Why is a Women's Open contender sporting a New England Patriots logo?

For a couple of years, second-year LPGA player Alexa Pano has been the only woman in professional golf sporting an NFL logo on her clothes and bag. The story goes that the 20-year-old Pano and her family, who hail from the Boston suburbs, are rabid New England Patriots fans, and when she qualified for 2022 U.S. Open, they decided there was plenty of room on her bag for one of the coolest logos in sports. (C’mon, admit it, Bills fans.)

But as famous as the logo is, the young Pano is still finding her footing in the pro game after first becoming known for appearing as a 7-year-old in the documentary about kids’ golf called, “The Short Game.” Pano notched her first victory in an event co-sanctioned by the LPGA and LET last August, but it came in Northern Ireland and didn’t get much notice in the States.

Now, Pano’s profile will no doubt be raised on Sunday morning, when she begins the final round of the AIG Women’s Open at St. Andrews trailing leader Jijai Shin by only four shots. And, with Pano no doubt sporting a jacket for what is expected to be another cold and blustery summer day in Scotland, plenty of viewers will be asking, “What’s up with that Pats logo?”

“It's a really cool deal for me,” Pano said on Saturday after shooting a second straight 69 on the Old Course to get to three under and into a tie for sixth. “They are supportive of everything I do, and to have something that you've idolized and watched on TV and be supportive of you is really cool.”

Panos’ father, Rick, who was featured prominently in the movie, has been a longtime Patriots season ticket holder. Alexa, not surprisingly, adopted Dad’s team, and it just seemed natural to put the logo on her bag for the U.S. Women’s Open when she didn’t yet have many sponsors while grinding on the developmental Epson Tour. (She skipped college and turned pro at 17.)

“We put the Patriots logo on it because it was special to my family and whatnot. That was supposed to be a one week ordeal,” Pano said. “I did an interview with the Patriots about it that week and didn’t think anything of it, but thought it was amazing.

“[The] next week I was back competing on the Epson Tour, and they wanted to make it more of a permanent thing and make the relationship official.”

There are, of course, some perks that come with the relationship. Pano said she has met members of the Kraft family that owns the team and spent some time on the field for a game last season against the Chiefs. She was star struck in once meeting the GOAT Tom Brady, but also noted with a smile, “I'm also a big Julian Edelman girl.”

Even those guys paled in comparison to the opportunity Pano got to see arguably the world’s biggest star, Taylor Swift.

“They did help me get some Eras Tour tickets last year,” Pano said, “so that was really cool.”