As Silvia Cavalleri made a late-in-life debut on the Epson Tour this spring, it quickly became apparent that this was a new world. In her first tournament, she was paired with 17-year-old Canadian Brooke Henderson, the former No. 1-ranked amateur who turned pro in late 2014. The following event, she was in the same grouping with 21-year-old Ginger Howard. The 42-year-old Italian was old enough to offer motherly advice.

“There are a really, really lot of young players out here,” Cavalleri said. “Not just young but very good.

“I didn’t really know what to expect this year. But I really like how organized everything is and the courses seem fair enough. It’s a growing game.”

Cavalleri is a “rookie” and one of the older players on the Epson Tour this year after 15 years on the LPGA, including a victory in 2007. She took 2012 off from the LPGA to go home to Italy and spend time with her family. In 2014, she said “poor play and bad swing habits” were the reasons she lost her playing privileges. Cut to 2015 and a road back to the LPGA after climbing the mountain to start her career.

Cavalleri’s ascension to a life in professional golf has not been customary. In Italy, golf still isn’t the most popular sport, but it was even further off in the early 1980s. On a family visit to the grandparents’ summer home in Stresa, Italy on Lake Maggiore, a rainy day attracted 8-year-old Silvia and the family “to a nice green place that happened to be a golf course.” The entire family was smitten as golf trips or “green week” substituted for ski trips.

Success led to worldwide ventures with the Italian national golf federation beginning at age 14. In 1997, she qualified for the U.S. Women’s Amateur in Boston. Cavalleri, 24, wasn’t fully prepared for the event’s notoriety in her second visit to the U.S. as her English was still “not that good” and the TV cameras were unnerving. As she progressed in match play, Silvia’s mother mentioned that another day of sightseeing in Boston would have to be canceled. A 5-and-4 victory in the championship match over Robin Burke – the wife of 1956 Masters Tournament champion Jackie Burke – made Cavalleri the first Italian and only the second European to win the prestigious amateur title.

Those long odds once again were positive signs at the 2007 Corona Championship in Mexico. Paired with home country hero Lorena Ochoa in the final round, Cavalleri withstood a charge and finished at 20-under par, two in front of Ochoa, who would rise to No. 1 in the world the following week.

“A big party was going on for her as we were playing,” said Cavalleri, still the only Italian to win on the LPGA. “There were a lot of people following her and they were chanting and blowing horns. The president of Mexico even came to celebrate. Everything was set up for her to win.”

Now the plan for Cavalleri is to make her way back to the LPGA fulltime via the Epson Tour and occasional playing opportunities on the LPGA. She now speaks five languages – Italian, English, French, German and some Spanish – and has a U.S. base in Orlando that allows her to visit Italy at least every couple months. A fourth-place finish in her Epson Tour debut at the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic in late March gave her hope of good things to come.

“I think I’m still competitive and have a passion for this game,” she said. “I believe I can compete with these 20-year-old girls. My age is just a number, in my mind. As long as I feel competitive, I’ll keep at it.”

Cavalleri working her way back to LPGA

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