes to and from events.And unless a player has generous sponsors, the only way of recouping such outlays is by performing on the golf course. Only those at the very top of the leading tours are spared what can be a hard, uncertain life.This is a useful context in which to view Fuller's achievement because it was self generated. "It's a tiny, tiny mindset change, but knowing I had earned my spot into Saudi instead of getting an invite was, I think, a really big difference," Fuller said."My coach texted me and said 'go show them that you are meant to be there'. Now I believe in myself a little bit more."Fuller took inspiration from the performance of her friend and fellow Englishwoman Cara Gainer, who won the Moroccan tournament earlier this month."I looked up to her and how she organises herself and she is very driven," Fuller said. "Seeing her win, I knew I wasn't far off that week."Fuller says she reaped the benefits of returning to Florida for practice after Christmas and her new caddie Herman has helped her mindset on the golf course. "We get on really, really well," she said."We've been getting to know each other and chatting loads and I know it sounds silly but I was in a good mood and felt happy."Fuller's main goal this year was to improve from 66th on the LET's Order of Merit, which yielded around £73,000 last year, and reach the top 30. But now flights are not the only thing to have been upgraded."With a couple more good weeks I could make the LET top 10 which would take me into the final stage of LPGA Q School and maybe I can automatically qualify for some of the majors," Fuller said."Instead of going through qualifying, my goal now is to be high enough on the ranking to get automatically into the AIG Women's Open (at Royal Porthcawl from 30 July-3 August), so that would be quite special."Fuller is still in search of a first tour win, but now feels that is within her compass. As she proved last week, this young Englishwoman has come a long way in her first 12 months on tour since emerging from LET Tour School."It's completely different," she reflected. "Now I'm a bit more experienced travelling-wise and I have my own routines."A year ago it almost came out of nothing and I almost wasn't prepared for it. Whereas now, I've accepted this is my life."

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