As Stephanie Meadow eases into a seventh year on tour, she is hoping to savour a romantic tale that an unforgiving sport of inches can sometimes throw up.
"Golf is brutal, it can tear you down… you need the right perspective. You have to remind yourself that you're doing what you've always dreamed of," said Meadow, who celebrated her 29th birthday in January.
The Arizona-based Jordanstown woman had a front-row seat last summer when Germany's Sophia Popov sprung from a ranking of 304 to lift the women's Open Championship. It was a sporting fairytale of hope amid all the gloom of 2020.
They had gone through the amateur ranks together, competing at the highest level, and having been aware of the turmoil Popov had been through during her professional career, Meadow delighted in her incredible triumph.
It is one she would love to emulate, particularly with the Championship returning to Carnoustie this summer.
"I would love to be back there, that's where I won my British Amateur Championship. I have a lot of good memories, it's a great course. My dad was on the bag and he was always very enthusiastic. I was 20 so I remember it was one of those moments when I was like, 'Dad, get off me'. It was just great and the photos remind me how wind-burnt I was… they're fantastic memories and for mum and dad to be there was great," said Meadow, who was the first Irish golfer since Lilian Behan in 1985 to lift the coveted title.
"I didn't play that well on strokeplay but then did very well on the matchplay. I remember the bunkers were brutal." There's that word again.
For Popov - tied eighth at Gainbridge, Florida last week - her victory at Troon was a triumph over medical adversity as much as the challenge of the course and her competitors. At her victorious press conference, Popov revealed how the onset of Lyme disease had thrown her rookie year off course.
She battled on but was not enjoying the career that her days in the US College had promised - and then in one magical week she found herself on top of the golfing world. How Meadow would relish such a moment.
"Sophia was a great junior golfer and college golfer… we knew each other because she played in all the same European team events. I remember talking to her and she was in so much despair but she is feisty and has a lot of grit. I'm sure a lot of people in her situation would have given up," added Meadow.
"She's definitely a fighter and I think I'd consider myself a bit of a fighter too. I can see now her confidence is back and she is feeling great and it's nice to see someone fight through it. I'd played so many times with her that when I watched her win the Open I just thought, 'Well, if she can do it then why can't I do that?' It's in there and you just have to keep going and you just don't know when your time is.
"You just have to put all the things together and it can be a long grind.
"I found it interesting to hear Daniel Berger speaking after his recent win on the men's tour, saying that he had been putting in a certain kind of work for six to eight months and now he was seeing it pay off.
"Every golfer wants instant success but it doesn't work that way."
Stephanie Meadow with her fiancé and caddie Kyle Kallan
Maintaining the right golf/life balance has become a priority for Meadow even if that is not always easy when your caddie just also happens to be your fiancé. Kyle Kallan is the man keeping a watching brief as Meadow seeks to climb through the world rankings.
"Kyle does help with me keeping the right perspective. There is a selfishness to the sport because everybody is here doing their stuff to be successful but at the same time you have to realise there is more to life," added Meadow.
"I'm not saying we never talk about golf at home because we are both passionate about it and it is my job, but it is important to shut off.
"Kyle's a great person to have because he communicates with my coaches. He has a lot of golf knowledge, he can see things I can't.
"I can't catch everything and half the time I don't know when my attitude is bad and you fall into things and don't realise it.
"He is able to see these things and gives me the feedback I need."
Kyle has also been a great support throughout the upheaval caused by the pandemic. While the courses in Arizona never closed, she has had to get used to all the new protocols required when it comes to staying in the LPGA Tour bubble on tournament week.
One thing that has remained consistent is the cost of being a professional golfer. The backing of Investec, who recently extended their sponsorship of Meadow, is critical to keeping her dreams alive.
At a cost of $125,000 (£89,500) a year, the pressure of performing would be that much greater without such support and Meadow revealed that her main sponsor has gone even further in helping her progress on and off the course.
"The CEO Michael Cullen has been a real mentor to me. When I started, Investec were my only sponsor. Now I have a lot of partners and Michael is very proud of that. When I started off I hadn't a clue about how to market myself but I've learned how to do that. Michael has spent the last six years telling me I'm an entrepreneur whose business just happens to be golf. I think I understand that now," she said.
"Paul McGinley was the one who got me in touch with them so I'm very grateful to him for that. When you turn pro you think you just have to play golf but there is more to it than that, there is the business side."
Taking care of business on the course will go a long way to making the off-course work a lot easier and Meadow's ambition burns as brightly as the Arizona sun.
"I want to be an LPGA winner - that's always the big goal," she said with real intent.
But Meadow also refuses to lose any perspective.
"No matter what level you're at, if you win four times one year and then only win twice the next, it can seem like a failure - if you let it get to you, golf can be very hard and lonely. Golf has to be my top priority but it can't be everything. You have to have a life."
