"Using golf and my story to help others": Rachel Drummond is looking ahead after talking through the pain of her past, as she tells Sky Sports News' Dharmesh Sheth
Thursday 16 April 2020 16:42, UK
"Golf should be magical," says Ladies European Tour player Rachel Drummond - but her own story is not one that echoes that.
For Rachel, growing up in Maidenhead, the sport became a sort of sanctuary - a place in which to shut out what had happened to her as a child.
It is something she has not spoken publicly about - until now.
"I was sexually abused."
Four words announced, in an almost 'there... I said it' tone. (Rachel's abuser has since passed away.)
So why - at 30 years of age - say it now?
"In the last few years, I've done a lot of healing around the topic," she says. "I don't think I realised until a couple of years ago how much it had impacted me throughout my life.
"I now feel in a position where I want to talk about it freely. I want to inspire kids that may be going through something similar. You can have a career and be successful."
Rachel has been a professional golfer for eight years. She was on the Tour at the age of 22, before dropping down to the LET Access Series - the ladies equivalent of the Challenge Tour - as well as spending some time playing in the United States.
In 2018, the death of her father, who was one of her biggest inspirations, prompted her to return home. She quit the game and got a job in player management.
"It also made me look at myself and aim to become the best version of me," she continued.
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She found that best version of herself back on the golf course, and cites regaining her status on the European Tour as her greatest achievement.
However, keeping what happened during her childhood locked away was still an issue.
"I didn't tell anyone. I built up a story around who I was, in regards to what happened to me, of 'not good enough'... deserved of what happened. So even in my golf, if I missed a cut, it would be straight to 'not good enough'. If something happened in my life, 'not good enough'.
"It was very consistent and I didn't realise it."
She realises now, and says opening up has been "amazing".
"By not talking, it gave the situation power and made me believe those things about myself.
"But talking about it now, I know that the picture I built around myself isn't true. And I can share that with other people and other children."
Rachel does that through the Foundation she started earlier this year.
"The concept behind it is to not only get more children into the beautiful game of golf, but to align with charities that help kids in domestic and sexual abuse. So, using golf and also my story to help others."
The Foundation is called Hole in Wand. Rachel wants kids to see a golf club as something magical.
"As a child, part of my magic was taken away from me."
You get the feeling that through sharing her story, the magic is now coming back.
For more information on Rachel Drummond's Foundation, go to www.holeinwand.com
If you have been affected in any way by this story, visit www.sky.com/viewersupport
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