Professionally, longtime golfer Jodi Ewart Shadoff says the highlight of her career was traveling to Tokyo for the Olympics in 2020. “That's something that I'll be able to save for the rest of my life,” she says. “It was just such an amazing experience and something that I'll cherish forever.”
At home, the English golfer has a lot more to cherish, including her two dogs: Zia and Winston. If it were up to her, she says, she’d have a few more pets running around, but she jokes that her husband “cuts [her] off from having more.”
Twelve-year-old Zia, the older of the two dogs, is named in reference to New Mexico’s state flag, Shadoff says. She attended the University of New Mexico, where she was a two-time NCAA All-American, and named her first dog in honor of that time in her life.
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“When I went to get Zia, she actually probably picked me,” Shadoff explains. “She came and sat on my feet. So I was like, ‘O.K., I guess I’m taking this one home.’”
The dog she took home ended up acting a little more like a cat, though, Shadoff tells people. “She only wants attention when she wants attention.”
Winston, who’s about 4 years old, is named for another special place in Shadoff’s life. She’s originally from Northallerton, England, and says the name came about in reference to Sir Winston Churchill. “I love human names for dogs,” she adds, “so it felt like the perfect fit.”
He’s a bit more chill, Shadoff says. The way the two dogs interact with each other and the people around them actually appears to mirror another relationship in Shadoff’s life.
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“A lot of people say that [Zia’s] personality is a lot like me, and Winston's a lot like my husband,” she says. "So it's funny. They're so different, but they get on so well.”
When she’s had to navigate injuries—including a back injury last year that left her out of commission for a few months—Shadoff says the unconditional love of Zia and Winston helped push her through. “The love that I have for these guys fills my heart,” she says.
“Last year just wasn’t the greatest year for me,” she adds. “It was just really hard, mentally, to get through it. … And it doesn’t matter what score I shoot or where I finish in a tournament, they will always love me no matter what. And it’s just like—that’s unbelievable.”
Like many professional athletes, Shadoff says the toughest thing about having Zia and Winston is being away from them, because they’re her “best friends.” Shadoff says that when she’s out on tour and asked what she does for fun, the top answer is always the same: “I spend time with my dogs. And that's pretty much it.”
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All in all, Shadoff says the biggest impact from her pets has been the way they alleviate her anxiety. “I just feel so much more relaxed when I'm with them,” she explains.
When they’re all together, Shadoff says most of their time is spent playing and throwing toys around. Winston in particular can play fetch for hours, she adds.
“They just bring me so much happiness in my day-to-day life. I just love being around them. I think I spend more time with these two than I do with any human here at home,” Shadoff says.
But as much as Shadoff loves her two dogs, she admits they might love each other even more. However, that’s something that Zia—who was an “only child” for the first eight years of her life—would never own up to. “She always wants the attention and kind of gets upset when [Winston] always gets the attention,” Shadoff says. “But I think she really loves him. She would never admit that, but yeah.”
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And for anyone who’s thinking about taking the leap and getting a dog of their own, Shadoff has one simple piece of advice: “Do it.”
“The love that these guys give you—you can’t compare it to anything else,” she says. “They can be a lot of work, especially as puppies, but it’s worth all the hard work. … The joy that they bring into my life is just incomparable.”
