LONGWOOD, Fla — Golf hasn’t always been portrayed as a fun, personality-driven game. Of course, you have your few characters who do things their way. Melbourne’s Daniela Iacobelli has been called the John Daly of women’s professional golf. She’s unapologetically herself and she is the Epson's tour biggest personality. Her love for the game started out as a young kid.
What You Need To Know
- Daniela Iacobelli, a professional golfer, is the Epson's tour's biggest personality
- After 3 seasons on the LPGA tour, Iacobelli started her own podcast
- The podcast is Iacobelli's space to tell her stories with her two best friends who are also on tour with her
"Allegedly I started playing when I was 3. Dad would go and play in leagues and stuff and I was like, 'where’s dad going?'" said Iacobelli.
So like most daddy’s girls, she wanted to be just like him. She got her first set of plastic clubs and hit the course, and turns out she was a natural.
"It just kind of progressed through high school and college and then it was like, 'What else do you do?' and I’m like, 'I’m going pro.' Like that’s what I’m going to do," Iacobelli said.
13 years later and three seasons on the LPGA tour, Daniela took on a new challenge that has nothing to do with swinging a club.
She started her very own podcast last November because she recognized she has something to offer that most professional golfers do not. She’s authentically herself all the time — and that’s exactly how the podcasting idea took off.
“So, Ryan French hosts a podcast called Monday "Q Info," and he found a picture of me online, and he posted it and it blew up and was like, 'Hey do you want to be on my podcast?' which I was like, 'absolutely,'" Iacobelli said. "So we’re kinda in the middle of the podcast telling stories and he’s like, 'You need your own podcast,' and I was like, 'Ryan, that sounds like a lot of work.'"
While she wasn’t wrong — podcasting is a lot of work, but it’s also been a lot of fun. It’s her space to tell her stories with her on-tour friends; two of whom have become more like family.
"It’s the three best friends that anyone can have, really. We’re so cheesy, we’re all the same, it’s just three different people of the exact same thing," Iacobelli said.
Three friends who grind through the challenges of life in the developmental league together.
"If I have to lose, I hope it’s to one of them. And they don’t want me to beat that. I mean, that’s silly, but if you have to lose to someone, let it be my friend," Iacobelli said.
They’re inseparable. They travel from tournament to tournament together, they room together, they eat together — and, now, they podcast together.
"I’ve literally not done anything in the last four months but hang out with them so when you don’t have a prompt and we’re just like, 'What do we talk about,' I’m like, 'I know almost everything about her (Iacabelli) since birth,'" said Sarah White, who is in her second year on tour.
It’s the happenings behind the scenes. The uncensored, unfiltered take from a professional golfer with a larger-than-life personality.