ANWA competitor Emilia Migliaccio could’ve turned pro after her successful amateur career, but she had other plans.
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The United States Women’s Open made history last summer at Pebble Beach as the national championship was played at golf ’s greatest meeting of land and sea for the first time ever. It was a watershed moment in the women’s game, as the best female players in the world finally got a shot at one of golf ’s grandest venues.
That week, Emilia Migliaccio made a little history too.
She played in the championship (for the third time in her career) and worked as an on-course reporter for Golf Channel. Post-round broadcast appearances by players are commonplace. Post-round broadcast duties are not.
“Everything was so crazy,” Migliaccio says. “But it was one of the most fun things I’ve ever done.”
Many golf broadcasters have backgrounds in competitive golf — Colt Knost, Brandel Chamblee, Nick Faldo, David Duval, etc. But all of them transitioned to television after their playing careers had ended. Migliaccio is breaking new ground as a broadcaster who also maintains a competitive playing schedule as an amateur.
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The 24-year-old made the decision to pursue broadcasting — rather than the professional golf route — in her senior year at Wake Forest. (She broke the news to her coaches during a tournament.) But she couldn’t walk away from competition completely. So she decided she’d do both.
“I had been thinking about it for a while,” she says now. “I just wanted more versatility in my life.”
This year, Migliaccio — currently the 40th ranked female amateur in the world — has already teed it up in the South Atlantic Am (finishing 16th) and is competing in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur for the fifth time. She opened the championship with a disappointing 75 that left her outside the cut line, but after a gutsy even-par round on Thursday, she earned herself a final-round tee time.
“Oh my gosh I’m so happy,” she says behind the 18th green at Champions Retreat. “Plus I’m finally hitting my driver well.”
This isn’t the first time she’s seen success — on and off the course — at ANWA before, though. Memorably, in the 2021 event, with her mother on her bag, she placed second after a sudden-death playoff with Tsubasa Kajitani. Last spring, Migliaccio again competed (and made the cut) all while prepping for her role in the broadcast of the Drive, Chip and Putt finals the Sunday after ANWA ended.
“It’s definitely hard work,” she says. “But it’s worth it.”
Migliaccio has added remote broadcasting work for PGA Tour Live to her duties in 2024. During the Tour’s early-season West Coast swing, she played long-distance analyst from the PGA Tour Entertainment facility in St. Augustine, Fla. Luckily for her, the compound overlooks the World Golf Village.
“We get two one-hour breaks throughout the day,” Migliaccio says. “I hit balls for 20 minutes during the first hour and putt for 20 minutes during the second hour. It’s a juggling act, but that’s how I get my reps in while I’m on the road.”
For now, it seems there’s no slowing Migliaccio down. She’s got big dreams of being an analyst in the middle of a round she’s playing in and hopes someday to work in the studio for the biggest networks in the game.
So, how does she plan to continue juggling all these responsibilities?
“It might sound cliché,” Migliaccio says. “But I just take it one shot at a time.”
Spoken like a true golfer.
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