The Secret Weapon for a Player Chasing Her First Major? Olivia Rodrigo.

When I flew into Minneapolis earlier this week, I received a text that I usually get during tournament weeks that I'm on site for: "dinner tonight?".

Since Founders Cup back in March, Dewi Weber and I have made a habit of trying to get dinner at least once a week in whatever random city we find ourselves in. This time around we stopped by a local spot called Martina in the suburbs of the Twin Cities, where we indulged in what was truly the most delicious oxtail ragu sauce pasta I've ever had and a scallop dish that must have been blessed by the gods.

We caught up on what we had been up to since the last time we saw each other at Riv, and she joked about winning this week given how much KPMG had pumped into its purse—as the $13 million total purse is the largest in women's golf history.

And what we giggled and cheers'ed over, may become a reality for the 210th ranked player in the world.

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I first met Dewi last year in Mexico, at the Riviera Maya Open at Mayakoba when we were paired together for a pro am—and we instantly clicked. We spoke very little of golf, and found ourselves engrossed in conversations about life, pop culture, movies, fashion, literally everything except the sport that we have the most in common with.

What I quickly learned about the 30-year-old from the Netherlands is that this game is the least interesting thing about her. She studied film at the University of Miami where she played collegiately, earning three individual titles, recorded 18- top-10 finishes, and became the first in program history to earn three All-American honors.

In 2021, she finished T-10 in the LPGA's Q-Series (Q-School) to first earn LPGA Tour membership for 2022, and she's since been back to final qualifying twice more. But last year was the first time she retained her playing status for a full season after 15 made cuts and a season-best T-14 at the LOTTE Championship in Hawaii.

It's been another sort of slow start to the year for Weber who's only made five cuts in her 11 starts, but when I ask her about how she's feeling, she always says to me, "eh, it's just golf".

A few weeks ago Dewi hit some major milestones in her life: turning 30, and then subsequently announcing to the world that she and her wife Jen are having a baby, due later this year. And, naturally, she's not taking these changes lightly. The process of becoming a mom has allowed Dewi to think more broadly about life, and what she wants out of the job she does.

"I think it's made me rethink my life a little bit, and not in the sense like I don't want play golf anymore, but more in the sense of like if I'm going to be away from my family I better make sure that I'm having a ton of fun and having a good time and doing all the things of why I'm out here necessarily, and not being miserable on the course and punishing myself for every bad shot that I hit or every slight loss of focus that I'm having," she said in her post-round presser on Thursday.

Later Thursday evening, I sent her my recent played on Apple Music, because she told me to listen to Olivia Rodrigo's new album you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love and because I'm good about doing my homework, I listened. The former Disney teen turned pop princess has been fueling Weber all week long, specifically the songs "Expectations" and "Stupid Song".

I'll corroborate for Dewi and say that the album is fantastic, and worth the high praise of being on repeat during a week like this.

Before arriving at Hazeltine, Weber had never shot a round under par at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship. She'd missed the cut twice, finished T-31 a year ago, and had never found herself anywhere near contention. Now, she's stepping into completely unfamiliar territory—with a chance to turn one of the biggest championships of the year into the biggest week of her career.

Dewi's Saturday performance landed her just three shots back of leader Haeran Ryu, who's sitting at -11, but she remains head down for now. Her process both on course and off (listening to Rodrigo's sad girl ballads on repeat) won't change.

"Would [winning] be life changing? Yeah, sure, it would, and I'm not going to deny that. But me thinking about the thousand different scenarios that could play out tomorrow isn't super helpful for me. What is super helpful is, again, doing the things that I've been doing on the golf course," she explained after carding a 4-under round of 68 on moving day.

"[Yes], winning your first event, winning a major, is life-changing in terms of money because KPMG put so much money in this purse, and this event is awesome. But again, does it really help me thinking about that? Not really. Ask me again tomorrow afternoon."