Recari’s toughest challenge was away from the course

Marathon Classic’s defending champion overcame eating disorder.

7/13/2014

Beatriz Recari poses with the trophy after winning the 2013 Marathon Classic at Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania

Blade/Andy Morrison

Her storybook nearly closed before it began.

Before Beatriz Recari became one of the top golfers in the world, she bore down on what she called a “miserable ending.”

It was 2007, and Recari was slowly breaking down, her struggle with anorexia deepening by the day. She weighed barely 100 pounds and sometimes went to bed so hungry that she could not sleep. Her hair began to fall out.

Even as family advised her to seek help, Recari insisted she was fine — until one day in August when she no longer had a choice. At the Finnair Masters on the Ladies European Tour, her body simply gave out.

“The low point was when I couldn't finish 18 holes,” Recari said. “Then I realized, OK, this is serious. I can't fool myself anymore, and I need to do something about it.”

Today Recari, 27, has not only found a healthy balance but is using her success on the LPGA Tour as a platform to help others achieve the same.

CHAMPION FILE: Beatriz Recari from B to Z

Since returning to her native Spain for several months to seek help, Recari has raked in more than $2 million in winnings and returns to the Marathon Classic as the tournament’s defending champion.

Recari was also recently named the official ambassador for the Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness.

While Recari believes golf helped save her — “I really want to be successful, and that was my motivation to get healthier quicker,” she said — she believes her story is universal. She wants the next generation of young girls facing the same struggles to know there is help and they are hardly alone.

According to the Alliance, 25 million Americans suffer from anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorders, with females accounting for 75 percent of the afflicted. The organization’s Web site states that “more than half the females between the ages of 18 to 25 would prefer to be run over by a truck then be fat, and two-third surveyed would rather be mean or stupid.”

Most important, Recari seeks to promote a healthy lifestyle — “Now I look at what my body needs as opposed to numbers,” she said — and a positive body image. Last winter, she hosted the first Beatriz Recari and Friends Alliance Golf Classic fundraiser in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

“I wanted to take an experience that I had in my life and I wanted to turn it into something positive and do something about it,” Recari said. “[Eating disorders] happen way more than you hear about. Unfortunately, you hear about it when it's too late. People, it's something that you're very embarrassed about. It's almost not respected. If other people went and said I have this problem, this [medical] issue, then they take it seriously. But this is like, ‘Oh, you're such a stupid girl.’ It's very negative response. People are ashamed to say I think I'm struggling with this.

“I just wanted to be there to say ... that there is help out there, and I was able to recover and actually do it all the way to the point where I'm performing at the highest level in a sport, which obviously you need to be healthy to do.”

In a statement, Alliance CEO Johanna Kandel called it ”an honor for our organization to have a world-class athlete supporting our cause.”

“Beatriz’s experience in overcoming this illness and her willingness to share her story with others is an inspiration to thousands of individuals suffering around the world,” she said.

Contact David Briggs at: dbriggs@theblade.com, 419-724-6084 or on Twitter @DBriggsBlade.