Q. I'd like to just put a feature together. You're obviously a Kansas native, the only one in the field this week. 2017 Wichita State. You have a lot of background in the state.
RACHEL STOUS: Uh-huh.
Q. I just would love to learn a little bit more about you, too. I don't know anything about you.
RACHEL STOUS: What kind of interview is this?
Q. Yeah, this is just for a feature story on our website and for social media. We'll be posting it and sharing it with local media as well.
RACHEL STOUS: Is it of me talking or is it edited or what is it?
Q. I'm just recording and I'll take some quotes from it and details and just put together a feature story.
RACHEL STOUS: Okay. Cool, cool.
Q. So, yeah, take me through your journey. I think if I read something correctly, you played golf at Wichita State for a time. You hit kind of a roadblock. Stepped away from the game. Took an office job. I can't remember exactly what it was, but...
RACHEL STOUS: I don't even know what it was to be honest. I was only there for a day.
Q. You were only there for a day. Well, take me through the journey. That's interesting stuff, of how you got here today.
RACHEL STOUS: Yeah, I went to Wichita State for a year, and then just kind of stepped away from the game for about a year and then got back into it.
Just been playing tournaments and trying to move up.
Q. When did you go to Wichita State? What year?
RACHEL STOUS: 2016, 2017.
Q. When you say stepped away, you didn't pick up the clubs? You let them get dusty, put them away, hid them?
RACHEL STOUS: Yeah, I was completely done for I think about a year.
Q. So 2017 year?
RACHEL STOUS: Yeah.
Q. And then what drove getting back into it? What sparked it again?
RACHEL STOUS: Well, I went back to school just for school. Couldn't really figure out what I wanted to do.
Then just, I don't know, just kind of started missing it a little bit and got back out there.
Q. There was never any moment where you -- like anything anybody ever said to you? Any interaction you ever had where you're like, you know what? I don't know, maybe I hung it up too early.
RACHEL STOUS: I mean, yeah, my dad. My dad has always pushed it. He knows that I can be really good. You know, he wanted me to get back out there and I decided to give it another go.
Q. What's your dad's name?
RACHEL STOUS: Kevin.
Q. Kevin?
RACHEL STOUS: Yep.
Q. What was the school you went to when you got back into schooling?
RACHEL STOUS: Washburn University. It's in Topeka.
Q. Okay, yeah. And one of the things I read, I think it was just a local news outlet, that you took an office job for like you said a day. Take me through that experience of how it came about or why it came about and just that part of the journey.
RACHEL STOUS: Well, my cousin works there so he kind of helped me get a job there. You know, I went there for a day and I was just kind of doing what they told me to and I was thinking, I need to get back on the golf course. This isn't for me.
Q. Do you remember or what was the name of the business?
RACHEL STOUS: I have no idea.
Q. No idea.
RACHEL STOUS: I don't know anything about it. I don't even know what position I was going for.
Q. Do you remember what it was like, what they did at all?
RACHEL STOUS: Honestly, I have no idea.
Q. No worries.
RACHEL STOUS: When I say it wasn't for me, it was not for me.
Q. No kidding. You blocked it all out. Would it be fair to say that it was kind of one of those -- was that one of those moments where you realized like I respect the people who do this, but I'm not one of those people who can do it?
RACHEL STOUS: Yeah.
Q. This is what I need to be doing with my life.
RACHEL STOUS: Oh, yeah. No disrespect towards them. I mean, just wasn't for me, you know.
Q. What is something about Kansas that people don't know about the state?
RACHEL STOUS: People don't know?
Q. Or something that -- you obviously have grown up there. To me, Garden City is one of my favorite stops on our tour. What makes this state special? And just calling it home, what have you learned over the years that people maybe undervalue or underestimate about it?
RACHEL STOUS: You know, I don't know. There is really not a whole lot in Kansas. We got pretty good barbecue.
Yeah, I don't know. I mean, honestly, I don't know. It's just home, you know.
Q. Yeah.
RACHEL STOUS: It's just, I don't know, there is nothing really special about it other than it's where I'm from, so...
Q. If I remember right, you won the Kansas Women's -- is it the Women's Open?
RACHEL STOUS: Kansas Women's Amateur, yeah.
Q. Women's Amateur. That was --
RACHEL STOUS: That was last year.
Q. Last year?
RACHEL STOUS: Yep.
Q. Just take me through that moment in time. I think, if I remember right, did you finish runner-up the year before? Was that maybe somebody else in this story that I read?
RACHEL STOUS: It was either the year before or the year before that.
Q. Okay.
RACHEL STOUS: I think it might have been the year before.
Q. That you finished runner-up?
RACHEL STOUS: Yeah. I can't remember which year it was.
Q. I got the article pulled up.
RACHEL STOUS: Might have been --
Q. You were runner-up to Whitaker at 2019.
RACHEL STOUS: 2019, okay, yeah.
Q. So you were runner-up and then you won it in 2021. Take me through just what that tournament meant for you I guess on the journey back, or I guess the journey to the pro ranks specifically, confidence-wise, knowing you can play among some of the best amateurs in the state, just your ability, showing yourself the ability is there.
RACHEL STOUS: Well, I knew it was most likely going to be my last time playing in it because going to Q-School and working on turning pro. I just really wanted to win it before I turned pro, and that was pretty cool to do.
It was a great golf course. It was a lot of fun. It was awesome.
Q. And you had a top 10 like the week before in the TGA City Stroke Play event. So you had --
RACHEL STOUS: Did I play in that one that year?
Q. Last year in 2021.
RACHEL STOUS: Last year I don't know if I played in the stroke play.
Q. The article I have --
RACHEL STOUS: I know I got second in the match play, the men's match play.
Q. Oh, was it match play?
RACHEL STOUS: Or whatever it was.
Q. Oh.
RACHEL STOUS: Then I won the Women's Match Play in Kansas City before the Kansas Am.
Q. July 12 and June 12. Okay. TGA City Match Play.
RACHEL STOUS: Yeah. I was the only girl in that one, so I got second. That was pretty cool.
Q. That was in 2019 that you were the only female?
RACHEL STOUS: That was last year.
Q. Oh, last year you were the only female in the field?
RACHEL STOUS: Yeah.
Q. Wow. And you finished runner-up? Wow.
RACHEL STOUS: (Laughter.)
Q. What was that like?
RACHEL STOUS: That was cool. I should have won actually. I was up two with like two left, and I don't know, just kind of -- I don't know. Just didn't finish it.
But that was still cool just to be able to play in the finals being the only girl.
Then I think it was literally the next week I won the women's match play in Kansas City. That was cool. I think -- I don't think I had anything until the Kansas Am.
Q. The Women's Match Play in Kansas City. I'm looking that up real quick, second straight KC Women's Match Play title. Two straight.
RACHEL STOUS: Yeah.
Q. Man, what haven't you done in Kansas?
RACHEL STOUS: Kansas has been pretty good. Had some good tournaments.
Q. Yeah. If you don't mind just sharing a little bit as well, just what -- I guess just your journey at Wichita State. You don't have to go into too much detail if you don't want to, but you got a scholarship there and then you were in and out in the year. If you don't mind just kind of taking me through just that part of the journey and what kind of was going through your mind at that time.
RACHEL STOUS: Well, I don't know if I was quite that serious about golf then, so as much as we were doing, you know, practice, school, homework, study hall, all that stuff, I think it was just kind of too much right then.
I just didn't really want it that bad back then. They got a great golf program, but it just wasn't really for me. Then just taking a year off really helped.
Q. Sharpen the mind I would imagine.
RACHEL STOUS: Yeah, helped me realize that golf is what I want to do.
Q. Taking that step back, how critical do you think that that is? Maybe that a lot of people even in golf, how critical do you think that taking a step back was for you but can also be for others?
RACHEL STOUS: I mean, you know you love the game but you're just kind of feeling burnt out, you know, maybe take a little time off and then find your love for it again.
Everybody is different, though. Some people don't get tired of it; some people do.
Q. Yeah, some people can just keep on charging.
RACHEL STOUS: Some people keep on going. I think I'm kind of to that point now, you know. I've got a lot more love for the game now after taking some time off.
Q. Is there anybody who in particular -- I mean, it could be a golfer, family member, anybody that growing up you looked to playing and starting in the sport that kind of fed your ambitions when you were younger?
RACHEL STOUS: What do you mean?
Q. I don't know, anybody -- like people point to Tiger Woods or was there a player or a person that really kind of stood out to help you develop your game and develop a love for the game?
RACHEL STOUS: I mean, yeah, I've always been a big Tiger fan. I never really watched golf all that much, but, I mean, I knew how good Tiger was. How could you not be a fan of him when you play the game?
Q. Anybody help you get into the game in particular?
RACHEL STOUS: Yeah, my dad. He got me into it.
Q. Okay. Do you remember about what age you were?
RACHEL STOUS: I was probably around six or seven.
Q. Six or seven, okay. And do you remember like -- like what's your earliest memory you have of him and golf?
RACHEL STOUS: I don't know. I remember playing some junior golf out at Lake Shawnee.
I don't know. He's always been to all my events. He's -- I don't know, I wouldn't be playing if it wasn't for him.
Q. Lake Shawnee. Is that a golf course?
RACHEL STOUS: Yeah.
Q. Golf course. I just pulled up Lake Shawnee and I was like, oh, there is a lake. I'm guessing you just didn't hit golf balls into the lake.
RACHEL STOUS: Yeah, it's in Topeka.
Q. Okay. I've helped cover this tour off and on since 2017, so you don't get a player homegrown in Kansas very often.
RACHEL STOUS: Uh-huh.
Q. What about the state -- obviously you've had a lot of great success, so what about being from Kansas and growing up here, how have you managed to accomplish professional dreams where maybe not a lot of people have?
RACHEL STOUS: I don't --
Q. I'm asking the hard-hitting questions, Rachel.
RACHEL STOUS: Let me think here. I know Gary Woodland did it. He went to Washburn and KU, played golf. I've always heard a lot about him growing up. He was able to do it.
Q. Yeah. He's from Topeka, yeah.
RACHEL STOUS: Yeah.
Q. Have you ever met him?
RACHEL STOUS: I guess that's one thing you can say, other than Tiger.
Q. Gary?
RACHEL STOUS: Yeah. What was the question?
Q. I guess just in a state where -- you know, like for instance, a lot of --
RACHEL STOUS: Where not a lot of people come out of?
Q. Yeah. Like a lot of football players come from Florida and Texas and then you get like the one guy from, I don't know, Idaho who gets a Division I scholarship. What has it been about you? Maybe it's your fighter mentality, your background. What has allowed you to find success in an area where not a lot of people make it out of in terms of maybe professional sports?
RACHEL STOUS: Yeah, I'm not so sure Kansas has anything to do with it. If you love the sport, you know you can be good, just keep working hard at it. I don't really think Kansas really has a whole lot to do with -- I mean, I played a lot of good golf in Kansas, had a lot of good tournaments, but I think it's more to it than that.
You got to -- you still got work hard no matter where you're at.
Q. No matter where you're from even.
RACHEL STOUS: Yeah. (Laughter.)
Q. Yeah, doesn't matter what state you're from.
RACHEL STOUS: Yeah.
Q. Would you say as far as like golf courses, opportunities for you were just as abundant as maybe anyone else on tour?
RACHEL STOUS: Kansas has a lot of good golf courses. I would say the main ones don't have quite as good practice facilities as where I play at now, but, I mean, you just got to use your imagination.
You got what you got. I mean, no matter what the practice facility is you just got to work hard and be creative.
Q. Yeah, absolutely. Anything you're passionate about? Anything that hits home for you? Obviously golf is important. Anything off the course that you really particularly take a liking to or enjoy when you're not playing golf?
RACHEL STOUS: Off the course, I don't know, my family is here, so I always hang out with my family when I'm not at the course. My friends are here.
Q. You live at home still when you're --
RACHEL STOUS: No, I'm in Florida now.
Q. Oh, nice.
RACHEL STOUS: Yeah.
Q. Do you have family there?
RACHEL STOUS: No.
Q. Oh, nice. Where at in Florida?
RACHEL STOUS: St. Cloud.
Q. Nice. I'm just north of Naples, so...
RACHEL STOUS: Cool.
Q. Great spot to practice. Where do you practice there?
RACHEL STOUS: Royal St. Cloud. Yep, pretty cool place.
Q. Any golf names around that area?
RACHEL STOUS: Damon Green, who used to caddie for Zach Johnson. I know he plays out there a lot. There are some other guys out there who are kind of doing the same thing I'm doing.
Q. Have you ever played, practiced with any of them?
RACHEL STOUS: Oh, yeah, yeah.
Q. Anyone in particular? Even if they're not a well-known name.
RACHEL STOUS: Well, names, I mean -- I don't know. Couple guys, Marcus Manley or Scott Yancy, or like Damon Green. They're out at that course.
I don't know how well-known they are, but I know Damon Green is pretty big.
Q. Yeah, that's a good name. Are those other guys Korn Ferry players?
RACHEL STOUS: I don't really know. They're not on the Korn Ferry, but they're pretty much doing the same thing I'm doing.
Q. Trying to make it.
RACHEL STOUS: Yeah.
Q. I like that. That's cool.
RACHEL STOUS: Yeah.
Q. You played that match play as well. This is the last one I have for you. You played that match play against the men -- was it the match play or the city play against the men?
RACHEL STOUS: Match play.
Q. Match play.
RACHEL STOUS: Yeah, the match play.
Q. Is there like -- can you gain a different sort of confidence when you play with men, just seeing -- I mean, obviously I think male and female's game are quite different in terms of approach. Do you gain a certain sort of confidence seeing how you can compete against them and staying up with them, too?
RACHEL STOUS: Oh, yeah. It's different playing with the guys. I like to play with the guys. It's cool. They all hit the ball further than I do, which isn't something I'm used to.
So, I don't know. They just play a little differently.
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