As a junior golfer, Hanna Tauber was given the nickname “silver medal” for her knack of finishing in second place.
But the 21-year-old German player finally shed her unwanted moniker after clinching her maiden LET Access Series (LETAS) title at the Allegria Stergersbach Ladies Open in May.
“I did not really win much as an amateur,” she said. “Whenever I turned up to a tournament, it always used to be like ‘Oh, what’s up, silver medal?’ and I was like yeah, well.”
Tauber, whose phone was bombarded with congratulatory messages after the win, celebrated with ice cream before driving back home to be with her family.
“My phone was buzzing every two seconds,” she said. “The first messages I was looking for were from my parents. These are the people who supported me the most, they drove me to tournaments, junior events, nationals, everything.
“My dad said good job, like well done or something. It wasn’t too long. My mother was like ‘You’ve deserved it, and you waited for it for so long’.
“Then of course, my coach. Because she’s been with me for six years now. It’s quite a minute, so that’s also one I’m looking at because you always look for approval from your coach.”
Despite bogeying the final two holes, Tauber held on to win by two strokes over Iceland’s Ragga Kristindottir.
“When I was on (hole) 16, I had a friend of mine looking at the live scoring. I told her not to tell me. For me, it was just keeping the round together and finishing solid,” she said.
“I was just trying to avoid the mistakes I saw others make. After I bogeyed 18, I didn’t know if I just lost it or I actually made it. She came over and she was like, no, you made it!”
After a two-week break, the LETAS season resumes this week with the Arkea Montauban Ladies Open taking place from June 5-7 at Golf de Montauban.
It is the third of 19 events on the LETAS schedule in 2026 and will see a field of 108 players teeing it up in South-west France
With the pressure off her shoulders, Tauber is looking forward to a fresh challenge.
She said: “It’s a whole different tournament, whole different course, whole different set up. Everything’s different, different countries, so you can’t compare last week to this week.
“I’m not really going like I won last week, I’m supposed to win here. I’m not going to pressure myself with that. I had to struggle a little bit last year. This year, I started playing in South Africa on the Sunshine Ladies Tour so that gave me a little confidence.
“Usually, I get hot at the end of the year when it’s almost too late, so it’s nice to come out hot at the start of the season.”
Tauber will tee it up in the first round of the Arkea Montauban Ladies Open at 11.35am (local time) alongside France’s Alice Kong and Switzerland’s Caroline Sturdza.
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